Photograph by Susan Walsh/AP Photo

Sen. John McCain, right, asks a question of former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, center, President Barack Obama’s choice for defense secretary, on Capitol Hill in Washington, on Jan. 31, 2013, during the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination. Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking member of the committee, listens at left.

Washington has redefined pretty much every other standard.

Why not friendship, too?

In a town where the only true best friend remains a dog — yeah, yeah, it wasn’t Harry Truman, but rather the “Give ‘em Hell” play about him, that  made that homily famous — the Senate is getting ready to move on taking the confirmation of Chuck Hagel as secretary of defense to a vote. He’s a former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska, which means he has a lot of old friends in the Senate.

Friends like Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the Republican who has been opposing Hagel’s nomination.

“I do not believe that Chuck Hagel, who is a friend of mine, is qualified to be secretary of defense,” McCain said on CNN’s “State of the Union” program today.

Original post is Hagel’s McCain: Friends Like This by Political Capital.

Photograph by Amos Ben Gershom/GPO via Getty Images

President Barack Obama with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they walk along the Colonnade of the White House in this March 5, 2012 file photo.

It takes an election to raise a peace flag.

So much was made of the allegedly deteriorated relationship between President Barack Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during last year’s U.S. elections — remember Republican Mitt Romney’s tour of the Holy Land with Las Vegas casino magnate Sheldon Adelson — that it was written as a virtual statement of fact in some quarters. But the elections in the U.S. and Israel have left the two leaders standing, and Obama plans his first trip to Israel as president next month.

Even since the elections, Republicans in Washington have tried to keep the embers stirred, challenging Obama’s nominee for secretary of defense, Chuck Hagel, about his one-time referral to the intimidation of the “Jewish lobby” in Washington. Hagel, reframing his remarks to identify the pro-Israel lobby, acknowledged during Senate confirmation hearings that he could cite no instance in which that lobby had convinced any senator to act unwisely.

Now Michael Oren, the Israeli ambassador to the U.S., can be seen on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” downplaying the import of any perceived dispute between Obama and Netanyahu, whom Oren says have held many, “open, honest” meetings. And today, the Israeli embassy in Washington tweeted a lovely emblem of the “unbreakable allegiance” between the nations:

Cool. Check out the official unbreakable alliance logo created for President Obama’s trip to Israel. #UltimateAlly twitter.com/IsraelinUSA/st…

— Embassy of Israel (@IsraelinUSA) February 19, 2013

Whatever the actual state of relations between Obama and Netanyahu may be, it’s difficult to think of a time in recent years in which the alliance between the two nations has been more critical for Israel: Facing rocket attacks from Gaza, a rebellion in Syria that could yield an extremist regime even more worrisome than Assad’s, and, as Oren has put it, a “shrinking” window in the time frame in which outside military intervention could prevent Iran from fulfilling its perceived ambition of producing weapons-grade nuclear material.

“The entire region is in turmoil,” Oren said on Joe’s show today.

It’s a fair bet that the logo which the embassy unfurled on Twitter today will be seen, interspersed with the standards of the two nations, along the main streets of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem when Obama calls on Netanyahu.

Original post is Obama’s Netanyahu Welcome Note: Israeli Flag of ‘Unbreakable Alliance’ by Political Capital.

Photograph by J. Scott Applewhite/AP Photo

At the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz, right, confers with Sen. James Inhofe, the ranking member, left, during a short recess in the confirmation hearing of Chuck Hagel, a former two-term senator and President Obama’s choice to lead the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill on Jan. 31, 2013.

Newly elected Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a leader in the Republican fight against President Barack Obama’s nomination of Chuck Hagel to head the Defense Department, was silent as several party colleagues continued the battle today on the Senate floor.

Cruz’s reticence, though, had nothing to do with any change of heart toward Hagel, himself a Republican and former senator from Nebraska. Rather, Cruz is suffering from a case of laryngitis.

“I regret that he lost his voice,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, another Hagel foe. “But it is kinda funny.”

As Inhofe noted dryly in his floor comments: “For a senator to lose his voice, what’s worse than that?”

Cruz won’t want to strain his vocal cords. Organizers of the annual Conservative Political Action Conference — the can’t-miss event for those who can’t get enough Obama-bashing — announced today that Cruz, 42, will be the gathering’s closing speaker.

It was as the closer four years ago that talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh famously declared that he hoped Obama, who had just barely occupied the White House, failed as president.

This year’s CPAC confab convenes March 14-16 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, which overlooks the Potomac River just outside Washington in Maryland.

Original post is Ted Cruz Left Speechless in Sparring Over Hagel by Political Capital.

One question former Sen. Chuck Hagel hasn’t been asked during his confirmation hearings for defense secretary: Does he like chocolate?

Chris Edwards would like to know. His family’s Edward Marc Chocolatier shop in the Pentagon is the Department of Defense’s unofficial purveyor of sweets, and is filled by soldiers and military officials during lunch hour. This week, the most popular item at the Pentagon store is a heart-shaped box of chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

Politicos are natural chocoholics, he says.

“It’s all about the euphoria,” said Edwards, who joined the business after working in government. “Chocolate enhances chemicals in the brain.”

The former special assistant to President George W. Bush and deputy chief of staff to Sarah Palin during her 2008 campaign has clients on both sides of the aisle.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi gave out Edward Marc chocolate medallions at the Inaugural Luncheon last month. Under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, chocolates imprinted with her signature and the department seal were a favor at official dinners.

Palin’s affection for the peanut butter meltaway is memorialized in her book “Going Rogue.” Republican strategist Karl Rove says the salted caramels are his favorite. They retail for $12 for a box of eight.

The company is based in Pittsburgh, where Edwards’s great-grandparents opened a soda fountain in 1914. Today it is known as the Milk Shake Factory. Edwards plans to open one in the nation’s capital next year.

Stephanie Green (@stephlgreen) writes for Bloomberg Muse (@BloombergMuse), the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News.

Original post is Political Chocoholics Visit Pentagon Shop for Valentine’s Day by Political Capital.

Photograph by Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg

Chuck Hagel, nominee for U.S. secretary of defense, listens to a question during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing in Washington on Jan. 31, 2013.

From Bloomberg Government’s Congress Tracker blog:

Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin will seek a vote by the panel tomorrow on Chuck Hagel’s nomination as Defense secretary, according to a committee aide who asked not to be identified.

Senate Democrats are working to overcome Republican opposition to President Barack Obama’s nomination of Hagel to replace the retiring Leon Panetta as the Pentagon’s top official.

South Carolina Republican Lindsey Graham said yesterday that he may place a hold on the nomination until he gets answers about what the president did personally to encourage military action at the time of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya.

A committee vote could pave the way for a vote by the full Senate later this week, according to a Senate Democratic leadership aide who also asked not to be identified when discussing the plans.

Original post is Panel Said to Plan Hagel Vote Tomorrow by Political Capital.

Photograph by Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Chuck Hagel during Prresident Barack Obama’s nominations of White House counterterrorism adviser John Brennan to be the director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense.

Chuck Hagel gets a chance to face his critics at his confirmation hearing for defense secretary at the Senate Armed Services Committee today. Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe, the panel’s senior Republican, will lead the opposition against Hagel. Inofe has said he is “philosophically opposed” to fellow Republican Hagel’s nomination.

The five-member Commodity Futures Trading Commission is holding a round-table meeting with industry representatives as part of its review of whether new energy futures contracts have enough transparency and competition.

Federal spending cuts viewed as unthinkable a few months ago — $1.2 trillion falling heavily on the Pentagon — are seen as likely starting March 1, Bloomberg News reported. Meanwhile, the Treasury Department and members of Congress are preparing to move forward with plans to expand government-backed refinancing programs to underwater homeowners whose loans are packaged in private-label securities, Bloomberg News reported.

Acting Treasury Secretary Neal Wolin chairs a closed meeting of Financial Stability Oversight Council, the Securities and exchange commission meets on federal securities rules, regulations affecting small businesses.

And it’s time for annual Washington Auto Show. Today, Audi of Americas CEO Scott Keogh gives the keynote address and Energy Secretary Steven Chu makes outlines the Obama administration’s policy on electric vehicles.

Original post is Washington Daybook: Hagel’s Turn by Political Capital.

Photograph by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Accompanied by CIA Spokesperson Marie Harf, former Senator Chuck Hagel leaves the Capitol Hill offices of Sen. John McCain after the two Vietnam War veterans met on Jan. 22, 2013 in Washington.

Former Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel’s drive to win confirmation as Defense Secretary got an added push today as a group of former Secretaries of State, Defense and National Security Advisers sent all 100 senators a letter of endorsement.

“His approach to national security and debates about the use of American power is marked by a disciplined habit of thoughtfulness that is sorely needed and these qualities will serve him well as Secretary of Defense at a time when the United States must address a range of international issues that are unprecedented in scope,” said the letter,signed by 13 former top officials that included Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State under President Bill Clinton, and Melvin Laird, Defense Secretary under President Richard Nixon.

“Our extensive experience working with Senator Hagel over the years has left us confident that he has the necessary background to succeed in the job of leading the largest federal agency,” the bipartisan crew wrote.

Other signatories included George Shultz, Secretary of State under President Ronald Reagan; Samuel Berger, National Security Adviser underl Clinton; and Zbigniew Brzezinski, National Security Adviser under President Jimmy Carter.

Meanwhile, Hagel continued a round of one-on-one meetings with  senators today, picking up endorsements from additional Senate Democrats. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and member of the Senate Armed Services Committee that will hear his testimony next week, said in a statement that Hagel has won her over with his “strong, unwavering support of Israel” as well as his commitment to building relationships with NATO and other allies.

Democrat Sen. Joe Manchin of West Virginia, also a member of the Armed Services panel, said Hagel can count on his support, too.

“Chuck is a combat veteran and foot soldier who has a unique understanding of the challenges faced by our men and women in uniform, and a practical leader who understands the need for common sense in military spending and national security strategy,” Manchin said in a prepared statement.

Original post is Hagel Draws Bipartisan Backing from Past Secretaries of Defense, State by Political Capital.

At 8:21am EST today, Joe Biden was sworn in for a second term as vice president in a private ceremony at the Naval Ceremony attended by about 120 people, including family, congressmen and women and former members.

At  8:46 a.m., President Barack Obama’s motorcade rolled from the White House, joined by Biden, for the laying of a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery on a cold and sunny Sunday morning, the prelude to his own private swearing-in back at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue at noon.

Former Senator Chuck Hagel, Obama’s nominee for secretary of Defense, was among the guests at Biden’s swearing-in. So was House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Attorney General Eric Holder, Democratic National Committee chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Obama political adviser David Axelrod, Chicago’s Bill Daley, a former Obama chief of staff, AFL-CIO leader Richard Trumka and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor led Biden in the oath of office, the third female justice to do so: Justice Sandra Day O’Connor swore-in Vice President Dan Quayle in 1989, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg swore-in Vice President Al Gore in 1997.

He used the Biden Family Bible, five inches thick with a Celtic cross on the cover, in the Biden family since 1893. He has used it every time he was sworn in as a senator and when he was sworn in as vice president in 2009.

Original post is Biden’s Swearing-In for a Second Term by Political Capital.

Photograph by Said Khatib/AFP via Getty Images

Israeli soldiers keep watch as Palestinian youths demonstrate next to the security fence on the Gaza border east of Khan Yunis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

That’s the percentage of Americans who say they sympathize with the Israelis over the Palestinians in the Middle East conflict, according to the Pew Research Center.

Ten percent said they sympathize with the Palestinians, while 13 percent said neither. The remainder of respondents said they aligned with both sides or didn’t know, according to the survey conducted Dec. 5-9, 2012.

There’s a wide partisan gap on this question, with 70 percent of Republicans saying they align more with Israel, compared with 47 percent of independents and 41 percent of Democrats.

The U.S.-Israel relationship probably will be discussed during confirmation hearings for former Sen. Chuck Hagel, nominated by the president for Secretary of Defense.

“Hagel emerged as the most disputed pick for Obama’s second-term national security team because of positions such as his opposition to the U.S. troop surge during the Iraq war and his comments on the influence of the ‘Jewish lobby,’” Bloomberg News reporter David Lerman wrote yesterday.

Critics have “completely distorted” a record that shows “unequivocal, total support for Israel,” Hagel said in an interview with the Lincoln Journal Star newspaper in Nebraska that was published Jan. 7. Hagel represented Nebraska in the Senate from 1997 to 2009.

Original post is Bloomberg by the Numbers: 50 by Political Capital.

The fight over Chuck Hagel’s fitness to be the next secretary of defense has now triggered a bagel battle.

Maybe it was inevitable, since much of the debate about the Republican former senator from Nebraska has focused on whether he is sufficiently supportive of Israel.

The anti-Israel charge stems largely from a single remark Hagel made in 2008 to author Aaron David Miller, that “the Jewish lobby intimidates a lot of people up here.”

The Emergency Committee for Israel, a group led by William Kristol, editor of the Weekly Standard magazine, already has run a TV ad on Washington area cable stations attacking Hagel.

Now comes J Street, which describes itself as “the political home for pro-Israel, pro-peace Americans.” Coming to Hagel’s defense, the advocacy group has a new slogan and petition campaign on its website:

“Smear A Bagel, Not Chuck Hagel.”

Here’s part of the petition’s pitch: “For every 18 people that sign, we’ll send bagels to local food banks in honor of Bill Kristol to fight the smears.”

For the record, a bagel is normally schmeared, not smeared.

Original post is Bagel Battle Breaks Out Over Hagel by Political Capital.