Is it possible that the universe could be eternal??...

[Angrboda]

Not sure how that doesn't mean 'didn't have a beginning'.

Wikipedia -- Hartle–Hawking state

I think Mister Agenda's point is that there is a valid instance of the excluded middle here, and Hawking-Hartle doesn't rebut that conclusion.

It's the same as saying that an atheist lacks a belief in a god, yet in some way, unspecified, an ignostic doesn't fall into that category.