The GOP’s anti-Hagel crusade: Was it worth it?

By Aaron Blake, WashPost, Updated: February 26, 2013

Chuck Hagel made the penultimate step toward becoming the next defense secretary Tuesday, with his nomination overcoming a procedural vote that it failed to get past two weeks ago.

For all intents and purposes, that means Hagel will be confirmed shortly.

But not for lack of trying by GOP senators, who invested plenty of time and political will in trying to upend the nomination of their former Republican colleague.

So with the battle now all but over, it begs the question: Was it worth it?

There are compelling cases to be made on both sides:

Why it wasn’t worth it

At the end of the day, any legislative maneuvering needs to be judged on whether it succeeded. And in this case, barring something out of left field before the final vote, Hagel will become the next defense secretary. In other words: The GOP lost. Republicans quite simply weren’t able to land that final knock-out blow that they were hoping for, and now they’ve got a guy they really don’t like headed for one of the top Cabinet posts in the Obama administration.

(More here.)