Retiring Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel was once called “(R-France)” on the cover of National Review for his various conservative unorthodoxies. According to Sam Smith at Huffington Post, Hagel vented some long-suppressed agita today against his own Republican Party at a Johns Hopkins forum:

“Yes, there have been some differences and some pretty significant ones in [the Republican Party]. But when you ask the question: ‘Has [our approach] worked? I don’t think many people will say it has worked,” he said, adding later: “God knows I would never question the quality of our elected officials, that’s why I’m so popular with many of them.”

A thought-experiment. Had Hagel opted to stay in the Senate while saying stuff like this or openly endorsed Barack Obama, do you suppose the GOP caucus would have embraced him?

Oh, and Hagel — who was once on Obama’s shortlist for secretary of state in the wooly, pre-Hillary Rodham Clinton days — said many nice things about Defense Secretary Bob Gates, which can’t hurt Gates’ chances for staying on another year.