President Obama’s decision to nominate Chuck Hagel as Defense secretary was designed, in part, with the ambition to divide the Republican Party against itself. If they opposed him, Republican senators like Mitch McConnell  and John McCain  would be facing the prospect of explaining their formerly gushing comments toward their former colleague. It would bring out the handful of Republican foreign-policy realists, whose voices have been growing louder as enthusiasm for American interventionism has waned. And it would add to the growing list of issues where Republicans offer knee-jerk ... Read More