Montgomery, AL – Bill Armistead, Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party issued the following statement today after the United States Senate voted to confirm President Obama’s nominee, former Senator Chuck Hagel as Secretary of Defense:
“I want to express my thanks to Senator Sessions for standing up against President Obama and his nominee for Secretary of Defense. Senator Sessions voted his conservative convictions by voting against Chuck Hegel as secretary of defense.
We here in Alabama have rejected the liberal policies of Barack Obama twice by resounding numbers. We felt the nomination of Chuck Hagel was another ill thought plan of this President. Chuck Hagel has a bad record when it comes to support for our ally Israel and has been soft on the regimes in Iran and Syria. His testimony on Capitol Hill made many American question whether or not he was up to the job of being Secretary of Defense.
For all of those reasons, and many more, the Alabama Republican Party through a vote of its Steering Committee opposed the nomination of Chuck Hagel. However, he will now serve this nation in a critical post and we pray that he will serve our country well.
As is the time honored tradition in America, politics stops at the water’s edge and now we must all pray for Secretary Hagel as he guides the Defense Department in these troubled times with many unstable hot spots in the world where American interests and American personnel are at risk.”