Et tu, NYT? This nomination has confounded me from the start, but Hagel's hideous performance makes it downright mindboggling. In fact, this friendly fire doesn't come from the Times; it comes from within the administration!!!

“It’s somewhere between baffling and incomprehensible,” a member of Mr. Obama’s own team of advisers on Iran said on Thursday night when asked about Mr. Hagel’s stumbling performance on the question during the all-day hearing. The worry was evident in the voice of the official, who would not speak on the record while criticizing the performance of the president’s nominee. For those who question whether the no-containment cornerstone of the Obama approach to Tehran is for real, or just diplomatic rhetoric, Mr. Hagel clearly muddled the message, he said.

As we say, with friends like this, who needs enemas.