Hackett Manhandles GOP Talking-Points Action Figure

[Bob Geiger]

As a Veteran myself, it pains me any time I see a fellow Vet humiliated. But tonight it was worth it because a) The Iraq war Vet in question so thoroughly deserved it and b) the smackdown was delivered primarily by another Veteran, Paul Hackett of Ohio.

The venue was MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews tonight and the person getting his comeuppance was Van Taylor, a Republican Iraq war Veteran who is running for the House of Representatives against Democrat Chet Edwards in Texas.

Taylor, who appeared to have carefully studied one 3X5 card from the Republican National Committee in preparation for his appearance tonight, was almost comically unprepared and could only manage to hit the usual GOP talking points no matter what Matthews asked him or how Hackett responded.

It was the usual stuff: "We need to stay in Iraq until we get the job done." "We need to fight them there, because if we don’t fight them there, we're gonna have to fight them here."

You know the drill.

When Matthews hit him on the fact that almost nobody in Iraq is being killed by Al Qaeda -- because Taylor kept bringing Al Qaeda into the picture -- the befuddled Texan could only go back to his prepared script.

"We need to be in Iraq because of Al Qaeda and we cannot leave Iraq until Al Qaeda is eradicated from that country."

There's a long pause before Matthews blurts out "But those are talking points!"

But then Hackett jumps in and really schools Taylor on how, if he's going to appear on television to defend Bush's disastrous policies in Iraq, he better come with more than a handful of GOP talking points.

Here's Hackett:

"What you're watching <in Iraq> is chaos, pandemonium, civil war. This is not something that's going to happen in the future, if we leave because we are going to leave. It's something that is happening every single day in Iraq because this administration has mismanaged this war, has mismanaged the military, has redirected the military, has ignored the advice of the military leaders and has made America the laughing stock of the world.

"They have depleted our prestige, the have depleted our strength as a country and, frankly, Mr. Taylor is an apologist for this failed mission, lack of policy, lack of strategy, lack of goal-oriented mission accomplishment. There is no goal. There is no strategy. There is no plan. This administration is floundering on the world stage and you and I are paying the price for it."

But enough about my take on it… Please go to Crooks and Liars and watch the entire clip.

I guess when 10 of 11* Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are running for Congress as Democrats, the Republicans had to take whoever they could get.

What they got, was Ken Mehlman Jr.

You can read more from Bob at BobGeiger.com.

* In the sentence referenced above, I had originally said that there were 51 Iraq war Veterans running for Congress this year. This is incorrect. It is, in fact, 11 Vets of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and in some cases, both -- running and only one of those is a Republican. There are a total of 50 Veterans, from all periods of military service, and not only the Iraq war, running as Democrats. I regret the error.

[Monkeyman]

1. I loved when the replug said I will go back to Iraq

Anybody got a one way ticket for him

[yorkiemommie1]

4. i yelled out,

" Then GO!!! " He was awful and creepy, too! Hackett was great!

[Beartracks]

65. Over there! Over there!

You mean... he could fight them there so we don't have to fight him here?

[Stinky The Clown]

2. This Game Film MUST be shown to **every** Democrat.

Van Taylor clearly didn't do so well in the RW's candidate school. I'm surpirzed they even allowed him to run. Hacket **destroyed** him.

Here's the two essential strategic pearls in that clip.

1 - Taylor lost the whole debate in the first 10 seconds. Tweety asked him a question and Taylor went right for the talking point. Tweety interrupted him and re-asked the question. Any halfway skilled teevee yakker would have just kept going, right over Tweety. (Answer the question you want to, not the question that's asked.) Most Repubs know this and do it skillfully. Most dems simply don't.

2 - Come to the fight armed to the teeth. Hackett knew who he was debating, in particular all his weaknesses. And he keep poking the knife into those weak spots. Over and over and over. With outrage. With derision. With mocking laughter (skillfully shown by biting it before it turned to a guffaw, late in the clip). Hackett also kept interrupting when he wanted to and threw the appropriate punches.

That was a gun fight and Taylor came with a pea shooter.

This film clip NEEDS to be seen by EVERY Dem candidate.

[DesEtoiles]

6. This is how EVERY media person SHOULD do an interview

dont' let them get away with those BS talking points.

Stick those talking points right up their @ss.

[geiger]

47. DESTROYED

totally

[redqueen]

59. YES YES YES YES YES YES YES!

Not only every candidate, every Dem type person invited to appear on those shows!

[chieftain]

3. I was so pleased to see one of our guys talking over

the mouthpiece from the dark side. I have been so pissed off watching these little RW apparatchik spewing nonsense and leaving our people sitting their with their thumbs up their ass. Congratulations,Paul,I continue to be proud of you.

[mitchtv]

8. Hackett was great, too bad was it Steve Mc Mahon?

followed him and played the usual Donna Brazille, Bob Schrum, democrat ie; WIMP he almost undid all the street creds that Hackett gained

[BootinUp]

5. Hackett is blasting the crap outa him and Bushie.

Had to stop and comment in the middle. :)

[snowbear]

7. OMG, Hackett absolutely ROCKED (as usual) during that debate!

And if the ReTHUG, Van Taylor, manages to pull out a win.. the voters in that Texas District DESERVE the piss-poor candidate that they get!! :mad:

I love watching Paul Hackett. And as much as I like Sherrod Brown in Ohio, it's incredibly painful to watch Hackett in action while thinking about Schumer urging him to get out of the race.

Yeah, yeah.. I know that some Ohioans on here argue that Sherrod Brown has the better resume.. But if he winds up losing, I hope that Schumer is never allowed to give his input to future Democratic elections again!! Not EVER!

[ginnyinWI]

25. Hackett's got time; he'll be back again

Maybe as early as 2008. I know he's got too much fire not to get into another race.

[life_long_dem]

9. Thanks Bob, great review.

Ken Mehlman Jr.- no doubt...

[timontheleft]

10. Taylor should have called in sick

He made a complete fool of himself. He sounded like a parrot (a very stupid one).

Thanks for sharing. :toast:

[Monkeyman]

11. What do you want Hacket's a Marine and took the beach

You want to storm a beach you send in the Marines you want recon you send guys like me in behind the lines yep Airborne

[Mz Pip]

12. Van Taylor looks like

he could be Ralph Reed's little brother. A smarmy little twit if there ever was one.

Hope Chet Edwards rams this little twit to the floor.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[snowbear]

14. LOL .... Ralph Reed's little brother!!!

I hadn't thought about that, but you're 100% right!

BTW.. if any of our Texan DU'ers drop in .. how's that swarmy little twit doing in the polls there anyway?

Hopefully his opponent is kicking his ass just like Hackett did!!

[bklyncowgirl]

20. Aw but he is prettier than Ralph Reed ever was, don't you think.

Not the sharpest tool in the shed but easy on the eyes in a choir boy sort of way.

Of course ten minutes of talking with the clown and you'd be ready to tear your hair out.

[tblue37]

22. Nah--I would want to tear HIS hair out! (eom)

[tech3149]

13. I had a most energetic and visceral response to Mr Taylors

stuttering and stammering. ASSHAT! The fool couldn't give a straight answer to a simple question and wasn't skilled enough to spin it without sounding foolish and dishonest. If that's the best Texas has to offer then thy'll be blue by 2008.

[NativeTexan]

15. That little scuzbucket will NEVER........

......beat Chet Edwards. And if you don't know...Chet Edwards is GWB's Representative in Congress!!

This dude is a little slimeball and Hackett took him to the woodshed!!

WAY TO GO PAUL!!

[Cosmocat]

33. Yeah ...

I have seen Taylor in the past, and it is only because I have a pretty strong personal policy of not speaking negatively of people who have served that I simply just say that I was not impressed ...

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

16. Now THAT's what you call an ass-whupping!

That yoyo Taylor had nothing going for him but the assigned talking points -- and it was nice to see Schizo Tweety light into him. But the best part was Hackett telling this dweebazoid bushbot where to stick it...

[Harry Monroe]

37. When you've got nothing but empty talking points...

...without any substance to back them up, the house of cards eventually comes tumbling down. If we get Democrats to grow a set of balls and respond to these "talking points" with fire like Hackett did, then we'll take back Congress in November. The people need to see that the emperor is buck naked. Alas, time is running out for our side, unless Democratic candidates hit back hard and develop a cohesive and unified game plan NOW!!!!

[TheFarseer]

17. my favorite quote

"Why did we attack Iraq?"

"That is a question you can ask historians"

My jaw hit the floor!

[Lasher]

39. This GOP evasion tactic has been used before.

They use it to try to escape accountability. It's like, "Don't ask that question now, wait for 50 years and ask someone els."

George W. Bush, when asked by Bob Woodward "how is history likely to judge your Iraq war?" replied, "History, we don't know. We'll all be dead." (Woodward Shares War Secrets, CBS News, 60 Minutes, April 18, 2004).

And here's Condi at her SoS confirmation hearing:

SEN. JOSEPH BIDEN: The questions we asked you in writing and then yesterday at the hearing I thought, gave you an opportunity to acknowledge some of the mistakes and misjudgments of the past four years. But instead of seizing the opportunity, it seems to me, Dr. Rice, you danced around it.

You sort of stuck to the party line, which seems pretty consistent: You're always right. You all have never made any mistakes. You're never wrong. And it's almost like if I acknowledge any weakness, if I acknowledge any misjudgments on the part of me or the president or anybody in the team, it's a sign of weakness. But I don't... I personally don't think it is. I think it's a sign of some degree of maturation, strength.

CONDOLEEZZA RICE: I said yesterday, Senator, we've made a lot of decisions in this period of time. Some of them have been good. Some of them have not been good. Some of them have been bad decisions, I'm sure. I know enough about history to stand back and to recognize that you judge decisions not at the moment, but in how it all adds up. And that's just strongly the way that I feel about big historical changes. I'm being as straightforward with you as I possibly can.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/fedagencies/jan-june05/ricehearing_1-19.html

[TheFarseer]

64. This dumb bastard was mixing up his talking points

It's supposed to be, "History will judge whether this was a success" Not "History will judge why we invaded Iraq" That occurred to me at work this morning. He might as well have said, "Why don't you make like a banana, and leave" or "Make like a tree, and split"

[Blue_Tires]

60. holy.fucking.shit

*stabbity*

of course, the next questions needs to be, "Since we have no goddamned historians on this show, I'll ask you again!"

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

18. You had me at "Van Taylor."

:rofl:

[Clark2008]

32. Sounds like a sneaker...

Vans and Chuckie Taylor's merge to form the ultimate surfer-dude basketball shoe!

:rofl:

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

34. He has a wife and three keds.

:rofl:

[calimary]

69. Jesus, Mary and Joseph - ROFL!!!

"...a wife and three KEDS"!!!?!?!?!?!?!??!!?

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

That's just TOO good!!! Wish I could nominate your post as the Post of the Day! I'm gonna be laughing about that til bedtime, and it's just after 10 in the morning here in L.A. as I write this.


:yourock:

And to larissa, who noticed how this Van Taylor twit looks like ralph reed's little brother - Kudos! That was my first thought, too. He looks like he just graduated off the training wheels on his kiddie bike. I would have said high school sophomore, at best. He fought in Iraq??? And he has to cling to talking points to discuss it now??? He's already been over there??? What the hell was he doing over there? Mess-hall duty? Laundry? Shoe-shine kid to the general-du-jour? The official napkin-folder at said general's dinner table? Dear God, if he'd seen any actual combat, you'd think he'd have realized at some point - just who he was fighting.

Hackett wiped the floor with him alright. And Chris Matthews, for a change, gave him the "hardball" machine-gun questioning he usually reserves for our guys. And he just folded like a paper fan. PATHETIC. For a guy who supposedly was over there and presumably saw for himself. Dear God! What an embarrassment!!! If this is the cream of the crop the GOP is putting up against us, hey - bring 'em on! We're in better shape than I thought.

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

19. Go Tweety. Damn, I had no idea he had any

balls at all.

Interesting.

[ginnyinWI]

26. he loves a close race--he said so tonight

I don't trust Tweety to always be on the side of the truth. He just likes a good rumble. But he did know how to needle the Republican tonight, for sure. Most enjoyable.

[Straight Shooter]

21. Action figure? No way! He's the Repub talking points blow-up doll. n/t

[citizen snips]

23. K&R

n/t

[Roy]

24. I almost fell off my chair.....

I almost fell off my chair when Matthews said Van Taylor is the lone Repub Iraq vet candidate and Hackett was one of only a handful of Dem Iraq vets running.
Watch for it it may be in the clip, it was the initial introductions.

(snip from OP)
"I guess when 50 of 51 Iraq war Veterans are running for Congress as Democrats, the Republicans had to take whoever they could get."

[samsingh]

27. gopers really are stooges - they are so stupid and misinformed

[Vinca]

28. Hackett's smack down was a thing of beauty.

The Ken doll didn't have a chance.

[OzarkDem]

29. How can a veteran be so blind?

Isn't it a betrayal to his fellow vets to continue supporting Bush's policies? I mean, come one, Bush is destroying the military.

[Jacobin]

30. Two words

John McCain

[spooky3]

31. "It is difficult to get a man to understand something

when his salary depends upon his not understanding it." -- Upton Sinclair

In this case, his salary is paid by the GOP.

[Harry Monroe]

35. Awesome

...Hackett ate Edwards' lunch!! THIS is how Democrat candidates should be responding to the robotic "talking points" of Rethugs again and again and again. I really wish Hackett WAS running for something; he is telling it like it is, not how some of us wish it were. Democrats MUST study this video piece and use it as learning tool NOW!!!!

[Harry Monroe]

36. My bad...

...I meant to say "Van Taylor's lunch". So, so sorry 'bout that; I was so pumped at Hackett's performance, I sent out my message without proofreading it. Apologizes again!!!! Mea culpa.

[Bretttido]

38. Yes, Hackett was great!

His name recognition will continue to rise and he will make an excellent candidate in 2008. He has a bright future ahead. :patriot:

[Craig3410]

40. Geez; even I can tell that those are blatant talking points!

Drinking game; do a shot every time he mentions "Al Qaeda".

You'll be :puke:ing in 3 minutes!

Edit: He uttered "Al Qaedda" 13 times.

[rodeodance]

41. I watched that. again and again, Taylor spuded out talking points. It was

all he apparently knew. over and over. I actually was laughing. Tweety did good also

[Felinity]

43. The words "talking points" should be the most frequently

used phrase in the Dem's debate book. Here's what I posted to another thread this morning:

There's a Hardball video where Paul Hackett keeps jumping in with "talking points." "Talking points" should be the mantra of all Democrats asked to discuss issues with Republicans.

They say "Fight them over there instead of over here."
We say "Wow, that's an old Talking Point!"

They say "we're spreading Democracy"
We say "too bad you're not spreading Democracy in the Middle East as well as the Republican Party spreads that Talking Point manure all over the media".

They say "Al Qaeda yada yada yada."
And we say "Talking Point! Where's the action to back that up? Where's Osama? How much of Afghanistan does the Taliban control now? How's the Poppy crop this year?"

[rodeodance]

42. email [e-mail] Tweety needs our thanks also. A little bit

of honey goes a long way

email [e-mail]

[wryter2000]

44. Who was that blond guy?

He sure looked like Chris we-are-all-neocons-now Mathews.

And wtg for Hackett for his support of Sherrod Brown. Joe Liberman should be made to watch an hour-long loop of that snippet.

[IWantAChange]

45. Ken Mehlman Jr.

may want to think of something else to send out on the index cards - that was an epic ass kicking. I wonder if the mainstream media started trumpeting the fact that 50 of the 51 Iraq war Veterans are running for Congress as Democrats might wake some people up???

[JNelson6563]

46. Nice work Paul!

He seems to be a natural at the Rethug smackdown. Hope to see him represent the Dem side more on TV instead of some of the lackluster "Dems" that are currently out there for us.

Julie

[melissinha]

48. Title is misleading: Tweety did the manhandling

He was almost annoyed that he had to have a balanced show cause he handled Taylor himself with some backup from Hackett, who did help substantiate things Tweey said to the twerp.

What a beautiful segment!!!

Finally Tweety has been let out of the cage by his media handlers?

[Jim Lane]

58. I agree, it was Tweety who exposed Taylor's vacuity....

leaving Hackett to provide our side's answers to the questions that Taylor wasn't prepared for.

I never watch Hardball. Hasn't Tweety long been skeptical about the war, despite his general conservatism?

[Old Smokey]

49. That was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!

Hackett is great!!!

[orleans]

50. it was a good show, wasn't it? n/t

[DinahMoeHum]

51. Paul Hackett tore Van Taylor a brand new asshole. . .

'nuff said.

:kick::kick::kick:

[Uncle Joe]

52. Semper Fi Paul!

:patriot:

[Bob K]

53. Hackett hacks 'im up!

Surely Van can better serve the people of Texass as a shrapnel absorber in Iraq than as a dillweed legislator! After all, one less IED in Iraq is one less to be planted on an Austin street corner.:nuke: Dats sumpin' whot any rheal khowbhoy unnastans! :dunce:

[Arugula Latte]

54. We need waaaay more Dems like Hackett!

:applause:

[Supersedeas]

55. where would Pubby Politicians be without Mehlman talking points

[xxqqqzme]

56. what person from central Texas

says 'rah-ther' as in 'I would rahther put my body armor (he had body armor?)back on, kiss my wife and two kids.....yadda, yadda, yadda'.

[civildisoBDence]

57. DUHbya says, "Pull my finger"

and then he farts.

The red-state Kool Aid drinkers who follow DUHbya (PU) say, "Pull my string," and then read the same script Rove and Cheney prepared for DUHbya.

Can we find some politicians with no strings attached?

News and commentary, left to right

[rndmprsn]

61. yes indeed, too bad hackett is NOT the candidate...

he would have made a great progressive senator from OH. hackett really proves his integrity by getting behind sherrod brown (who is fantastic btw) and not launching and independent campaign etc...

just like dean did too.

[Cell Whitman]

62. rec and bmp

helluva headline Bob.

[malmapus]

63. Gamer geek but "FLAWLESS VICTORY"

HAHAHA that was beautiful!!

[DiverDave]

66. I heard Stephanie Millers interview with P.H.

last night on my new Sirius radio.
It was a repeat, as I'm sleeping when she is live, and yes Paul Hackett ROCKS!

Now, ALL of the Democratic Candidates need to do the same thing.

[nolabels]

67. It was Van Taylor that scored the most points in the debate

I even think they should clone the guy :evilgrin:

[Texas_Kat]

68. Smackdown on Hardball up on YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O87KCt88T4

[DAMANgoldberg]

70. If this was a title bout...

the bell can't save Mr Taylor. TKO and still Heavyweight Political Champion, Paul "real warrior" Hackett!

[Psst_Im_Not_Here]

71. This made my day

Total smack down!

[mkb]

72. The War, Not How It Is Fought, Is The Problem

     We need to remind ourselves, while we are taking the
intermediate step of hopefully kicking the Republicans out of
office, that war itself is the problem, not how to wage it.
     The idea that if we just do it better, it will work out,
is to me wrong.  War can be avoided, because it is a choice
that humans make, and that many pay a high price for.  The
arguments against war usually outweigh the ones for it. 
Terrorism will not be stopped by invading other countries, in
my opinion.
     With respect to voicing opinions that may get you into
trouble, our objective in the long run is to make it hard for
war to happen.  How we go about this is important, because
progress can be slow and difficult, and I respect that many do
not want to expose their identities and attitudes in a public
way so that enemies can hold it against them.  Each person
must think this through as much as possible.