Sherrod Brown defends intelligence votes

[Algorem]

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060221/NEWS09/602210393

Article published Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Brown defends intelligence votes
Senate candidate visits Toledo, discusses security, domestic policy

By JIM TANKERSLEY
BLADE POLITICS WRITER

...Researchers for former Democratic Senate candidate Paul Hackett, who quit the race last week, believe those votes would hurt Mr. Brown in a general election...

At an evening meeting of young Democrats, Mr. Brown criticized Republicans, including Mr. Bush and Mr. DeWine, for not spending more on homeland security; for the Iraq war, which he said has made Americans less safe, and for a recent report that the Bush Administration will allow a Dubai-based company to manage U.S. ports.

"When they go after me on defense and intelligence and all that, I'm going right back at them," Mr. Brown said. Later, he added: "These guys are failing at every day. They're not going to get away with saying we're soft, because we're not."...

In the brief interview, Mr. Brown said he expects Republicans to attack his national security credentials because "they have nothing else."...

[OzarkDem]

1. Brown fights back

Good luck if you decide to pick a fight with this guy. He fights back with the truth.

Hackett surprises me by repeating Rove talking points. I can't believe he's criticizing Brown for voting against the Patriot Act. Good luck Hackett, America disagrees with you.

[Daylin Byak]

2. Brown is the man

Sure I don't like what the Dems did to Hackett, but we still have a good candidate like Sherrod Brown, loved what he did during the summer when he stood up againist CAFTA.

[liberal N proud]

6. We have a hell of a candidate in Brown

When I moved to Ohio a few years back, I didn't know who my congressman was but as I became involved in politics here, I had the opportunity to work with Sherrod, He is a regular guy with a strong work ethic and he understands who his constituents are.
He worked very hard in the NE Ohio area on stopping bu$h's attack on Social Security.

We hate to see him leave his congressional seat but fully support his move up!

[w13rd0]

3. In all fairness...

...the article says "researchers for Hackett said"...

See, let the CorpoMedia write the articles, and you'll always get that cheerful clouding of things. "researchers for" "advisors for" "prominent democratic consultants say" yeah, ok...

Brown v DeWine

I'll be supporting Brown. End of story. Yeah, what the leadership sat badly with many. I'm sorry, but we've got to keep pushing. The Republican jackboots have been at their social engineering for over 50 years now. We're not going to change the world, or our Party, overnight. No, progress is NOT fast enough. Yes, we should be demanding change now. But I'm not prepared to bolt and give the corporations unhindered control of our lives and the future of our nation without at least fighting, every day.

[KittyWampus]

8. Hackett was doing his job as opponent. I do NOT expect Democratic

primary fights to be all nicey-nicey.

DU'ers have to come to grips with the fact that IF there are going to Democratic primary fights, there WILL be dirt flung and some unsavory tactics.

And to wail, moan and gnash teeth when Candidate X attacks Candidate Y for voting for this before voting against it or being an Osama lover is absurd.

You either want a Democratic candidate who can win against Rove and a biased media or you don't.

[wakeme2008]

4. Mr. Brown if you can not take the heat you should have

not got into the kitchen.....

No matter what advisors to Hackett know, Rove had ten time that much on you and your voting record. And it will be all coming out this summer/fall before the election.

[OzarkDem]

5. Hilarious, you obviously don't know Brown

Believe me, Brown can take the heat. Recall, he's the guy who had the guts to say Bush was AWOL in a Congressional hearing with Colin Powell.

I'm sure it bothers Hackett supporters that Brown is actually both a stronger fighter, a better anti-war candidate and a loyal Dem with an excellent progressive record. You'll have to learn to accept it, he's a better candidate.

[sendero]

7. A better candidate..

... if OH were liberal, which it isn't. It will take a boatload of swing voters to take OH and Brown, a classic liberal who will be painted (fairly) as such, will win only if the anti-Repub vote spins out of control.

I hope it does, but I wouldn't bet a day old donut on it.

[KittyWampus]

11. DU'er vociferously assert time and again, that we don't need DINOs.

All we need are liberal candidates to run and STAND UP for our ideals.

So now, many of same DU'ers are saying but but but...

Funny how so many DU'ers became pragmatic overnight.

[sendero]

13. Hackett..

... isn't a DINO, and if you think so perhaps your thinking abilities are impaired.

[nolabels]

16. I think he was implying Brown was

Maybe I am wrong but in either case it's all about mudslinging. Looks to like a lot of it going around

Using Primaries To Reject Lies & Support True Progressives
(snip)
Now, after finishing reading In These Times new cover story, I see that another Democrat is making a new kind of destructive, pathetic, and deliberately dishonest claim. As the magazine reports, Ohio U.S. Senate candidate Paul Hackett (D) is attacking his Democratic primary opponent Rep. Sherrod Brown (D) for supposedly supporting the 2003 decision to invade Iraq. How could that be, you ask? Didn't Brown vote against the war, aggressively organize opposition to the war after the invasion, challenge Secretary of State Colin Powell to provide answers about the President's lack of national security credentials, and support legislation demanding an exit strategy? Yes, he did. But according to Hackett, Brown supported the war. Here is his positively outrageous and slanderous claim:

"Hackett says that because Brown voted for the Iraq Liberation Act of 1998, which expressed 'the sense of Congress' that the United States should 'support efforts to remove the regime headed by Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq' and 'promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace that regime,' Brown voted for the war... 'Sherrod Brown voted for regime change; he voted for military intervention in Iraq.'"

The author of the article, Christopher Hayes, goes on to point out just how slanderous a statement Hackett is making. He notes that the Iraq Liberation Act "explicitly contradicts that logic" because the bill specifically said "Nothing in this Act shall be construed to authorize or otherwise speak to the use of United States Armed Forces” with the exception of training and weapons for Iraqi opposition groups. In other words, the bill specifically went out of its way to make clear it was not endorsing U.S. military action against Iraq or a U.S. invasion of Iraq. That's why anti-war heroes like Reps. Bernie Sanders and Dennis Kucinich voted for the legislation in the House, and why it passed with unanimous consent in the Senate, meaning people like Senators Ted Kennedy and Paul Wellstone supported it.

Yet, incredibly, Hackett's comments mean he is actually claiming that anti-war heroes like Sanders, Kucinich, Kennedy and Wellstone supported President Bush's 2003 invasion of Iraq. No matter whether you support Hackett or Brown in the primary, there is no debate that Hackett's comment is a disgusting lie that every progressive should be outraged by. How dare anyone make such a slanderous claim. How dare someone insult the intelligence of progressives by trying to pawn off such a ridiculous, patently dishonest lie for his own political purposes.
(snip)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/using-primaries-to-reject_b_11035.html

[wakeme2008]

12. For Mass. but not for

Ohio... A Ted Kennedy liberal has no chance in Ohio of today.

[demhawk]

17. Brown vs. Hackett

What you are missing is that this district, and unfortunately I live in the district that is now represented by Jean Schmitt, is Ultra Conservative. Brown will not draw those Republicans away like Hackett could and did. Brown might be a better progressive candidate with an excellent record and a loyal Dem, but as far as winning an election here, he doesn't have what it takes. Hackett did, people (Repubs) were willing to listen to him because of who he was--a war vetran. And once they listened they liked what he said enough to ignore the fact that he was running as a democrat. Brown will never have that appeal--not in Conservative Ohio where people tend to vote against their own best interests.

[Orangepeel]

15. it sounds like he's taking the heat and throwing it back

:shrug:

[stepnw1f]

9. Was the Leak a Pre-emptive Ploy?

Meaning, rather than having the GOP attack Brown on this issue, they might be able to smooth this out within the party itself. Who knows...

[nolabels]

10. The sniff test ends with him stating they need to waste more in Iraq

Thanks for the DINO alert

[Algorem]

14. some sort of transcription on this blog-

http://glasscityjungle.blogspot.com

Monday, February 20, 2006
Sherrod Brown speaks to LCYD and UT Dems....

Sherrod Brown spoke for about 25 minutes, I've tried my best to transcribe what I could from the tape and work from my notes that I took of direct quotes, and points while he spoke. As I've done before with similar events, I have tried to not interject my opinion but to try to present what was said.

Sherrod Brown started with an introduction that included the significance of his canary in a cage pin that he and his staff wears. He has a very thorough explanation on his website so I will not duplicate that here.

He stressed that because of what has happened the past five years under President Bush is why it is so important that he win this Senate race and that Ted Strickland be elected Governor as well as democrats statewide like Tom Osowik for the Court of Appeals (who was present) win this November.

Sherrod stated that he was there to "ask all of the Lucas County Young Democrats and UT College Dems to step up this year like you never have before for Strickland for Governor and me for the Senate and one of the things that I'm urging every other Democratic candidate this year to do is get the minimum wage petition circulated, to get the minimum wage on the ballot, that when all of us every single one from top to bottom campaigns, we all say vote November 7th for minimum wage and while you are there vote for Strickland for Governor and Brown for US Senate and Congress right down the line....I need your help this year more than any of you have ever stepped up before, I know you worked hard for Kerry two years ago and we came that close, we are going to go into the rural counties, Ted Strickland and I are going to Putnam County day after tomorrow together." He then went on to list the other counties that they are going to cover...

[Javaman]

18. The logic behind hackett's hatchet party releasing this is beyond me..

So, sour grapes rules over the dem party?

I still maintain that these "swiftboat" type boobs are repuke plants. what would be their ultimate goal? to get dewine back in???? it appears that way to me.

[MrPrax]

19. Unclear....

Mr. Brown criticized Republicans, including Mr. Bush and Mr. DeWine, for not spending more on homeland security; for the Iraq war, which he said has made Americans less safe, and for a recent report that the Bush Administration will allow a Dubai-based company to manage U.S. ports.

It's not clear? He wants more pork for DHS--but he is critical of the Iraq war for 'not spending more'?

I assume he is just 'critical' of the war because showing up complaining about funding for food banks and then demanding MORE money be spent on DHS is a bit of hard one to swallow.