foreign network, broadcasting propaganda and to explicitly agree with the characterization of the united states as the world s bully is not the conduct one would expect of a secretary of defense. all right. let s get right to it. we re joined now by washington post political columnist dana milbank, professor james peterson of lehigh university, and msnbc contractor jimmy williams. dana, i m going to start with you. we saw freshman senator ted cruz of texas making a big push in the spotlight. this time going after chuck hagel. he was one of three senators who streeted against john kerry s appointment of secretary of state. he seems to be staking out a specific territory for himself, sort of more on the right. but when you wrote about senator cruz during the election, you said that you were, quote, comforted by the theory that cruz is driven more by ambition than by tea party doctrine. so does that theory still give you comfort? it does, karen. i mean, i can t say that what he s do