From Allahpundit:

Ted Cruz is destroying him over America supposedly being the “world’s bully.” This isn’t a confirmation hearing, it’s target practice.

The beauty of this clip isn’t just the spectacle of Graham making Hagel eat his own shinola. It’s the fact that 90 percent of the reason the left has gone along with this nomination is to see Hagel push back on questions exactly like this one. He was the guy who was going to speak truth to power by standing up to the neocon warmongers and their “Zionist” puppet-masters — and here he is, rolling over. You could almost hear liberals screaming at their TV sets when Graham asked him to name a dumb move taken by the U.S. at the behest of the Israel lobby, “Say ‘Iraq’, Chuck! Say ‘Iraq!’” But Hagel can’t make that move. The Democrats will happily confirm a lightweight who’s unprepared for this hearing and unqualified to lead the Pentagon because he’s useful as a Republican fig leaf for Obama’s upcoming defense cuts. They won’t confirm a guy whose unapologetic conspiratorial mumbling about Israel’s hidden hand or whatever might alienate Jewish voters, and Hagel knows it. So he’s lying here, and not just about this either, purely in the interest of getting confirmed.

A bad day for Chuck Hagel (and Barack Obama) is a good day for the Republic. And Cruz is certainly a rapidly rising star.

Roger Simon is far too kind to him:

You would think with the “Arab Spring” turning into an unremitting display of psychotic religious fascism and fanaticism, chemical weapons ping-ponging between Syria and Hezbollah, Egypt imploding, Iran on the brink, etc., Schumer would take his role more seriously. Evidently not. His ambition has trumped all. He, with Obama’s other “good Jews” (Lew, Emanuel, Axelrod, etc.), plays along to get along, in almost any situation.

But are they, as some suggested in the comments to my January 22 column, the equivalent of the “kapos” and “sonderkommandos” of World War II, Jews who worked for the Nazis? Of course not. Not even close. But they are extremely weak men whose ambition makes them blind to what is in plain sight and not willing to risk anything to jeopardize their position, the very essence of corruption.

Chuck Schumer’s ringing endorsement of Chuck Hagel now seems like one mammoth embarrassment. If Schumer were a man of substance or even relative decency, he would now apologize or at least distance himself in some way. This is not even a matter of political ideology at this point. It is an matter of basic honesty. Hagel is quite simply not qualified for one of the most crucial positions in our country on any level. Will Schumer admit it? If not — liberal, conservative or Zen Buddhist — he is a contemptible hack.

When has he not been a contemptible hack?

[Update a few minutes later]

Poor Chuck Schumer:

Schumer’s travails are hardly over. Soon Republicans will be going populist, going after the big banks (some of his favorite donors) and decrying all those retirement benefits for rich people (“Hey, they’re my rich people!” Schumer would say.). By the end of this he’ll look like a phony Zionist, a faux immigration reformer and a pal of the rich and powerful.

Sure, Schumer is an infamous demagogue. There is no senator more partisan. And yes, the most dangerous place in D.C. is still between Schumer and a microphone. But have some heart, Republicans. The guy has a “kick me” sign on his back and the White House is kicking away.

They deserve each other.