Sen. Hagel’s brother: ‘It’s just a matter of time’

Earlier Monday, Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel (R) announced that he would make a decision about his political future later in the year. Later, Tom Hagel, who served in Vietnam with his brother, told Hardball whether he thinks his brother will end up running for president. 

Chuck and Tom Hagel took different political paths after their serving together in Vietnam.  Tom, a Democrat, helped the Kerry-Edwards 2004 campaign organize veteran support in Ohio. He is also a law professor at the University of Dayton.

NBC's David Gregory talked to Tom Hagel, brother of Sen. Chuck Hagel on "Hardball," which aired tonight at 5 and 7 p.m. (ET).

The following is a transcript of the interview:

DAVID GREGORY, GUEST HOST, "HARDBALL":  Tom, thanks for being with us.  So, what was this about today?  Is your brother in or out?

TOM HAGEL, BROTHER OF SEN. CHUCK HAGEL: You know as much about it as I do. I talked to him last week, and he told me what he was going to say.   And I think that his inclination is to be in.  And to be quite frank with you, I would expect him ultimately to throw his hat in the ring.

GREGORY:  So, why not do it today?  What else is he waiting for?

T. HAGEL:  That I don’t know.  I don’t know the specifics.  But if I had to guess, I would say that he ultimately will do it.

GREGORY:  So, why does he want in?  As he looks at this landscape on the Republican side, what opening does he see for himself?

T. HAGEL:  That’s the question I have.  You look at the reality of the situation, and I think that you have a number of people that are already out there, that seem to represent representation for, you know, certain segments of the Republican Party, and maybe for the electorate in general.

But I think that he sees himself as a candidate who can rise above the run-of-the-mill political babble that goes on.

GREGORY:  All right.  But what does that mean exactly?  Because one of the things that does set him apart right now, he is conservative.  There’s a lot of talk about who’s the true conservative in this race.  But he is running away from this president, and fast, on the war.

Is that really what is going to define a Chuck Hagel campaign, is that he was the Republican who stood up to Bush on the war and said, this is wrong, this isn’t working, you botched this?

T. HAGEL:  I don’t think it could be any other way, because of the place that the war is in the public mind today, that is the key concern, apparently, with society.  That if he enters into this race, based on the positions he’s already stated, I don’t see how it could not set the context for his entire campaign.

GREGORY:  What does he think about not only the war, but about the political standing for Republicans?  Does he think that Republicans will pay a price for having stood by Bush on the war?

T. HAGEL:  I think he does.  But I don’t think that that has anything to do with his position.

If you look at historically, you can go all the way back, and he has been a pretty consistent critic of this war, where I think there’s some.

GREGORY:  But he did vote for it.  He voted for the war.

T. HAGEL:  That’s true.

GREGORY:  He voted to give the president the authority.

T. HAGEL:  That’s true.  And I remember watching that speech, and I thought it was going to be a run-up to all the reasons why he was not going to vote for it, and then he did.  And I think he did that, quite frankly, out of party loyalty, or maybe he actually believed what the president was saying.

GREGORY:  But he thinks that vote was wrong now?

T. HAGEL:  Somebody’s going to have to ask them that, and I’m sure somebody - if they haven’t already - will.

But again, the problem, that problem is going to be confronted by him, just like it is by Senator Clinton, about the concern about flip-flop, which is - I think maybe that defines how frivolous some people look at the process of political debate in this country.

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