Peter Beinart, founder and editor of the Open Zion Blog on The Daily Beast, lamented Hagel's weak performance in today's confirmation hearings Thursday evening on MSNBC:
CHRIS MATTHEWS: [...] What kind -- it was like did you stop beating your wife? It's that kind of question. there's no good answer to that question.
PETER BEINART: You're right, it was entirely gotcha. Look, the problem here with Hagel is that he came into a gun fight with a water pistol. These guys, as you said, were going after him. They had made up their decision, and instead of Hagel actually defending the arguments that he's made saying, yes, we should have a military action against Iran on the table but we should be very open about how dangerous military action would be. Yes, we support Israel. Yes, we want to give it military aid, but we also think that some of its policies in the settlements are bad for Israel and the United States. He didn't really defend those policies.
Beinart is just one of many liberals who had sharp criticism for Hagel's performance Thursday.
Full interview: