Hagel Comedy Hour: Asks Indian Professor if He's Member of the Taliban

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel found some common ground with Vice President Joe Biden in an address at the University of Nebraska.

After talking military posture and global threats, Hagel took questions from the audience.

“Way up in the back there… You’re not a member of the Taliban are you?” he said.

“Mr. Secretary, I’m Robin Gandhi. I’m an assistant professor at UNO,” the professor responded.

Incidentally, Hagel effusively praised Biden in the same address.

“Joe Biden is one of the most human, honest, decent human beings I’ve ever — ever worked with in my life in any job I’ve ever had,” Hagel said. “If you look at Joe Biden’s voting record and my voting record, they’re about as far apart as you could get, except on — on the issues of foreign policy and national security. And that used to be a line that parties didn’t cross.”

“…Joe came up a pretty hard way.  Now, that doesn’t mean that he’s any better than anybody else. He had to overcome a lot of things.  And I trust him on — I just trust who he is.  And he’s fun to work with. He’s very serious and he’s very tough. And it’s a pleasure.”