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Senor: Hagel Is Out of the Mainstream

Atlantic correspondent Steve Clemons argued Monday that former Sen. Chuck Hagel's record on Israel is a rejection of resolutions that amount to asking, "How much do you love me, America?" in a Monday interview on "Daily Rundown." Former Romney adviser Dan Senor shot down the argument, emphasizing the American interests in many Senatorial votes on Israel and Iran issues:

STEVE CLEMONS: Hagel doesn’t bandwagon his views. He’s not a press puffery kind of a guy. He thinks about what is efficacious in national security and foreign policy. The most important thing about Hagel—and with all due respect to Dan and some of his colleagues—there seems to be this effort by Israel and its supporters over and over to continue to run resolutions to say, "How much do you love me, America? Do you love me today, do you love me tomorrow, do love me again?" And I think what Hagel has done has said, "I’m supportive of Israel, but at the same time, I’m not going to create a zero-sum game between Israel and its neighbors that also have vital national security relationships with the United States."

CHUCK TODD: On that point, signing a letter vs. voting for aid are two different things.

DAN SENOR: But, Chuck, when Senators vote to designate the Iranian revolutionary guard corps a terrorist organization, what these Senators cite is not just the threat Iran poses to Israel, they cite the threat Iran poses to America. When they cite—when they vote to designate, or call on the E.U., for instance, to designate Hezbollah a terrorist organization, they cite the damage that Hezbollah has done to American men and women, to American security interests. And for Steve to just—to sweep this away as this is just Israel and Israel supporters wanting a bunch of love letters is really, I’d actually say, offensive.

Hagel will be nominated to be secretary of defense Monday afternoon.