Another Of The Handful Of Sane Moderate GOP Lawmakers Calls It Quits

Word is out that Senator Chuck Hagel, one of the very, very few sane and moderate Republicans left on Capitol Hill, will neither seek re-election to the Senate nor run for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008.

Yes, there were many issues in which I was not always happy with Hagel. But compare him to the Frist-George Allen-Sam Brownback-Rick Santorum-Trent Lott-Ted Stevens (and so on, ad infinitum) crew - nuts so rancid that no self-respecting or even rabid squirrel would touch them on its hungriest day - and Hagel was a saint.

While Hagel certainly isn't gone yet, he will be missed. Too many of the moderates - Jim Jeffords and Lincoln Chafee - have departed and what passes for a GOP politician these days is downright scary.