'Gaffetastic!' Chuck Hagel pulls a Biden, asks Indian prof if he's a member of the Taliban [video]

Jenn Taylor | 7:56 AM on June 20, 2013

In this week’s edition of “Sh*t Chuck Hagel Says”:

Gaffetastic! MT @FreeBeacon VID: Hagel asks man at U of Nebraska if he's in Taliban; turns out 2 b Indian professor http://t.co/0cuQauQfnI

— Michelle Malkin (@michellemalkin) June 20, 2013

Gaffetastic, indeed. After reportedly answering question on negotiating with the Taliban, Secretary of Defense Hagel called on an Robin Gandhi, a University of Nebraska professor of Indian descent. “You’re not a member of the Taliban, are you?” he joked.

https://twitter.com/intelligencebar/status/347676113872498689

Here's the guy Hagel asked if he was a member of the Taliban. http://t.co/smnaXczgwv PHD from UNC and Indian-American. Fantastic.

— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) June 20, 2013

Go home, Chuck Hagel. You’re drunk.

That explanation would have been better than the one the Pentagon provided.

Guys, you gotta read the Pentagon's statement responding to Hagel's "joke": http://t.co/r5WRCJ7rhC

— Sunny McSunnyface (@sunnyright) June 20, 2013

Uh huh:

Absolutely no slight toward any individual in the audience was intended. That’s the last thing the Secretary would do under any circumstance, in this or any other setting. He didn’t know who would be called next to pose a question.

The Washington Free Beacon suggests that’s not quite true: “That last sentence is belied by the fact that Hagel appeared to call on the man himself.”

Any thoughts on this, Joe Biden and Matt Yglesias?