Hacket was blackmailed over photo's that were'nt even of him! BY DEMS

[seriousstan]

Swift boats soon appeared on the horizon. A whisper campaign started: Hackett committed war crimes in Iraq—and there were photos. “The first rumor that I heard was probably a month and a half ago,” Dave Lane, chair of the Clermont County Democratic Party, told me the day after Hackett pulled out of the race. “I heard it more than once that someone was distributing photos of Paul in Iraq with Iraqi war casualties with captions or suggestions that Paul had committed some sort of atrocities. Who did it? I have no idea. It sounds like a Republican M.O. to me, but I have no proof of that. But if it was someone on my side of the fence, I have a real problem with that. I have a hard time believing that a Democrat would do that to another Democrat.”

In late November, Hackett got a call from Sen. Harry Reid. “I hear there’s a photo of you mistreating bodies in Iraq. Is it true?” demanded the Senate minority leader. “No sir,” replied Hackett. To drive home his point, Hackett traveled to Washington to show Reid’s staff the photo in question. Hackett declined to send me the photo, but he insists that it shows another Marine—not Hackett—unloading a sealed body bag from a truck. “There was nothing disrespectful or unprofessional,” he insists. “That was a photo of a Marine doing his job. If you don’t like what they’re doing, don’t send Marines into war.”

A staffer in Reid’s office confirmed that Hackett had showed them several photos. “The ones I saw were part of a diary he kept while serving in Iraq and were in no way compromising. The one picture in question depicted Marines doing their work on what looked like a scorching day in Iraq,” said the aide.

But the whispering continued, and Hackett was troubled. “It creates doubt and suspicion,” Hackett told me, saying his close supporters were asking him privately about the rumors. “It tarnishes my very strength as a candidate, my military service. It’s like you take a handful of seeds, throw them up in the wind, and they blow all around and start growing. It really bothered me.”

http://motherjones.com/news/update/2006/02/hackett_drops_out.html

[sandnsea]

1. Then Hackett was swift boated by whispers

And if he can't even fight back against friggin' WHISPERS, then what the hell would he have done with a full on Republican assault.

Enough of this shit already, ENOUGH.

[formernaderite]

8. sorry, I'm no Hackett fan

but if he was indeed swiftboated by dems...it's reprehensible. I thought he dropped out because he was a prima dona. However, the charges if true, change everything. Listen, you don't expect the people who've backed you to START the whisper campaign!!! You're certainly not in the financial position to have to combat your own people.
I happen to like Brown a hell of alot more than Hackett...but you don't pull shit like this. It is wrong. BTW, I don't think Brown had anything to do with it...but there is something brewing in DC, and it smells.

[sandnsea]

10. Who is really swift boating? Hmm?

Hackett against Dems? Because his is the only word we have that other Dems were doing this to him.

I like Hackett and Brown. But if the man can't stand up against a whisper campaign, then he isn't ready to run for Senate in Ohio, that's for damned sure. And if he's got no proof that this was being done to him, then he's initiated his own whisper campaign.

[formernaderite]

21. so you're saying he's lying

and I'm assuming you therefore NO longer like him. As I have stated on numerous threads, I'm no Hackett fan, based solely on the repub lite ads he used in his campaign against Mean Jean. I don't like races run dishonestly, just to confuse the voters.
So you guys think he's made this stuff up, and really is a huge liar....interesting. Even I'm not that cynical, but I am always suspicious of DC politicians.

[sandnsea]

22. No one has presented any proof

Hackett hasn't, and has actually said that it sounded like something Republicans do. So who is spreading this whisper campaign about the whisper campaign? That's all I'm saying. If you don't like one, you shouldn't participate in the other. And if Hackett got swift boated by a whisper campaign, no matter who was doing it, then what would he have done in the GE.

I remember those ads, btw, hadn't thought of them in a while. But alot of people have been confusing populist rhetoric with liberal policies for quite some time. Still, somebody who is over 50% to the left of Olympia Snowe is fine with me, and Hackett was definitely that.

[RazzleDazzle]

29. No. He did NOT say that, and that's not what was meant anyway.

It was someone quoted for the MoJo article who said that, and if you read it IN CONTEXT, it isn't saying Republicans probably did it, but that it was a Republican-style tactic:

“The first rumor that I heard was probably a month and a half ago,” Dave Lane, chair of the Clermont County Democratic Party, told me the day after Hackett pulled out of the race. “I heard it more than once that someone was distributing photos of Paul in Iraq with Iraqi war casualties with captions or suggestions that Paul had committed some sort of atrocities. Who did it? I have no idea. It sounds like a Republican M.O. to me, but I have no proof of that. But if it was someone on my side of the fence, I have a real problem with that. I have a hard time believing that a Democrat would do that to another Democrat.”


http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2006/02/hackett_drops_out.html

[sandnsea]

35. "The first rumor I heard"

Yes, we're talking about rumors here. ALL of it. Whisper campaigns. Anybody spreading any of it is swift boating.

I'm not saying Hackett is, I'm not saying Brown is. It's just as likely that it's all Republican smears.

But at this point, for any Democrat to point their finger at another Democrat, is nothing but swift boating because there's NO PROOF of anything. Just rumors. Just whisper campaigns.

We need to knock it off. Enough is enough.

[OzarkDem]

14. He wasn't

and I would be VERY suspicious of anyone trying to make this out to be a Dem whispering campaign.

[RazzleDazzle]

30. Then why aren't any of the Dems mentioned DENYING IT?????

You're going to be suspicious of MotherJones?? Howard Dean?

[sandnsea]

37. One denial is in the article

"A staffer in Reid’s office confirmed that Hackett had showed them several photos. “The ones I saw were part of a diary he kept while serving in Iraq and were in no way compromising. The one picture in question depicted marines doing their work on what looked like a scorching day in Iraq,” said the aide."

How could they be spreading rumors when they didn't think there were any rumors to be spread????

Hackett was just too easy, DeWine's people spooked him and he bit, hook line and sinker. And now we've got a divided Dem Party, AGAIN.

[ewagner]

2. Swiftboating?

maybe...and maybe by our side...?

Here's the thing. We need to get to the bottom of this because if it is something that was done by Democrats then we WILL have a civil war within the party...(actually I think the Greens will win but that's another post). Whatever faction pulled this needs to be hunted down. If it's the Repubs again, we need to expose them. If it's our own..well...bring it on...we'll have to fight this battle eventually...might as well be now...

[Catrina]

4. I agree and I am writing an email to Reid, Schumer and Brown

asking them if they have made any attempt to find out who did this. This threatens all of the campaigns. Schumer, eg, is operating in a similar way in both NY (his state) but also in Penn. where he has been accused of undercutting the liberal challenger there.

Not one Dem will have a chance, if this becomes a pattern where the party uses this kind of Rovian tactic to make sure there are not primaries. And if it's Republicans, it means they have already figured out who the weaker candidate is, and are pushing them towards defeat in Nov.

I am amazed that the Democratic leadership has not spoken out strongly about this and apologized to Paul Hackett. The only one I have heard do so, is Howard Dean so far ~

[Mitt Chovick]

3. BY Dems????

What the fuck?

A year ago or so he was the great war vet hope and now this?

Talk about getting used and abused and pushed aside.

I hope Paul Hackett gets justice against whomever did this. This is beyond disgusting.

[OzarkDem]

15. Welcome to DU

[Mitt Chovick]

27. Thanks

:hi:

Mitt thinks to himself, "I've been getting welcomed for atleast 6 months now, may need to post more often instead of just reading and absorbing the wisdom around here"

[Adelante]

5. There is no proof offered in that article

That this was done BY DEMS - let's not accept as fact something that is opinion based on fucking whispers!

[LittleClarkie]

9. Are you saying there's a whispering campaign about the whispering

campaign?

[Adelante]

11. You've noticed

You're always the sharp tack.

[LittleClarkie]

13. Hey, get enough caffine in me, and I can do quantum physics

So when does the whispering campaign about the whispering campaign about the whispering campaign start?

[emulatorloo]

20. it already has -- you're posting on it. . .EOM

:hi:

[RazzleDazzle]

32. What kind of proof do you want for whispers?

Really, how do you prove whispers? The word of others isn't enough? What then do you want?

And are you saying that the author lied about Reid's office confirming some of it?

Some of you guys are just amazing.

[Adelante]

38. Reid's office confirmed there was nothing inappropriate

in the photos Hackett showed them. It says nothing about the source of the rumors, ie that the rumors were started by Democrats. See? We all know there was a smear campaign, I am in no way saying there wasn't. Hackett and his supporters believe the culprits are Brown and/or his supporters, I get that. But believing something is not the same as knowing something. The rumors were out there since the summer, as I understand it, before Brown was running and when Hackett was running in OH-02 against a Republican. Conclusions should not be drawn until all the facts are in.

"You guys"? Huh?

[greenohio]

39. Wow. You are on every thread defending the black balling of Hackett.

Fascinating.

[Adelante]

41. I beg your pardon

I am trying to get at the root of the swiftboating of a Fighting Dem. That's my interest here. Where have I ever defended the "blackballing of Hackett"? In your dreams.

[greenohio]

44. My apologies. I must have you confused with someone else. nt

[Adelante]

48. Thank you

I appreciate it.

[Algorem]

6. Where does it say Hackett was blackmailed,or that it was by Dems?

Oap! It doesn't!

[The Magistrate]

7. This Artricle Is A Mere Hatchet Job, Sir

Aimed at Rep. Brown and Sens. Schumer and Ried.

The author cites no sources at all for most of hsi claims,a nd makes others that are false to fact, such as describing Rep. Brown as more "centerist" than Maj. Hackett.

[OzarkDem]

12. Exactly

Its enough to make one wonder just how much the Republicans are involved in this.

[snowbear]

16. I agree... The title of this post bashes Democrats, when in fact..

the author --> doesn't cite a single source.

Does sound pretty hoakie..

[RazzleDazzle]

34. dupe, sorry

read the other one. :D

[RazzleDazzle]

36. Doesn't cite a single source?

Have you READ it? YOu can't have...

Swift boats soon appeared on the horizon. A whisper campaign started: Hackett committed war crimes in Iraq—and there were photos. “The first rumor that I heard was probably a month and a half ago,” Dave Lane, chair of the Clermont County Democratic Party, told me the day after Hackett pulled out of the race.

snip

A staffer in Reid’s office confirmed that Hackett had showed them several photos. “The ones I saw were part of a diary he kept while serving in Iraq and were in no way compromising. The one picture in question depicted marines doing their work on what looked like a scorching day in Iraq,” said the aide.

snip

“It creates doubt and suspicion,” Hackett told me, saying his close supporters were asking him privately about the rumors.

snip

Hackett backers suspected the smear was being floated by Sherrod Brown’s campaign. A senior Brown staffer angrily dismissed the charge this week as “ridiculous.”

Brown campaign spokesperson Joanna Kuebler declined to respond to the rumors. She offered this prepared statement: “This campaign has never been about Paul Hackett or about Sherrod Brown. This campaign is about the hard working people of Ohio, and what Republican corruption has done to them.”

snip

An internal poll done in February for the Hackett campaign that was obtained by the Cleveland Plain Dealer showed Brown leading Hackett by 20 points, but Hackett took the lead if voters simply heard both candidate’s bios.

snip

The hosts of a Beverly Hills fundraiser received an e-mail from the political action committee of Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) that concluded, “I hope you will re-consider your efforts on behalf of Hackett and give your support to Sherrod.” Waxman’s chief of staff, Phil Schiliro, said the e-mail was only sent to a handful of people and that “it probably came from a suggestion from the Sherrod Brown campaign.”

snip

Michael Fleming, who manages Internet millionaire David Bohnett’s political and charitable giving, was one of the recipients of the Waxman e-mail.

snip

But veteran political activist David Mixner, who described himself as “a fanatically strong supporter” of Hackett and who helped sponsor a New York fundraiser, confirmed that he “received calls from a couple people in Congress urging Paul Hackett to withdraw or not to contribute money to his campaign.

snip

supporters have reacted angrily. “If the Democratic Party continues with these suicidal decisions, we will continue to defeat ourselves,” declared Yolanda Parker, who recently attended a California fundraiser for Hackett.

snip

Democratic Senate Campaign Committee (DSCC) spokesman Phil Singer stated, “Neither the DSCC nor Senator Schumer reached out to donors to ask them to take sides in this race.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2006/02/hackett_drops_out.html


Good grief, there are 3 or 4x the number of "sources" quoted than I'd realized and remembered.

[Adelante]

40. Dave Lane - there's a problem right there

-snip

In an interview with The Plain Dealer, Hackett said he knew the source of the rumors but didn't want to elaborate.

He referred a reporter to Clermont County Democratic chairman David Lane, who said Friday that he has "seen no proof that a Democrat" was behind the rumors.

He said Hackett might have mentioned him because he had told Hackett last fall that Dan Lucas, an aide to Brown, had said to him shortly after Brown entered the race that "there are things out there about Paul that I don't think he really wants to be made public."

-snip

http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf?/base/news/114025579369310.xml&coll=2&thispage=3

This does not mean Dan Lucas started the rumor, but that he told Dan Lane that there were rumors. Nevertheless, in the MJ article Lane is saying he first heard the rumors around New Years. In the Plain Dealer today he says he heard them in October. This is a conflict.


Further complication:

The rumor about Hackett had been known since last summer, according Brain Rothenberger of the Ohio Democratic Party. “Who knows where it came from?” he said in a phone interview; but he did say it originated in the blogosphere. “I don’t think it had any credibility. The blogs are fueled by rumor. It’s a perpetuated myth.”

http://www.motherjones.org/news/update/2006/03/hackett_drops_out_02.html

If Rothenberger's statement is accurate, the rumors may have started when Hackett was running against a Republican.

None of this is clear cut. We have to slow down in our assumptions. Let's at least try to get at the truth before we fry the Dems.

[DancingBear]

23. No sir, it says no such thing

The article is quoting David Mixner, and he is relaying the reasons he was given for being asked to withdraw funds to Hackett. if you'll note, he (Mixner) floats a variety of reasons. To imply that the article "misspeaks" re: Brown and his political ideology is not correct.


"Sen. Schumer was also reported to be trying to turn off Hackett’s cash spigots. No one would confirm this to me on the record. But veteran political activist David Mixner, who described himself as “a fanatically strong supporter” of Hackett and who helped sponsor a New York fundraiser, confirmed that he “received calls from a couple people in Congress urging Paul Hackett to withdraw or not to contribute money to his campaign. The reasons ranged from he can’t win, to he’s too controversial, Brown has more money, is more centrist, and more appealing. It was that inner beltway circle crap,” said Mixner. “They are people who have no idea what’s going on in the country but believe they know everything.”

[Free the Press]

25. Seems like the OP got your fingers all tied in a knot too, lol @ typos!

Links and sources are always welcome.

[dolstein]

17. It's pretty hard to be blackmailed by photos that don't exist

NT

[Savannah Progressive]

18. Are we saying that the Democratic Elite wouldn't torpedo one of their own?

Because if that is our belief, then there is no hope for any of us, much less our party's future.

We watched the talking heads destroy Howard Dean in the 2004 elections, he was in the lead in the polls, then all of a sudden, James Carville and Paul Begala declare he's "Unelectable" and adios Howard. The next day, every commentator from New York to Los Angeles wrote opinion pieces on how Howard Dean was unelectable. Was that an accident?

We watch it all the time, a new upstart runs, garners a good amount of attention, climbs rapidly in the polls, and blammo, they are out nuked by some pictures or video, or claim from someone "close". Do we think that the Repugniks are nuking our newbie candidates?

I have said it before, and will keep saying it over and over again. There isn't a dimes worth of difference between the Washington Dem's, and the Washington Repugniks. Every once in a while one of the Dem's will toss us a bone with a speech or a statement, but then vote with the Repugniks to destroy our civil liberties, or sell our ports to a hotbed of Islamic Terrorism.

[OzarkDem]

24. Welcome to DU

and there's a big difference between Dems and Republicans and no Dems didn't and wouldn't do this kind of thing.

[Savannah Progressive]

28. Democrats wouldn't do it?

Sorry, what Political Party is it that Paul Begala and James Carville belong to? I didn't realize it was the Repugniks. My bad, I'll take the hit on that one.

BEGALA: Welcome back to CROSSFIRE.

A just released CNN/"TIME" magazine poll shows Howard Dean is starting off the new year at the very top of the pack of nine Democratic candidates. But Dean's opponents say that the former Vermont governor would almost surely lose to President George W. Bush in a fall matchup.

So, is Howard Dean unstoppable or is he unelectable? http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0401/02/cf.00.html

The only thing I'm semi-certain about is Dean's lack of electability in November....The similarities grow with every day. Not just the insurgent voter enthusiasm, the new ways of fundraising, and the bevy of flummoxed opponents, but also the economy (artificially stimulated by Nixon through the Fed and by Bush through the dollar just in time for election year) and the war (raging, but bound to quiet some by election time, and to raise prospects of peace)....I fear a cataclysm in the fall if the Democrats nominate Dean. 11 November 2003 Washington Monthly.

[wyldwolf]

46. you call that "torpedoing?"

The problem with the entire Dean movement is that they couldn't take criticism.

Remember, Dean, the Dean campaign, and Deaniacs across the country did their fair share of criticizing other Dems.

[Savannah Progressive]

54. Interesting argument, the "Deaniacs did their fair share of criticizing"

Yes they did, they criticized the actions, and statements of people. For example, criticizing the vote by Senator Kerry approving the war in Iraq, and his statements supporting the war in Iraq, is absolutely appropriate in my opinion. Criticizing someone for REAL actions, publicly criticizing the individual for votes, statements, and actions is certainly fair.

However, we all objected to the Swift Boating of John Kerry, for Imagined actions. Even we "Deaniacs" joined in demanding an end to that, heck we led the demands to have it shut down.

We will happily discuss any real action that happened, however loose innuendo and feigned vague memories aren't real actions, they are imagined wrongs. I will apologize if my dog goes in your yard, and make an effort to rectify the situation. I won't apologize if I don't have a dog, and the repeated demands of an apology for something I didn't do, and demanding I correct the situation isn't rational.

I keep waiting for James Carville and Paul Begala to declare who is electable in every race, thus determining our candidates in each district. Why bother with the preliminary races, let's just have Carville and Begala decide who we should run in each race, and their decision is final right?

[wyldwolf]

55. calling another Democrat "republican."

Calling congress "roaches."

Right.

[x-g.o.p.er]

26. Great post!!

Well said...

[greenohio]

49. I think most of us realized he was torpedo'd, some just

don't care. They like Brown. My issue is that the primary should have decided.

[madmom]

19. earlier I heard that he said he dropped out because he knew he

didn't have the money he knew it would take to fight the swiftboating attacks.

[Cocoa]

31. this really doesn't make sense

it's a pretty bad article, and that part you excerpt is extremely confusing.

Mother Jones made a boo-boo.

[seriousstan]

33. Read what VolcanoJen has to say about her personal experience with this...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=172x12680

[wyldwolf]

42. Who is "VolcanoJen?"

[LincolnMcGrath]

43. Read the link

[wyldwolf]

45. I have, and I ask again

Who is "VolcanoJen?"

She may be the nicest person I'd ever meet, but to me she is an anonymous poster on the internet. The word of such is just as reliable as an article with no sources that prove the point of the article.

[LincolnMcGrath]

47. Apparently VolcanoJen is a liar.

I guess when you read it you missed the part where VolcanoJen said she believed it was the result of Republicans. :eyes:

[wyldwolf]

51. VolcanoJen is an anonymous internet poster

I didn't miss any part of the article.

[OzarkDem]

53. and she's provided little information

and hasn't answered questions about when and where she heard these stories. Hmmm.

[Tom Rinaldo]

50. Democratic Vets are vulnerable within our Party to Swiftboating

Because a statistically significant percentage of Democratic activists have trouble coming to grips with the role of the military in our nation. Potential war crimes committed by U.S. soldiers are always a hot button issue with activists, and when the question is not being focused on the behavior of individual members of our military, activists frequently focus on civilian deaths that result from U.S. military actions during wars. In a primary setting especially, where the Democratic core liberal base represents a greater overall percentage of voters, a general distrust of our military held by 10% of Democratic voters can be enough to swing an election against a recent Vet if a whiff of war related scandal rumors can be injected into the race, with or without merit.

This is a larger question for Democrats to deal with. I can say personally that the fact Republicans controlled the Presidency for most of my life, with their resultant foreign policy inclination for "military adventures", helped drive a subtle wedge into my thinking toward the military that I didn't begin to recognize until we finally had a Democratic President for 8 years as Commander in Chief, and I was glad to see the United States confront genocide in the Balkans and wished we had sent forces into Rwanda also, a mistake Clinton later acknowledged and apologized to the people of Africa for.

War is Hell and terrible things happen during combat, where our soldiers are frequently confronted with potential kill or be killed realities. But until we have a world where even nations like Sweden and Canada don't feel a need to maintain a military, we need one also. Our troops don't choose when to start a war, our President does. But no one will ever find a picture of George W. Bush handling a civilian casualty in a war zone, an enlisted serviceman or women will always be left to care for and deal with the casualties of war, and it will be their photos that can later be twisted out of context against them.

[seabeyond]

52. hey it wasnt by dems that is bull. what i got, my interpretation of

event is the repugs are set to let this go two weeks to election. that the dems were concerned and asked about it and they discussed how htis was going to effect the election in nov. haskett didnt have the money for an all out on this attack. and the dems concerned about the smear to haskett. but i didnt hear in any of the posts that the dems threatened or BLACKMAILED haskett with these concerns, legitmate concerns of theirs. further haskett was concerned too. what a misleading title you have

[MrBenchley]

56. And then Howard Dean kidnapped Hackett's children!

Hackett quit, and wants to blame everybody else for his failure. Get over it.

[Kolesar]

57. MJ needs to hire an editor. A real editor.

That article is full of red herrings and unsubstantiated quotes.