Keller: Hegseth’s evasions at the Senate confirmation hearing are nothing new

The opinions below are Jon Keller’s, not WBZ, CBS News or Paramount Global.

BOSTON – Secretary of Defense nominee Pete Hegseth answered questions about allegations of misconduct, war crimes and his drinking habits. Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday.

But some of the most pointed questions were about his views on women in the military.

Where does Hegseth stand on women in combat?

“You said, and I quote, ‘I’m flat out saying we shouldn’t have women in combat roles,'” noted New Hampshire’s Jeanne Shaheen, who led a parade of senators who confronted Hegseth with her own quotes.

“For 12 years you were quite open about your views and your views were consistently the same – women are inferior soldiers, sailors, marines, airmen and rangers,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren added.

But when those views caught fire after his nomination in November, Hegseth has been given a new position directly opposite to his old one. “Women in our military, as I have said publicly, have and continue to make amazing contributions across all aspects of our battlefield,” he said.

“Which one is it?” Shaheen wondered.

“I’ve heard of deathbed conversions, but this is the first time I’ve heard of a nomination conversion,” Warren said.

But this is far from the first time a candidate faced with a controversial issue has served senators fudge instead of truth.

Presidential candidates often dodge

Trump’s Supreme Court nominees Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch pushed back against proposals they would vote to overturn Roe v. Wadethe law legalizing abortion nationwide.

“Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey has been confirmed many times,” Kavanaugh said at his hearing.

“A fetus is not a person for the purposes of the 14th Amendment … it’s the law of the land (and) I accept the law of the land,” Gorsuch said.

A few years later, both voted to overthrow Roe v. Wade.

“I’ve never had a candidate refuse to meet beforehand — Republican or Democrat — but this guy, they’re trying to rush through before the American people get focused on a man who thinks women shouldn’t serve in the military, ” Warren said after the hearing.

I doubted whether Hegseth would make it a month ago after a significant stream of negative stories about his personal and professional conduct. But there has been nothing new in the past few weeks, which is an eternity in Washington, and even if the Republican majority can only afford to lose four votes, that doesn’t seem likely.

Certainly, his evasions today are nothing unusual.