Republicans’ record of lying, cheating, trampling the Constitution, violating statutory law, corruption, cover-ups and the grossest incompetence in U.S. history cause me and many others to think intelligent choices based in part on party make good sense.

It never ceases to amaze me, in our current situation, when people talk up putting an end to partisanship. Now that we have screwups, setbacks and messes as far as the eye can see, all of them made by the most rabidly partisan pack of jackals in a century, we’re all supposed to join hands and march together toward some middle-of-the-road Utopia where never is heard a discouraging or partisan word.

That’s not going to happen because most Americans are smarter than that. They know they’ve been screwed over and they know who did it.

This sudden insistence on bipartisanship comes off the way it would have if Hitler, when the Red Army and Allied forces were closing in on his underground bunker, had proposed just stopping the fighting and letting bygones be bygones.

Hagel might be good in that job, too. I’ve already said the next president should consider keeping Bill Gates on at Defense. He’s the one really good appointment Bush ever made, and is doing a good job under very trying circumstances. If he’d be willing, Sen. John Warner would also be a natural in that post.

As far as choosing Hagel for vice president, no, no, no. Nothing doing, unless Hagel is willing to switch parties, which seems unlikely. Hagel as V.P. might set Obama’s good friend up for a presidential run in eight years. If he was successful, we would have another GOP administration and all the never-ending crap that goes with it — even if Hagel himself is a basically decent guy.

Besides, that’s no way for Obama to treat all the loyal Democrats who are supporting him with everything they’ve got. There are plenty of topnotch Democrats who would make an excellent vice president. The names Edwards, Dodd and Daschle spring to mind.

1) The best person should get the job, period.
2) He’d be backing up his message of bipartisanship and unity.
3) Plucking popular Republican senators out of Congress could help build a majority.