I don't think Karl Rove could've done a better job wounding the Democrats

[brentspeak]

than what our own leadership just did, with its handling of Paul Hackett.

Let's assess the damage:

1) We just lost Paul Hackett from the party. A guy who almost everybody was able to rally around.

2) A whole chunk of the Iraqi War veteran generation may have been lost too. Hackett was bringing Iraq War vets to rallies, getting them interested in the Democratic Party. A lot of them right now are probably disgusted with the way Hackett was treated.

3) For once, the Republicans can honestly point to an incident where the Democrats had no ethics. They can also say that you too, as a Democrat, might get stabbed in the back.

4) Jean Schmidt, one of the most ghastly of the new Republicans who so far have emerged, has now been guaranteed reelection. If the Democratic leadership was at all serious about taking Schmidt's seat, they would never have encouraged Hackett to pursue the Senate seat in the first place.

5) Mike DeWine is probably feeling pretty good himself, too. His opponent just changed from a charismatic maverick who nearly won in an extremely conservative Ohio district, to a Chardonnay/latte liberal who has only won in the most liberal part of the state.(Someone pointed out that I'm wrong on this. See below.) All his "progressiveness" doesn't mean beans if he can't win a statewide Ohio election.

6) Besides Ohio, a lot of Democrats from the rest of the nation are pi$$ed off and frustrated. I'm from New Jersey, and I'm ticked about all this. Party operatives and Brown apologists spamming boards both here and on Kos (including Markos himself) with B.S. stories of "Brown declared his candidacy first, before Hackett ever did." have just made things worse. You think we're stupid, or something?

This party definitely needs to put up an "Under New Management" sign. Remove the Schumers and the Emanuels from the leadership positions, and replace them with people who actually know what they're doing. And fast, before people leave the party permanently.

[Maven]

1. Hmm.

1) Agreed.
2) Agreed.
3) Agreed.
4) Agreed.
5) Agreed.
6) Majorly agreed.

I don't understand the defend-the-party-at-all-costs people here. This was a sucky, insider-politics move. The fact that Brown is the "PDA candidate" is bullshit too. Means nothing if he has no charisma, no momentum, and no message. Hackett had all of these things.

This is a loss due to bullshit insider back-scratching, pure and simple.

[dsc]

2. 5 is blatently false

First, Brown was elected statewide in 1978, as Secretary of State. He narrowly lost to Taft in 1982. In addition, while his current district is quite liberal the one he represented before redistricting was nothing of the sort. It was a rural district centered around Lorain which is a blue collar city. These are facts in the public domain and should have been found by you before posting number 5. Please edit.

[brentspeak]

3. I'll leave it in there, because I'm wrong

I'll take the heat for posting wrong info.

[dsc]

5. fair enough

I just wish more people knew about Brown's record. He has a good record of winning elections even tough ones. The loss to Taft was in a bad year and to a name. In 1994 he was targetted and had a prosecutor for an opponent. He beat the guy soundly while two other of our Congressmen lost.

[agincourt]

4. It gets obvious after awhile,

the party leaders don't have a clue about winning elections and governing as well. Hackett was one of our best weapons.

[The Magistrate]

6. With All Due Respect, Sir

This is greatly overstated. Maj. Hackett ran one race for an open seat. There is no particular reason to believe he would have stood up well to the needs of a statewide race against an entrenched incumbent: amateurs often make serious mis-steps in the course of such a campaign. It is not a business for on the job training.

Further, Maj. Hackett is hardly a progressive overall. He opposes the war, he is a fighter, and these are stirring and admirable qualities. But a large number of the people decrying his resignation from the conmtest would be cursing themselves blue in the face over his votes were he actually in office.

Whether or not the professionals' judgement in this case was correct or not remains to be seen, of course, but there is no reason whatever to believe it owes to anything but a reasoned calculation of what course will most likely win us a Senate seat in Ohio.

"LET'S GO GET THOSE BUSH BASTARDS!"

[msongs]

7. kerry could not "win" ohio so what's yer beef with a

chardonnay/latte liberal as YOU choose to identify him?

say do you believe the election rigging in Ohio will NOT apply this year?

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[applegrove]

8. Didn't some of Brown's workers make the decision to leave Hackett

& go back to Brown. As great as Hackett seems - he is a neophyte?