Biden: Why The GOP's Wrong About Hagel; Hagel Confirmation Fight Starts Tomorrow; Hillary Clinton In 2016?
BLITZER: We are expecting a major fight on Capitol Hill tomorrow when confirmation hearings get under way for defense secretary-nominee, Chuck Hagel. Several Republicans say Hagel has no credibility as some of the most dangerous foreign policy issues out there. But the vice president, Joe Biden, thinks very, very differently. The vice president spoke exclusively with our chief political analyst Gloria Borger who is here in THE SITUATION ROOM. Obviously, they have been friends, Biden and Hagel for a long time.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL ANALYST: Going back to their days in the Senate. I asked the vice president about the Hagel nomination and he was sort of key in paving the way on Capitol Hill for this. I asked him about the charge among Republicans that this foreign policy team is too dovish and that Chuck Hagel would not be right man for the job. Listen to what he said.</s>JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: The real President Obama has exercised force responsibly as boldly and as bravely as any president in American history. This is the guy who has not backed away. And he's also ended wars that almost any military man out there will tell you we should not be engaged in again. The idea of getting engaged in a ground war in a country that's in transition is not a prescription any military man would suggest and to suggest that two war heroes, a Bronze Star, a Purple Heart, Silver Star, taking over both the state department and defense is -- whatever the phrase was, is ridiculous.</s>BLITZER: So what are you hearing? What are the chances that he won't be confirmed? I think he will in the end.</s>BORGER: The White House is pretty optimistic that he's going to get confirmed. He's going to face a pounding tomorrow in the Armed Services Committee. I mean, you have Senator McCain there, used to be a friend of his, if you'll recall, but after 2007 when Chuck Hagel all but endorsed then candidate Barack Obama, the friendship kind of dissolved. There's only one Republican so far, Wolf, that's come out for Chuck Hagel and that's Thad Cochran of Mississippi who says that Hagel is one of his best friends. So while it looks like the Democrats are going to be able to keep their own party in line, they are going to need five Republicans if there's a prospect of a filibuster, they don't quite have it yet. They still think it's going to get through.</s>BLITZER: Yes, we'll see what happens in that hearing before the Armed Services Committee in the Senate tomorrow.</s>BORGER: That's right. Tomorrow morning.</s>BLITZER: Gloria, thanks very much. Let's get to our "Strategy Session" and dig a little bit deeper with Democratic strategist, Paul Begala, along with former Bush White House press secretary, Ari Fleischer, a consultant, board member for the Republican Jewish coalition. They are both CNN contributors. I think both of you agree with me that, in the end, Ari, I'll start with you, he will be confirmed.</s>ARI FLEISCHER, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: It seems that way. The senators lean that way when you count the numbers. But Chuck Hagel owes the American people an explanation. If he cannot give a good enough explanation for some of the controversial positions he's taken in the past, positions which almost no other senator shared, he's going to have a very hard day. So I think you have to let him have his chance tomorrow and we'll see.</s>BLITZER: What do you about all of this? Do you have any doubt about it, Paul?</s>PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: I have very little doubt and I actually agree with Ari, maybe shock to hear that. He might have to revisit his position, but Senator Hagel has been going around office to office on the Hill as all these nominees do. And he's been asked some very, very tough questions. He did cast votes. Ari is exactly right. Opposing sanctions on Iran, which most senators in both parties disagree with, sanctioning Iran has helped to really damage their economy, has not stopped the nuclear program. But it is a corner stone of the way the United States is trying to confront Iran. Ari is right, he will be asked tough questions about it, but when strongly pro-Israel Democratic senators like Chuck Schumer and Frank Lautenberg and so many others have heard the answers that Hagel has given them in private. They have come out for Chuck Hagel. So he will have to cross that bar in public tomorrow the way he has with so many senators in private.</s>BLITZER: You can add Dianne Feinstein among those Democrats as well. She is going to be joining us, by the way, in our next hour. Let me move on and talk about Hillary Clinton.</s>BEGALA: -- of the Intelligence Committee, she's a real power in this because --</s>BLITZER: We'll see what the Republicans decide to do and if they decide to filibuster, for example, that would require 60 votes to break a filibuster so this is not done yet although in the end I suspect he will be confirmed. Let's talk about Hillary Clinton. Paul, let me start with you. I'm going to play a little clip. She had an interview yesterday with CNN and she was asked about this new super pac. She's not affiliated with it already calling on her to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's a pac just ready and registered for Hillary Clinton.</s>HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: Is there really?</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you going to tell these people to stand down? Everyone is waiting for that --</s>CLINTON: You know, right now. I am trying to finish my term as secretary of state and the president and I had a good laugh the other night because I am out of politics right now and I don't know everything I'll be doing. I'll be working on behalf of women and girls and I'll be hopefully writing and speaking. Those are the things that I'm planning to do right now.</s>BLITZER: All right, Paul, this super pac, "Ready for Hillary," that's what it's called, are they jumping the gun?</s>BEGALA: Sure. Of course, they are and frankly so am I by even talking about this with you, Wolf. Of course, I love Hillary and worked with her husband for so many years. You certainly did not hear her do her impression of General Sherman in that interview on CNN. But she also I think it's quite obvious, no one knows the lay of the land. She's not going to commit to running when I think in her heart she is not decided to. She's got the time. She's the support. There's no need to rush into 2016 for Hillary or frankly for me or the rest of your pundits and analysts.</s>BLITZER: What do you think? How formidable would she be if she were the nominee, Ari?</s>FLEISCHER: She would be formidable. I think that she brings a lot of power to the primary, but remember, everybody thought she was formidable and would win in 2008 and she lost to a junior senator from Illinois. You know, I think the issue for Hillary is at this stage in her life, what she's done in her career. Does she really want to go through Iowa? Does she want to go through South Carolina, New Hampshire, live the primary life? It's a brutal, hard, long, long hours' life. I think if she got the primary handed to her on a silver platter, which will never happen, she could run or she would run. But going through the primary process, I just think that's going to really be a bar that -- at the end of the day, why would she want to cross that bar?</s>BLITZER: Because she wants to be the first woman president of the United States. I suspect that she will. She's still got a lot of energy. If her health is OK, I think she will run because she sees history potentially being on her side and I've known her for 20 years, as someone who gives up easily. So that's just my guess, but who knows? We'll wait and see guys.</s>FLEISCHER: Write it down.</s>BLITZER: Thanks very much. The NRA is described as Washington's most popular lobby. Is that hype? Is that reality? 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