The war against Chuck Hagel to be Defense Secretary continues. Rachel Maddow concludes this short segment, “Sorry, Charlie” on Chuck Hagel’s homophobic comment of 14 years ago with the statement, “I do not know if President Obama wants to nominate Chuck Hagel or not. But if he is, so far it’s not going all that well.”

Hagel has apologized for the statement.

“My comments 14 years ago in 1998 were insensitive,” he said, NBC News reported. “They do not reflect my views or the totality of my public record, and I apologize to Ambassador Hormel and any LGBT Americans who may question my commitment to their civil rights.”

But Maddow picked up a Washington Post item saying that the object of the 1998 slur, James Hormel, does not accept Hagel’s apology.

Notes a friend: Dan Senor is retweeting the criticism of Hagel. This gives the lobby the cover they need. Remember after they sank Chas Freeman they claimed it was all about China and Saudi Arabia. They need a smokescreen to say it wasn’t all about Israel.

Andrew Sullivan has characterized this as a “classic” underhanded smear campaign, and pointed out that Hagel voted in 2006 to oppose a ban on same-sex marriage: