Senate math points to likely Hagel confirmation

>>> it is not technically over, but yeah, it is over, in the senate, there is one threshold of obstructionist that has never been violated. the thing that never happened in the modern-day senate is no senator has filibustered to fill the cabinet. so the last 40 years, no matter how unpopular the president's choice for his cabinet, no senator in that time has used the filibuster to deny the cabinet level nominee an up or down vote. not everybody gets through once they're nominated, but nobody gets clocked by just a minority of senators. and it was remarkable when he was asked today the possibility that the republicans may filibuster president obama 's nominee for the defense secretary , the leader said it was entirely possible.

>> it is unclear yet. senator hagel didn't do a very good job before the armed services committee , i think the opposition to him has intensified, whether it means he will achieve 60 votes or 51 is not clear.

>> meaning they will filibuster, the republicans call themselves conservatives. but that word, i don't think it means what you think it means, overthrowing decades of unprecedented issues, it is certain, noises for filibustering, that is a leap, if they filibuster chuck hagel , they will not succeed. we know it because of math. there are 55 senators in the democracy caucus, they support chuck hagel , you need 60 to override a filibuster, so if you carry the one, the democrats only need one on their side to support a filibuster, there are two on record supporting chuck hagel for defense secretary , and we've seen reports for another six republican senators who have said that even though they may, oppose hagel, they wouldn't support a filibuster, there are two that seem unlikely to filibuster as well. that means a total of ten republican senators who wouldn't support the filibuster, and if i have done the math right that is double the amount they need to override it. it is still more than enough, even if you subtract the squishy two. the vote is not expected until thursday, the full senate vote not expected until after that, but honestly, barring something unforeseen, we'll have a new defense secretary and it will be chuck hagel because of math. i'm