mr. hormel himself, he never got to be ambassador mr. hormel himself has forgiveen hagel. >> it's in their mission statement to a degree, but you have something here that is almost an incidental controversy. president obama would not have nominated chuck hagel if he didn't do some note counting in the senate to get past the initial rounds and get his person in office. but secondly, if the person who has taken the offense forgives the person who has offended him what else is there to talk about. we have hagel has full defense of gays in the military, from that perspective. it seems that there is nothing more to talk about. >> john: do you think senator hagel's views on iran and israel are out of the mainstream? >> the point of lindsay graham's arguments is that he should point chuck hagel's views track with the president. the president supports a strong relationship with israel has a deep respect for israeli needs an provides aid to israel for its defense and engages diplomacy to resolve the conflict between israel and the palestinians. wi

mr. hormel said he was skeptical. let's just say if chuck hagel is nominated, set your tivo for the hearings. # senator lindsey graham is here next on hagel and the debt. yo, give it up, dude! up high! ok. don't you have any usefull apps on that thing? who do you think i am, quicken loans? ♪ at quicken loans, our amazingly useful mortgage calculator app allows you to quickly calculate your mortgage payment based on today's incredibly low interest rates... right from your iphone or android smartphone. one more way quicken loans is engineered to amaze. ♪ >>> i'm joined by republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina. senator, happy new year. thanks for being here. let me first talk about chuck hagel. you have said and predict that had very few republicans would vote for him. i want to read you something from ambassador -- former ambassador ryan crocker. as you know, he's been ambassador to lebanon, kuwait, syria, pakistan, iraq, afghanistan. >> right. >> certainly qualified to talk about matters of foreign relati

mr. hormel -- to do an effective job.t month more than 14 years later hagel apologized for those comments. mr. hormel said he was skeptical. if mr. hagel is nominated set your tivo for the hearings. senator lindsey graham is here next on hagel and the debt. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso. your soups are so awesomely delicious my husband and i can't stop eating 'em! what's...that... on your head? can curlers! tomato basil, potato with bacon... we've got a lot of empty cans. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. >>> i'm joined by republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina. senator, happy new year. thanks for being here. let me first talk about chuck hagel. you have said and predict that had very few republicans would vote for him. i want to read you something from ambassador -- former ambassador ryan crocker. as you know, he's been ambassador to lebanon, kuwait, syria, pakistan, iraq, afghanistan. >> right. >> certainly qualified to talk about matters of foreign relations, and he says chuck hage

mr. hormel, his description of aggressive can only mean that the senator strongly objected to hormel's reasonedocacy for lgbt people. i can not think of any other minority group in the u.s. today where such a action made in 1998 would not be an obstacle to a major presidential appointment. that was last week. barney frank last week. but considering the character of the opposition to chuck hagel that has emerged in the interim, barney frank has changed his mind. mr. frank said today, quote, the attack coming out of the right, i hope he gets confirmed. this fight over check hagel as secretary of defense gives an interesting window to what going on in the right sort of devolving in some ways. an architect of wildly expanded presidential power gets sent to nip at the heels of a president over this new guy having too much power. everybody is now supposed to see bill kristol as the arbiter of reasonableness in foreign affairs. the fight over chuck hagel also gives awes window into what is going on in the left, what is going on among democrats. does having the correct enemies outweigh all the left's o

mr. hormel. so those are legitimate questions. he's going to need to have very good answers to them. plainly on the positive side he would be of enormous value to the president in the drawdown from afghanistan. in the reduction of the defense budget. having an ally that he trusts on both those questions. and the american people would have confidence in. could be a real asset. but these questions that have been raised are quite legitim e legitimate. and i want to have the answers myself before i take any position on his nomination. >> and you mentioned the debt ceiling. but there's another potential big fight shaping up. another item on the agenda. you are part of a congressional task force on gun violence. can you give us a sense of the specific initiatives you think are important right now? and you have seen the white house is looking at much more than just the assault weapons ban. they're talking about things like background checks and tracking the sales of weapons through a data base and strengthening mental health checks. >> well, i think probably one of the most significant issu

mr. hormel, to do an effective job." he is saying those remarks were ill founded. guest: if he gets through the senate, he will be the secretary of defense. he is not in a domestic policy position. i think his record on domestic issues, whether they be guns or abortion or gay rights, there are other things like votes against various positions in the u.s. military having to do with a rights, naacp had very low marks for his civil rights record, all of which raises the question of why the president would want him. again, i get back to this issue that i think the senate committee has to pay attention to, which is, given the record, and given the fact the president was not interested in backing susan rice, why is he so dead set on having secretary hagel? i think it has to do with the fact that this appointment is somebody the president trusts to retrench american military power in the world. there will be a fundamental choice being made over the next four years about where the president takes us when it comes to strategic matters. secretary hagel's nomination is the be

mr. hormel. he said why would i want to do that? then? [ laughter ] >> actually, since then i -- i think that we have managed to accomplish enormous strides. >> yeah. >> stephanie: yeah. >> and it's very encouraging, of course the most important thing for any group is -- is social acceptance, and cultural acceptance. and that comes very hard over very long periods. i look at the equal rights amendment which was written in 1920 and still hasn't been ratified. >> stephanie: right, and yet you look at these hearings coming up, and you think how amazing is it that tommy baldwin will be questioning chuck hagel. >> yes, indeed. >> stephanie: and maybe even barney frank the first married gay congressman, if he is interim for john kerry. >> yes. >> stephanie: so between that and the supreme court stuff coming up, you must just think what a whole new day from when you went through all of this, right? >> it is amazing to me. i was out of the country when lawrence v texas was decided. and that was sort of brown versus wood for gay people. >> s

mr. hormel -- to do an effective job." he has since apologized for those remarks. guest: he is not in the domestic policy division as secretary of defense. i think domestic issues, whether it be guns or abortion or gay rights, -- it is not just that ", but the way. -- it is not just that quote by the way. all of which raises the question of why the president would want him. i think the senate committee in particular have to pay attention to -- given that record, why was the president backing susan rice? why is he so dead set on having senator hagel be secretary of defense? i think he is somebody the president really trust to re- trench the american power. there is going to be a fundamental choice made for the next four years. his nomination is just beginning of that debate. host: isn't figuring where you want to move your political capital? do you want to fight both state and federal side simultaneously? guest: i think it would be to fights. i helped post one of the meetings. i think had been simultaneously been going on, susan rice would have deflected a lot of at