Chuck Hagel is a decorated Vietnam War veteran. He's a former Republican two term Senator from Nebraska. He has close ties with President Obama and Vice President Biden. He's generally considered to be the President's first choice to be the next Secretary of Defense. Like many who have seen combat, he is reluctant to advocate

The special circumstances of this year's presidential campaign and the emergence of Rick Santorum are a challenge to describe in any one language. For that reason, I'm pressing into service the wonderful descriptive qualities of Yiddish for my maiden voyage on this website adventure. As many know, a mensch is a person of character, someone