| Morning Jolt – December 21, 2012 By Jim Geraghty Here's your Morning Jolt. Happy Friday! Jim THE MAYAN PROPHECIES ARE TRUE! THIS IS THE LAST MORNING JOLT!!!! . . . Until January 2. Actually, I did briefly think the Mayans knew something awful was going to happen this morning, when I couldn't get my laptop to turn on. As you undoubtedly know, taking your computer to the tech guy at Staples or Best Buy or wherever is like a child going to the principal's office -- all of a sudden, with a disapproving glare, the laptop's behavior suddenly improves. Be of Good Cheer, Even When the News Is Bad. Those Around You Need the Lift. I really like this bit from Warden, over at Ace of Spades. I'm going to clean up a few of the f-bomb . . . At the heart of every conservative's worldview is this simple truth. You—not your lucky rabbit's foot, not some cosmic lottery, not your circumstances, your parents, your race, gender, or disability—YOU determine the life you live. Belief in self-determination is at the very foundation of our ideology. It is why conservatives champion liberty and personal responsibility while rejecting collective guilt, class envy, tribalism and victim-hood. It's what defines us. It's what we believe and it's who we are. And so I say to you, so what if we lost this election? [To heck] your poor-me-ism and f*** mine too. Winners win. Losers lose. And you're a winner. . . . Remember this saying? Living well is the best revenge. Well, it's got nothing to do with accumulating a bunch of wealth so you can show it off to your enemies and make them jealous. Quite the opposite. Living well means living a happy, contented life filled with love, laughter and meaning. Look at these clowns on the other side. They won. Conservatives are demoralized. The GOP is splintering. Socialized health care is now the law of the land. They're getting almost everything they've ever wanted, yet they're as angry, dishonest and hateful as ever. Did they really beat us? No. Not where it counts. They're empty inside. They're not winners. Winners learn, love and grow. Winners have strong work ethics, faithful marriages and unshakeable values. Winners don't blame others for their failings, they work to overcome them. Winners believe in something greater than a man in the Oval Office. Remember this: No matter what happens in D.C., no one can make you stop loving your kids. No one can prevent you from being a great mom, a wonderful spouse, or a loyal friend. These things are yours. You own your life. They do not. No matter what lies they tell about you, they can't diminish who you are. Honestly, if we let ourselves fall into the trap of thinking that our ability to feel good about our lives and the world as a whole is dependent upon our political leaders doing what we want them to do . . . well, we're doomed to be pretty miserable for a really long time. Why Are Republicans Skeptical of Hagel? Hey, Why Are Democrats So Enthusiastic about Him? Suddenly I get the feeling that Chuck Hagel's expected nomination to be the next secretary of defense could very well end up succumbing to a left-right pincer movement of opposition. Take a look at the latest Hagel nomination complication: Former Sen. Chuck Hagel -- a finalist for the post of Secretary of Defense in Obama's second term -- once opposed a nominee to be U.S. Ambassador to Luxembourg because he was "openly aggressively gay." "Ambassadorial posts are sensitive," Hagel told to the Omaha World-Herald in 1998, opposing the nomination of philanthropist James Hormel. "They are representing America," he said. "They are representing our lifestyle, our values, our standards. And I think it is an inhibiting factor to be gay -- openly aggressively gay like Mr. Hormel -- to do an effective job." Some LGBT rights groups are already criticizing the potential selection of Hagel to replace Leon Panetta. Delicious. Think about how much we've had it pounded into our heads over the past 14 years, by our media and political elites, that the act of believing that homosexuality is immoral or some sort of flaw represents the worst of hatred and bigotry in the modern world. And now think of all of those folks having to insist that the declaration "it is an inhibiting factor to be gay-- openly aggressively gay like Mr. Hormel -- to do an effective job" is no big deal. Obama and his friends are going to have to tie themselves into pretzels over this. Sonny Bunch: "It really is remarkable how quickly Hagel's chorus of supporters clammed up after the 'aggressively gay' comments came up. I'm impressed!" Man, imagine what Hagel would think of a gay Zionist. But gay and lesbian Democrats might not be the only folks shifting uncomfortably in their chairs as they examine Hagel's past record. Matt Cooper writes: It's Hagel's work on the environment that may prove to be a more nagging question--one hardly likely to derail a potential nomination but interesting nonetheless. One of the first high profile things that Hagel worked on after coming to the U.S. Senate in 1997 was going after the Kyoto climate accord. He was a congressional observer at the meeting and, along with the late coal champion Sen. Robert Byrd, authored the resolution against it. To be fair, that measure passed 95-0 and Hagel's objections echoed that of many members, namely that too little was being asked of mega-polluters India and China. But it portended future opposition to environmental measures. Daily Kos reminds us that former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill recounts how, with Dick Cheney's prodding, Hagel wrote a letter questioning new emissions standards put out by Christie Whitman's EPA. Their full account is here. All of this is relevant to the defense secretary's job because of the huge energy impact the Pentagon has with all those ships, planes, trucks, troops, missiles, and helicopters. So the anti-Hagel coalition is likely to include Iran outreach skeptics, defense spending fans, friends of Israel, gays and lesbians, and environmentalists.He's a uniter, not a divider? Alana Goodman, writing over at Contentions: "Why make Democratic senators . . . walk the plank on this, when by finding a qualified Democrat, we can please the base?" a Jewish organization official told Mike Allen in the story above. Walking the plank is a good way to put it. If Hagel is nominated, he will most likely get through, but it will be brutal for Democrats. Not just the confirmation process–though it will be embarrassing and damaging for Obama to have to defend some of the statements and positions Hagel's critics will drag out. The real damage would come later–think of how the left demonized Donald Rumsfeld. Every move Hagel makes would be scrutinized and politicized. Anything controversial would be hung around the necks of the Democratic Party. For the most part, Republicans have gone easy on Obama's defense secretaries, but that would change. Josh Greenman, of the New York Daily News, summarizes what he calls the "Hagelian dialectic: trial balloon, thesis, antithesis, synthesis, nomination of someone else for Defense Secretary." ADDENDUM: Best to you and yours this holiday season. To read more, visit www.nationalreview.com Save 75% . . . Subscribe to National Review magazine today and get 75% off the newsstand price. Click here for print-edition information. Click here for digital-edition information. And National Review makes a great gift. Click here to send a full-year gift to NR Digital, and here to send a full-year subscription to the print edition. Conservatives – stay healthy! Get plenty of Vitamin Sea on the next National Review cruise. 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