0 mainstream. >> this is being said, by the way, of a war hero. >> right. >> of a -- this is important. a war hero with shrapnel around with him. this is a guy. we know him from many different things but runs the atlantic council which is about as mainstream an organization as you will get in foreign policy. anybody out there wants to say that chuck hagel is outside the mainstream of foreign policy, i suggest they turn the mirror around on them. >> so josh, in your article as i said you pointed out some of these organizations who will come out and try to pressure lawmakers. joe says i suggest they turn the mirror back on themselves. are you seeing effective argument that is are last through the nomination process and may certainly put hagel against the ropes? >> i don't know if hagel is outside the mainstream but in a place there aren't many members of congress publicly, you know, when these letters are sent up by apac and other pro-israel groups, hagel among maybe six or four senators that didn't sign them and 90 senators did sign them. on operations like the libya operation, he was a critic of that. he seems to be opposed to a lot of u.s. military interventions overseas whether they be for humanitarian reasons or other reasons. i don't know if i'd say he's outside of mainstream but an argument is made he could be in some areas left of president obama at least the way president obama has carried out policy over the last four years. >> so then when he is in the hot seat as we refer to it during his confirmation hearing, how do we suspect he'll address the concerns? start off with israel. >> well, i think he's going to have to put forward some sort of moderation, semiapology maybe for things he said, at least the tone and phrasing. the phrase the jewish lobby offends some people. i don't think it's only neo-cons finding that offensive and the remarks about apac and pro-israel calling some of the tactics stupid and can't deny them because they're on tape. i think you will see him try to tune down the remarks and move toward the substance and where i think jim is right and probably not that far from where the american people and maybe a lot of america's jewish community are on a lot of the foreign policy issue. >> how much of this in your reporting or interviewing with sources saying that this is about his opposition to the war in iraq, not revenge or payback, but perhaps, i don't know what would be the word but it seems that seems to be a thorn in the sigh still of some republicans. >> i think especially with republican senators, there's still some resentment. i think you saw some with lindsey graham on sunday about hagel really being the first prominent republican to step off the bus on the iraq war under president bush and say this is headed in the wrong direction and may have been a terrible mistake. even though other people came around to that view and that was president obama's view after all. i think there is still some resentment in republican quarters that he did that. i think, though, it can probably be overcome if he has a successful confirmation hearing. >> do you believe it will be a success for hagel? i'll ask both of you. josh, you first. >> i think ultimately he will be confirmed. i think continuing to take a considerable amount of flack over a variety of issues, in particular stance on israel and what to do about the upcoming showdown with iran. >> jim, your thoughts? >> i think he will be confirmed. >> that was brief and to the point. thank you very much, jim and josh. appreciate your time. and she's back. a first look at secretary of state hillary clinton on her first day back at work after being hospitalized for a concussion and a blood clot and wait until you see the picture of the gift the secretary of state received from her staff. plus, the republican congressman who says a government shutdown would do us some good. >> i believe that that government shutdown gave us the impetus as we went forward to push toward some real serious compromises. i think it's about time. and our political panel weighing in on that and today's "news nation" "gut check." the decision to keep rg3 in the game. did the redskins put the rookie qb's health at risk? it's a hot topic out there and rg3, he has tweeted out to his fans and the critics of his coach, join our conversation on twitter.