As RedState reported, Pete Hegseth’s confirmation hearing was pretty intense on Tuesday. The nominee for defense secretary remained unruffled despite the clamor of constantly pretending Democratic senators, and a Republican senator blasted the Democrats on the Armed Services Committee for being hypocrites over issues like marital infidelity and showing up to work drunk.
Following the hearing, speakers from various cable news channels also commented on the events.
But things got pretty heated at CNN when one of their panelists reduced Hegseth’s “main qualification” to being a TV show host on Fox News.
SEE ALSO: Pete Hegseth brings his best and gets the job done
The spark began to fly when left-wing Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell suggested that Hegseth was unqualified to run the Defense Department, in part because he had never “run anything as big as a Burger King,” and the statement ” “TV presenter” is his “main qualification”.
Republican strategist/GOP commentator Scott Jennings didn’t like it at all pointed out that his qualifications were comprehensive:
Ramp: I think it’s not just about this unexplained failure towards women serving in the military. It’s not just because he probably didn’t manage something as big as a Burger King, but also because he couldn’t answer basic questions. Not just important questions, but questions like, “Would you comply with the Geneva Conventions?” Would you refuse an unlawful order if the president gave you one, which was previously the case with Esper (ph) under Trump? Would you ever get ill? [sic] the US military against American citizens?
You know, there are many examples of questions, yes, he was very articulate and polished, and he’s a television host. That is his main qualification. I know we get confused sometimes on TV.
Jennings: Why are you denigrating this man’s ministry? I don’t understand, 20 years aged, excellent, Ivy Leaguer. He is a television presenter. That’s all he is.
(crosstalk)
Ramp: Not every dynamic member deserves to lead the Department of Defense.
Jennings: She said his main qualification was that he was a TV presenter and I’m sorry, that’s just nonsense.
(crosstalk)
Jennings: His main qualification is that he is a warfighter, and he will be the closest fighter to the recruits running the Pentagon. He’s excellent, he’s an Ivy Leaguer so he knows what he’s doing.
“I think he’s more like the average recruit who’s going to be reassigned and whoever is internally ready for the job,” Jennings also said.
Regard:
Later, responding to a dig from Obama-Biden/Biden-Harris alum Ashley Allison, who declared, “Tonight on CNN, Republicans don’t care about family values,” Jennings responded to her, “The party of Bill Clinton and…” Doug Emhoff may not lecture me.
Back in November, after President-elect Donald Trump nominated Hegseth for the first time, Jennings had to respond to similar arguments from other CNN panelists — and completely blew it:
“I hear all the criticism of him that he is not the expected choice of Washington. And I’m just telling you that the American people just voted against Washington’s expected choice.”
“He has been in service for 20 years. Afghanistan, Iraq. Two bronze stars. Princeton, Harvard. Yes, he’s on TV, but so are the rest of us.”
Regard:
To be fair, someone serving in the military and in a war zone is not automatically exempt from criticism.
But I think unless you can find something specifically related to a veteran’s military service that could be legitimately questioned (as was the case with Minnesota Governor/Democratic Vice President Tim Walz), it’s appropriate to start there Disparaging someone’s service in the armed forces will be a losing argument almost every time.
Second, if you argue that someone is unfit to serve in a presidential administration, be it a Cabinet position or some other office, because they are not a Washington insider, you will lose that argument everyone Time. Because, as Jennings rightly noted, Americans have just shown at the ballot box that they have rejected the status quo in favor of people willing to shake things up.
And that’s exactly what Hegseth will do if he’s confirmed.
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