Thanks for posting this. It's very important that people hear from Howard. I've been very concerned reading comments like this on the blogosphere:

I was all set to donate money to the democrats today because of Dean's one-year anniversary, but now this! Looks like I'll be spending my $50 elsewhere.

I think it's very important that the word is spread that the DNC didn't have a role to play in this.

If the DNC had nothing to with it, then they should be contacting the senators and representatives who did and chewing them out. I thought our gaol was to win and now they screw it all up. This is ridiculous. Why can't our party get it together. We will never win majority or presidency again.

Down With Tyranny says:

I sent Hackett a contribution when he ran against Schmidt last summer and I would have done the same for whomever the Democratic primary voters chose to represent them against Mike DeWine. But we'll never know who the voters would have chosen because the Inside the Beltway party bosses, as is their wont, have driven Hackett out of the race.

OK Howard, if Paul Hackett wasn't pressured into withdrawing by the DNC then who the hell did?? One of the best candidates we could possibly have for the US Senate and the DNC hasn't done anything to support him, they just leave him to the whim of failed local political operatives who have let Ohio become dominated by Republicans?? Come on, who are you trying to kid??

Let us remember that Paul Hackett was part of the "Fighting Dems for Congress"

My letter to Reid and Schumer:

I am disappointed and deeply troubled by the treatment of Paul Hackett by the leadership of Senate Democrats. Major Hackett was encouraged to enter the race against DeWine by the leadership. After being assured that Sherrod Brown was not interested in the Senate race, Major Hackett announced his candidacy, worked hard to get his message out, and collected contributions from grass-roots supporters all over the country, including myself. Moved by Hackett’s powerful campaign for Congress in 2004, many people outside of Ohio were excited by race and supported Hackett’s campaign in a variety of ways.

Unfortunately, the story does not have a happy ending. We first learn that Sherrod Brown was encouraged to enter the race after Hackett launched his campaign, forcing a mutually destructive primary contest. I am not sure what genius in the Democratic Party decided to abandon a Congressional seat held by Sherrod Brown and then create a destructive contest primary that would involve two refreshingly issue-oriented candidates. Next, we learn that Hackett is dropping out of the race, effectively pushed out by the Senate leadership.

I hope you can you understand my dismay at the Hackett saga. I hope you are not shocked at the disappointing results of recent elections. This disgrace will not be forgotten.

From the DFA blog:

..."We changed the debate on the Iraq War, we inspired countless veterans to continue their service by running for office as Democrats and we made people believe again. We must continue to believe.

Remember, we must retool our party. We must do more than simply aspire to deliver greatness; we must have the commitment and will to fight for what is great about our party and our country; Peace, prosperity and the freedoms that define our democracy.

Rock on.

Paul Hackett"

---------------------
This doesn't sound to me like someone who is abandoning the Democratic Party. This sounds like someone who believes that we need to change the Democratic Party from within and intends to keep fighting. Changing the party was one of the main reasons Howard Dean ran for President. And it will happen... but not if progressive people give up because of disappointments like this one.

If the Democratic Party is going to change, it will be BECAUSE of the progressives not giving up.

like i have said before i am not a democrat because of the great track record of bravery and vision offered by the party for the last twenty five years. i am a democrat because the alternative party is out to destroy everything i believe in that has to do we the social fabric of life. i think the fact that a guy like hackett gets so much press and so much grass roots energy and then is basically dumped by the party leaders is a very big screw up. but i will be supporting whoever the democrats run because the alternative is so awful. but i won't forget the lame alito fight, the patriot act cave in, and so on.

so what are you and the rest of the leadership going to do about this evil budget of bush's, doctor dean? is this not worthy of a filibuster either? it has a provision to slide social security rape past the american people and of course stomps on widows, orphans and so on...

I posted this over at Blog for America because some bloggers were faulting Gov. Dean, the DNC, Democrats, or the Democratic Party without distinguishing who is in change of what. I'm unhappy also about this heavy-handedness of the DCCC and DSCC.

"What they did to Paul Hackett and OUR party's democratic process stinks! Reid, Schumer, and Emanuel show that they don't like a fight and fighters and primaries. Don't blame Howard - it's not his job. His job is to remodel the party from the grassroots up. Just like Hacket said, "Remember, we must retool our party."

The DNC is not in charge of picking candidates. Gov. Dean can't show preference between candidates competing for the Democratic Party nomination.

You are thinking of the DCCC Chairman: Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL). Or DSCC Chairman: Sen. Charles Schumer.
Go find the tab for OUR PARTY AND OUR LEADERS on the DNC web site."

http://www.democrats.org/a/party/ourleaders.html

Posted by paige on February 14, 2006 at 12:30 PM

The DNC would have supported whoever won the primary.

The larger point to remember is that the DNC didn't pressure Hackett to withdraw. It was Chuck Schumer (DSCC), Harry Reid, and Rahm Emmanuel (DCCC). They were the ones who pressured Hackett to drop out.

It's "We the People" not "Chuck, Harry & Rahm."

Why have you run Paul Hackett out of the Senate Race? It seems that you really do not want change. Paul Hackett could have been President in time and was a very good candidate for Senate. Who made this back room deal to run him off? Should we all be run off from the Democratic Party Too? Also who made the deal not to run anyone against Richard Lugar of Indiana. He is running uncontested for Senate and the Democratic Party is doing nothing about it.
What is going On here?
Blue Star Father

I agree with lw...

We can't just be ready to up and quit the party when the old leaders do something we don't like. Instead, what we should be doing is making sure we get rid of as many Republicans as possible and replacing them with as many good Democrats as possible, and I believe that Mr. Brown is a good Democrat. If we can maximize the number of good Democrats we have in elected office in all facets, then I believe the leadership problem will self-correct.

Hackett said the Dems that pressured him into getting out were Reid and Schumer/the DSCC. It may be seeing things through rose-colored glasses but I think Dean has enough of a track record that he should be taken at his word on this. As others have said, this must remind Dean at least a bit of his own treatment in '03/'04.

Mary, good point on organizational flow charts. Missed point on the gestalt of the Democratic Party.

Perhaps the whole team ( DNC,DLC,DFA,DCCC,DSCC,etc.) could learn from this news article. You can't finesse courage, unity and vision just like you can't buy a bigger....well....you know...

Penis enlargement surgery a waste of time: study
Mon Feb 13, 2006 7:07 PM ET

LONDON (Reuters) - Thanks to the incessant spam, it's become the most hyped of all operations but researchers said on Tuesday that most men who have had penis enlargement surgery are not satisfied with the results.

About Paul Hackett - you can't even know how deeply disappointed I am to hear that Paul Hackett dropped out of the Ohio Senatorial race --- and I don't even live in Ohio! I live in Indiana. We need someone like him in the Senate in Ohio and Indiana. I can't believe party big wigs would do this and force him out -- just the kind of s.o.s. we are use to regardless of the party. Sickened. Probably no more $ from me.

What are you doing Howard? Why have you run Paul Hackett off?

Posted by Ian28 on February 14, 2006 at 12:52 PM

It's given many Dean supporters flashbacks, that's for sure.

Dear Gov. Dean

That is not how Paul Hackett puts it - "Today I am announcing that I am withdrawing from the race for United States Senate. I made this decision reluctantly, only after repeated requests by party leaders, as well as behind the scenes machinations, that were intended to hurt my campaign." Paul says "party leaders". In the Cincinnati Enquirer this morning the printed a comment by Paul - ""This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been forced on me," Hackett said, noting that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and New York Senator Charles Schumer recently had asked him to withdraw."

I would suggest that the DNC keep old time politicians such as Reid and Schumer closed up.

Until this party becomes honest and forward and drops the politics of old we will be at the mercy of the "W"s. No wonder Ohio has Gov. Taft, with Domocratic leadership calling the shots.

What. The. Hell.

I'm so frustrated by this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But I will twist my brain around both Howard's message and that of this Kos diary. They are seemingly strangely full of hope and sunshine... but I kept seeing this in the Kos diary in response to the worst messages of how the party was broken beyond hope: "That's great news!"

I kept thinking "What a schmo! It's BROKEN, don't you get it?" Then I finally got what he/she was saying... the more broken it is, the easier it is for people who care to take it over.

Now is our time.

Thursday, when I go to the county seat to deliver my petitions in lieu of filing on behalf of my district's candidate, I will also be picking up one for myself to run for precinct captain of my district's committee.

Is IS broke, and I'm gonna help fix it.

This Hackett BS almost made me give up, but I'm getting my head around the idea that the more busted it is, the easier it is for people who care to step in and make it what WE want it to be.

Don't say "they should..."

Say "I will..."

Yes, I too was upset about the Alito loss and now this heavy-handedness with Hackett, but it's the same fight we progressives keep fighting. We want our party back. We honor FDR. We like government; we're good at it and don't apologize for good governance. There are factions in the Democratic Party and our faction, the progressive, hasn't been in leadership for a very long time. Our party has its progressives, populists, liberals, conservatives, too, and corporatists. Quit when one battle is lost? There is no sense in quitting or refusing to contribute to the DNC or refusing to go to our local precinct meetings. We want more democracy, not less involvement. Have you bought a Democracy Bond yet? Or sold one? Be glad we have in Howard Dean a true leader and fighter for democracy.

I realize how upset you guys are about Paul but I look at it this way. If Paul really wanted to run, why didn't he continue the race, go to the people of Ohio and say, hey this is what is happening, I need your support, please send money, let's let the people decide.

Why did he feel the need to quit?

And what is the problem with Sherrod Brown, I mean, it's not like Hackett was fighting some DINO.

It seems that feeling I have glommed from the various blogs is that Democrats (in terms of the base) are spoiling more for a intra-party fight than a fight with the Republicans (which most officholders seem to hold); not only that, but a total clash of styles (get one candidate rolling towards the general instead having it out in the primary with a big field). And it's not like the DNC itself or the DSCC could just command Hackett to withdraw. Hackett himself decided to withdraw, after probably some prodding and just assesing the situation himself.

I think its really dangerous that those who supported Hackett (I was personally ambivalent to this primary because I feel either candidate I could vote for if I were in Ohio) will get SO angry that they end up fufilling their prophecy of Brown losing to DeWine buy not participating in the general election. I think it is imperative that, in the case that the general Democratic candidate is a good candidate, that we all do what we can to support said good candidate, because in the end, we need good Democrats in effective power, plain and simple.

Today I am announcing that I am withdrawing from the race for United States Senate. I made this decision reluctantly, only after repeated requests by party leaders, as well as behind the scenes machinations, that were intended to hurt my campaign.

But there was no quid pro quo. I will not be running in the Second Congressional District nor for any other elective office. This decision is final, and not subject to reconsideration.

I told the voters from the beginning that I am not a career politician and never aspired to be—that I was about leadership, service and commitment.

Similarly, I told party officials that I had given my word to other good Democrats, who will take the fight to the Second District, that I would not run. In reliance on my word they entered the race. I said it. I meant it. I stand by it. At the end of the day, my word is my bond and I will take it to my grave.

Thus ends my 11 month political career. Although it is an overused political cliché, I really will be spending more time with my family, something I wasn't able to do because my service to country in the political realm continued after my return from Iraq. Perhaps my wonderful wife Suzi said it best after we made this decision when she said "Honey, welcome home." I really did marry up.

To my friends and supporters, I pledge that I will continue to fight and to speak out on the issues I believe in. As long as I have the microphone, I will serve as your voice.

It is with my deepest respect and humility that I thank each and every one of you for the support you extended to our campaign to take back America, and personally to me and my family. Together we made a difference. We changed the debate on the Iraq War, we inspired countless veterans to continue their service by running for office as Democrats and we made people believe again. We must continue to believe.

Remember, we must retool our party. We must do more than simply aspire to deliver greatness; we must have the commitment and will to fight for what is great about our party and our country; Peace, prosperity and the freedoms that define our democracy.

Rock on.

Paul Hackett

Howard,
Your response to this situation is INADEQUATE. Especially considering all the press this event is receiving. It reads like a carefully composed press statement. If I felt like wasting ink, I could print it and underline all the "talking points."

As an Ohioan who lives in Mr. Dewine's district, I can tell you that Sherrod Brown is not popular, not well liked, and not particularly respected by the electorate at large. Maybe his deeper pockets and cronyism appeal to guys like Reid and Schumer who apparently believe that Brown can defeat Dewine, but hasn't he tried before?

And doesn't it occur to you or anybody in this spineless excuse for a political party that maybe "same old, same old" isn't what's needed now?

I agree with Tim Dickinson of Rolling Stone:

"Sherrod Brown? He is nothing if not a "safe choice."
Committing to a candidate like Hackett means committing to changing business as usual -- and despite their mounting losses, the Democratic establishment seems to have an unholy commitment to the status quo."

I am not a large contributor, but I've contributed both time and money to the democrats in the past, always hoping that maybe they'll use a little of the money for spine-implants.

Stop trying to straddle fences. And if you must use talking points, at least spend a little time developing good ones.

Do you, Howard, ever reply to any of the comments posted? If so, I'd like a reply. I'd like you to explain to me and all the other disapointed Democrats in Ohio. And a genuine reply, please. Leave the talking points for those fellows at Fox News.

You should be busy on the phone, or even already traveling Ohio to grovel, apologize and beg Paul Hackett to re-enter the race. But I hope you'll find time to read the comments posted and maybe time to compose a response.

I'll await your reply, but as usual, I don't expect much.

I am a VET

A VET friend of MINE posted this to me about Hackett

I'm starting to think "Indie" these days unless someone gets a handle on the thing. I thought Howard Dean would bring something to the party but I'm not sure of anything anymore, except the barrage of requests to give money.

IS THIS ALL YOU CARE ABOUT??? What about ethics??? Honesty?? fk the money!

OUT

Blue - the bottom line is which one will beat the republican... the answer was simple. Paul just didn't have the support. It's better to come to terms with it now then wait until later when we're on the doorstep of the elections.

How can we effectively criticize the Bush bunch for their cronyism when Democrats pull stunts like this? Congressional Democrats need to understand that the party base doesn't want this sort of manipulation. Congressional Democrats are letting the party down. They need to be standing for what is right for the American People -- not burying their heads in the sand and continuing to play old political games. I would have been happy to donate to Hackett, but Sherrod won't get a penny from me. It reeks of the dirty politics that we expect from the right.

Posted by Tebbiki on February 14, 2006 at 01:19 PM

"I also want you to know that it is the policy of the Democratic National Committee not to intervene in contested primaries."--Howard Dean

The DNC has nothing to do with this. It was the DSCC and DCCC, along with Harry Reid. Vent your spleen to those guys.

I live in Ohio.
I will be voting for Brown in May and November.
I don't think Brown is a DINO (far from it on some if not most issues).
I will be very pleased if he beats DeWine. But...
I think Brown may get hammered in southern Ohio, SE Ohio, and the area around Cincinnati.
The ends -- Dem faces in the Senate -- don't automatically justify the means -- the treatment by the DSCC and Reid (NOT DEAN) of Hackett.
This is not OK.

Here in Az the news report on Air America radio specifically pointed to Schumer. The report said Paul was VERY SADDENED by this turnabout against him since Schumer was one of those originally encouraging him to get INTO the race. It says Paul will likely NEVER get into politics again.
I flew out of my chair in fury to my computer. Damn you and way to GO Schumer! How many Dems will that move bring to the POLLS! And how many dollars will that bring to our party?! I heard a recent news report of a big Dem Senate war chest (run by Schumer). But Schumer and other Washington inbreds, and that's exactly what they are -the same ones who FORCED Kerry on us, (no disrespect intended)are about to force on us another well funded but weakly run election with absolutely no new blood. AGAIN! And especially in OHIO where reform is sorely needed.
If Schumer and his gang want to flash their money around how about buying us a new Senator in Nebraska instead. Its the votes and voters and RESPECT we need. Not money and titles.

Gov. Dean should urge the creation of new leaders in this party. Schumer Reid Pelosi and Hoyer and Imanuel are good Dems but just don't show the necessary 'fierceness' and credibility we all crave.
We need real representation by the Deans, Gores(!), Feingolds(!), Obamas, Clintons and Durbins. Their voices express the strength and conviction of the Real Democratic Party too long hidden by the status quo.

Sad, Sad, Sad.

Sherrod Brown should have never entered the race. I suspect Schumer was behind this whole fiasco.

All Americans are tired of career politicians. Schumer's stupidity on this issue shows us why Democratic politicians are losers.

I was dumbfounded when I heard about this. If the DNC wasnt involved in running off Paul Hackett, then I suggest to you Gov. Dean to explain to Schumer and Reid just how angry we are. I'm not from Ohio, I'm in California and I'm just plain pissed off. The reason Paul Hackett gave us beaten down democrats hope was because he had the guts to speak the truth no matter what. We've had 'business as usual' democrats for the past 5+ years and look where it's gotten us. I dont care that Sherrod Brown is established and has name recognition. It's deplorable that Schumer and Reid can decide who THEY want to run, screw the voters. This is just wrong.

I am also disgusted by the treament of Paul Hacket. He deserved better! I think we need new leadership in the Senate. Harry Reid has done nothing but bring the democratic party down. He needs to be replaced. we need NEW blood in the house and senate, down with the old, man! Doing business as usual will not save us from the repugs. Damn Harry Reid and Schumer. Stand down and let those who have the GUTS to lead take over our party. You are part of the ol boys network in washington. Make room for a real leader, and get the hell out of the senate!

Now is the time to throw our support behind Sherrod Brown. He is NOT a DINO by any means.

Thank you, Paul! (he is such a cool guy to talk to)

Even if the DNC didn't encourage this withdrawal, though, I believe that it played a role, if only by inaction. Our party needs new blood and new ideas. The reality is that the Republicans play their game (quash dissent, reward your friends with taxpayer money, lie and harass if necessary) much better than we do and they always will. If all we have to offer the public is a bunch of criticism of the status quo and the promise of kindler, gentler Republican party, they're not going to come out and vote for us. We need people who are on fire, with new ideas, who are easily distinguishable from Republicans, who offer more than lies and a vision of America as Victorian England (complete with Dickensian slums for the "undeserving" under imminent threat from terrorists.

Paul Hackett was one of those people. Look what happened when he challenged Jean Schmidt -- he got an enormous number of votes in a district that is overwhelmingly Republican. He was an alternative to Washington business as usual. Imagine what he could have done with a more liberal electorate.

I believe it's your job DNC chair to guide the party to a coherent platform -- one that allows Americans to live in a free and prosperous society where they can also feel safe. Right now, too many Dem candidates just sort of generally want things to better and have a variety of different ideas to accomplish that. Dem incumbents are willing to do whatever is necessary to forward their own careers. Instead of staying out of contested primaries, the DNC needs to support the candidate who best supports the platform. You aren't intervening in an argument between your two kids over a favorite toy -- you're directing a national political party. Some Democrats are going to be better candidates than others. It's ok for them to have additional or regionally specific ideas, but they need to be evaluated based on their willingness to sign on to party principles and proposals. At the end of the day, those candidates are going to be the ones who can accomplish things in our government. They're not going to be voting for Sam Alito or supporting illegal budget bills or criticizing each other in public. They're the ones who are best for us as Democrats and as Americans.

In case you haven't noticed: Politics as usual is over. Hackett had better numbers among independents and republicans (and no paper trail). DeWine will attack Brown's record and Brown will show weakness. I guarantee it!

Did you know I live in Ohio, Bluejae?

If a republican were reading this, it would be falling over laughing at our fracturing. If this were happening on their island, they would stick together and ride the storm out. We have a voice with democratic leaders. Now quit complaining and get back into the ring. We loved Reid, Shumer,and Brown in the past; now they need our support again. Invest in Democracy bonds and in Brown; he isn't bad.

DailyKos just posted an interesting bit of info on the topic. Go there!

For everyone who wants Howard to let Schumer, Reid, and Emmanuel know how you feel, you can DIY:

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee
Phone (202) 224-2447
General information e-mail info@dscc.org

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Phone (202) 863-1500
E-mail dccc@dccc.org

Sen. Reid
Phone: 202-224-3542

I would like to have folks email me if you are interested in spawning an independent Hackett for Senate campaign.

I am of the mind it's time to kick this talking points crap to the curb.

If interested, add your name, city, state, and working email address to nathan@themindvillage.com.

We will then move forward to encourage Mr. Hackett to either continue running as a Democrat with all-out support OR run as an independent.

I KNOW Sherrod Brown. I KNOW he is a losing candidate.

Indeed, instead of asking someone else to do something - let's do it and get this man back in the race. It may take mountains - but I am all for it. Let's show Schumer, Reid and the other crazies in the DSCC, DCCCC, and DLC (and yes, sorry - the DNC) that we mean business.

Again - nathan@themindvillage.com

Name
City, State
Working Email

Let them laugh. The same thing is slowly happening to their party as well.
(Where is the RNC comments page?)
This 'support the party at any cost' attitude is keeping real debate out of our politics.

We need NEW leadership in the Democratic Party from the top down. Someone with back bone that has a vision, and can do more than "ask for money". I would not give one dime to the "status quo good ole boys" and the like who ran off Paul Hackett. This Nation needs True Democratic Leadership and quickly or Bush will get us into war with the entire Middle East and China.

BlueStarFather - let's do it then. Let's get Hackett back in this race!

Well Spoken Dawnelle but I don't believe that the Democrats have a person of the Ole Guard that cares about our values or votes as long as someone sends money....

Re Hackett issue - in reading this board, the official DNC response is a good example of how disjointed this party is now. Who is in Charge at the top or is it a "flat" organization! We get mail, telephone calls, and email from DNC, DSCC, and DCCC. All with issues, hands out for money, more money, and sometimes, honestly, I hang up the phone and wonder.... who is in Charge because it sure seems disorganized.

Well Spoken PEE-Wee...is there anyone who will listen to us?

I am so sick and tired of hearing all the rhetoric about how our party is changing to be more inclusive since Dr Dean took the helm. Bullcookies!!! I live in Wisconsin and our state party has not changed one iota for the better. If you are not an insider then screw you seems to be the standard thinking.
My county party was taken over, literally taken over, by an organized effort of very non-grassroots people who promised money via large donations -- hey what about going for the small contributions v/s the big donors? And, the state party HQ was behind it all the way. And, the tactics were pretty dirty, as in accusations of racism and more. The state party told us to use the wrong by-laws which is what allowed an illegal election in our county party! Yes, the state dem party did just that!
It was a horrible experience and now the party is the worse for it. We have republicans on our county executive board! Where was the DNC on this? What about the DNC campaign organizers Howard promised us?- they're here, they're just wroking for anyone who can promise landing big money for them. As far as the promise of working with the grassroots goes, well they are looking for people who have already set up grassroots organizations to also take over. Sweet, we do all the work and then we get kicked to the curb.
Hackett was totally grassroots, got a lot of people organized and now he's out and another insider gets the spot. This is all going to go very badly for not just our party but more importantly for our county.
Dear Dr Dean needs to either get his people on an ethical track or he needs to admit he's just another power grabber.

Chris
Your type of view "shut up and trust our leadership" has killed the democratic party for over 12 years...what if you had to stand up for the 26th amendment or something like that? I have written the DNC and still have not heard why they did this to Paul Hackett or why they are not running anyone against Richard Lugar of Indiana. But they have been able to ask me for money numerous times since this morning!!!

"I also want you to know that it is the policy of the Democratic National Committee not to intervene in contested primaries." -- Howard Dean

We need a lot more than this quote to be reassured that distinguished American veteran, Paul Hackett was not forced out of the Democratic party. Here's what Mr. Hackett says (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/14/politics/14ohio.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin):

"This is an extremely disappointing decision that I feel has been forced on me," said Mr. Hackett, whose announcement comes two days before the state's filing deadline for candidates. He said he was outraged to learn that party leaders were calling his donors and asking them to stop giving and said he would not enter the Second District Congressional race.

"For me, this is a second betrayal," Mr. Hackett said. "First, my government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my own party is afraid to support candidates like me."

I am disgusted. I am an independent who voted for Dean and Kerry. I've listened to Mr. Hackett on the radio. He's just what we need, a straight talker, like Mr. Dean was reputed to have been. "Fighting Dems" my ass. Have a real primary where issues are argued instead of showing the cowardice for which the Democrats are becoming famous. Enough of this choosing of candidates based on some stuffed shirt's opinion of who can win. Didn't you learn your lesson with Kerry? I'll send money to an independent Hackett. Go Paul go. Keep fighting the friendly fire.

Join the fight oomrathama - send an email supporting such an effort to nathan@themindvillage.com

name
city,state
working email

The American People are finding out that neither the Democratic Party nor the Republican Party are doing what is in the best interest of their constituents or representing them, so because of this now we are edging dangerously close to a class C revolution as a method of representative change.

This 'support the party at any cost' attitude is keeping real debate out of our politics.

Posted by pee-wee on February 14, 2006 at 02:21 PM

Exactly right, pee-wee!

And to the multi-posting Corinne: Do you work for Howard Dean or something?

Doesn't it fall to Howard (assuming he reads these comments or has his people read them) to contact other Democratic leaders and let them know how people are responding to this situation? As the DNC chairman, I tend to take the view that the "buck stops" on Howard's desk.

Sherrod Brown's name is a familiar one to people from Ohio, particularly in SW Ohio. Unlike Nathan_Cincinnati, I don't actually know Brown, but I've seen his name over and over and over and over and over on various ballots. I'm sure if he runs unopposed, he will win hands down! That's why Reid et al were so afraid of a primary. But how does that help in defeating Dewine?

I believe that Hacket wouldn't play the game of politics as usual with Reid et al, so they found somebody who would.

And Howard, as the big cheese at the DNC, should care how the media coverage of this makes the party look. He should care how this makes party members (particularly Ohioans) feel, and he should forge new ground and actually LEAD the party.

WIN A MAJOR BATTLE, Howard! Win back Paul Hackett. Send a box of candy and a "good luck in the primaries" note to Brown! Make a statement to the press. Who cares if you make Senator's Reid, Schumer, etc., look bad? They've made themselves look bad with their disgraceful behavior.

If Howard isn't willing to do this (and I'm certain Corinne or one of his other employees will have many reasons why he 'just cannot') then he is just another "business as usual" Dem.

If that's the case, then like-minded Ohioans should email Nathan (nathan @themindvillage.com) and get the ball rolling for an Independant run. It's just sad, though, because usually all an Indie candidate does is rob votes from the candidate of the party he's defected from.

I'd like to see a 'win' in Ohio. I'd like to see somebody besides that old fart Dewine in the Senate. But another old fart like Brown isn't exactly our best hope.

Lead Howard! Lead!

I'm sure you've heard that Karl Rove has put the word out that any Republican who supports an investigation of Bush's wiretap policy will be blacklisted. No more Repubican funds for campaigning. Is this the discipline you want for our party?

Smokem Tebbiki well said!

So do we write off Ohio Now?

That Schumer might have pushed Hackett out of the race should be no surprise. The last thing that coward Schumer wants is someone in the same chamber as him who is willing to take a principled opposition to the Iraqi mess. After all, remember that Chuckles Schumer STILL says that even knowing what he knows now he would vote again to authorize the war.

This party stinks, and with all due respect to the people above who say the best thing we can do is work to put progressives into office, your position is akin to suggesting that we could change the direction an aircraft carrier by dipping paddles in the water and paddling in the opposite direction. The entrenched, elected members of the Democratic House and Senate delegation are more concerned about their egos and their DLC fantasies about what constitutes electoral "success" than they are about anything resembling progressive principles.

Don't write off Ohio - get it back in play.

MaryinSeattle - to what are you referring?

Governor Dean -

Excellent year. Good job. It's over. Resign now and declare for 08. We need someone in the race who represents us. Clinton? Bayh? Kerry? Rendell? DLC chumps. Biden? Not much better.

Run again.

Oh...by the way...

Chuck Schumer?

Another DLC Democrat.

How do we make THOSE assholes go third party?

-- Memorize
Democratic Party message in 30 seconds:

One: American jobs that will stay in America, using energy independence to generate those jobs.
Two: A strong national defense based on telling the truth to our citizens, our soldiers and our allies.
Three: Honesty and integrity to be restored to government.
Four: A health care system that works for everybody just like they have in 36 other countries.
Five: A strong public education system so we can have optimism and opportunity back in America.

MaryinSeattle,

There is a HUGE difference between threatening people with loss of party support unless they cooperate with the president in breaking the law and evaluating candidates who have the best chance of winning an election AND being effective in Congress for their state and the country. One is extortion, the other is common sense.

Here in Missouri, this internal squabbling and lack of discipline has been disastrous. We had a Democratic governor (Holden) from rural Missouri who did a pretty good job (especially considering he had the Republican congress from hell). The only real thing he did wrong was veto our concealed carry law (which most Dems thought was a good idea). The veto was overridden and the NRA vowed they wouldn't forget come primary time -- they poured enormous amounts of out of state money into Claire McCaskill's primary campaign. She won the primary and lost the general election because most of the rural voters viewed her as a "city girl" who wouldn't support their issues and the NRA backed the Republican. So now we have Matt Blunt as governor. Holden, with an incumbent's advantage and the rural vote, could have defeated Blunt. But because McCaskill was willing to put her own political ambitions ahead of what was best for our party and our state, the Republicans won. McCaskill, meanwhile, apparently has no insight and is running for Senate.

The message that should have been given to McCaskill is that if she broke party loyalty to win the primary, she had better win the general or she was out of politics. Maybe that seems draconian, but the Republicans can and will use personal ambition to set up straw men at the primaries so they can knock them down in the general elections. It's not just an urban myth and the only way we can combat it is with discipline.

This is the last straw! Paul Hackett stood for everything we Democrats need. I am not in Ohio, but I felt so strongly that I sent him a contribution last week. I had also sent a good contribution to the DNC.

I have spoken to persons in Reid and Schumers offices asking why Hackett had been pressured into resigning. They denied any knowledge of the reasons and said Hackett's decision was his own. The latter fact was known, but the reasons are what I wanted.

Like others, I have contributed to and supported the DNC, DSCC and DCCC as well as individual candidates. And almost daily, I receive phone and mail solicitations to donate more.

We are fools if we continue to support "Repub lites" who we have to email and call to get them to vote with real Democrats on issues, although that effort is usually futile!

Wes Clark would have been a stronger presidential candidate than Kerry, but he was not what the DLC, in their superior wisdom, wanted. Paul Hackett comes along now like a breath of fresh air and he gets the treatment.

Personally, I am sick of getting hyped up about someone who really represents us, only to have them stabbed in the back for some wishy-washy politico who accomplishes nothing.

And to the multi-posting Corinne: Do you work for Howard Dean or something?

Posted by Tebbiki on February 14, 2006 at 02:52 PM

LOL, no, I can't lay claim to that. I lurk way more than I post. But thanks for the compliment.

I just think it's important to lay the responsibility exactly where it belongs: DCCC and DSCC.

Posted by BaronScarpia on February 14, 2006 at 03:08 PM

Chuck Schumer: The Democratic successor to Al D'Amato.

this is just unbelievable- weak kneed democrats strike again- you've got a hero running in a state rocked by corruption -the time to win Ohio is now- with a strong candidate you can even beat the voting corruption of the ohio electorate and what do we do. we cave and kick the one candidate who can change our image of soft on terror soft on the military for just another typical party hack with a big war chest. We should be ashamed and dean and the rest should step down right now.

No one would be complaining if Paul Hackett was given his shot in the primary. We are mad, because certain people won't let nature take its course. Certain people kept Paul Hackett from becoming all that he could be since day one.

All I am going to say to the DNC is BOO HISS and What the Hell were you thinking!?

I just sent this sarcastic message to Harry Reid and to some of the press including Lou Dobbs. I contributed $500 towards Paul Hacket's campaign, and $100 toward seven other young Iraq vets running for office as Democrats. I conributed to a candidate for the Senate in Tennessee, and to the Tennessee Democratic Party. No more.

Either clean house and get rid of the elitists "safe" establishment "leaders" or forget forever that people like me - generally liberal and definitely patriotic - will support the Democratic Party.

[a chimp wearing a crown at a podium speaks]

My fellow Amurricans,

We’ve had five long years together and I thought I’d let you know we’re winning the War on Terra.

The most important battle in this fight was won yesterday when an Iraq war veteran, a major in the Marines, withdrew under extreme pressure from his campaign for the US Senate on the Democratic ticket in 2006. Sabotaging Paul Hacket was a major victory for the Monkey Nation!

These people – and I mean the “fighting Democrats” with actual combat experience and the balls to speak up on military matters with some credibility – were becoming the most dangerous threat to the Monkey Empire we are establishing in Amurrica.

My operatives finally found evidence that the Democratic Leadership had no balls, and we used this to “turn” them and get rid of the most potent threats to me, the King Monkey, and my troop of followers in Washington. You can now rest easy.

We’re firmly in charge, and we’re going to stay there with the FULL cooperation of Democratic Party leadership.

God Bless, and Big Bananas.

George W. Bush
Presdint of the United States

1. To Corinne - Your belief is what they want - The DNC didn't do it - The DSCC and the DCCC did??? Are you crazy or what - The DNC is the blanket organization - they are the Democratic Party. I do believe that the DSCC and the DCCC are Democrats and openly speak for Democrats. If Gov Dean cannot lead then get out of the way. Stand up Gov Dean and show you have the hangye downey things and take FULL control of the Democratic Party.

2. Bluejae - Yes he is a DINO - It lies like a Republican - It has skeltons in the closet like a Republican - OH it is just Sherrod Brown a DINO. He tried to win before and he will fail again. Then the DSCC & the DCCC & the DNC will blame it all on the Democrats of Ohio.

3. Kathy_in_Indiana - Paul had the support of many just not the cood ole boys in the back room. If Paul did not have support then how could he have gotten 48% of the vote and almost beat Jean Schmidt.

4. Tebbiki & 1BlueStarFather - Im with you.

5. No I do not live in Ohio now (did for over 40 years) but I do work in Ohio and I live in Kentucky. I know - Kentucky Dems are not the best either. Maybe that needs to be changed - We need new leadership in the Democratic Party, starting at the top.

I'm disgusted with the Democratic Leadership today. The people of Ohio deserved the chance to pick the candidate they want. And many of us out here in the grassroots of the Democratic party cheered the leadership, guts and outspokeness of a candidate like Paul Hackett. I feel like we were slapped in the face today. That is why I will support candidates of my choice and will think long and hard about supporting the DNC or the leaders in the Senate with my dollars.

WOW what ever happened to letting the people decide who they want to represent them. I want to win also but but win ethically and not like a poor republican. If this is the way the democratic party plans to win count me and any money I might have contributed out. While I want to think the democratic party is better than the republican party I am beginning to believe that all politics stinks. Win at all cost.

I've got part of an interview Paul Hackett did with Ohio 2nd blog posted at Howard-Empowered:

Ohio 2nd: What do you say to all the people who just say "Screw the party" and "This is just typical Democrats, why should we support them when they don't support us?"

Paul Hackett: Ahhh, well, that's like what I *normally* say. That is an emotional decision, it's an emotional response, and we've got to get beyond that. I mean, look, forgive the football metaphor. There are countless offensive linemen who play football whose names the average observer doesn't know. But they play an integral role in the success or failure of a football team. So I would like to think in a worst case scenario that I and my team and those of us who shared this passion were at least an effective lineman. And we broke a hole through which others will pass through and be successful in 2006, which is ultimately what this is about, which is winning, for the Democratic cause and issues that we hold important. And whether I'm the guy who gets through, or Sherrod Brown gets through, provided that somebody gets through who shares our interests and values, that's what's ultimately important.

And look, I would be feeding you a line of bullshit if I told you that I don't feel pissed off right now at Sherrod and Chuck Schumer, but I've got more in common with them, at least in what I think is right and wrong in this world than I do with Mike DeWine, and his cronies. So, you know, I'm tired, and I'm a little bit pissed, but I'll be over both of those in a day or so. And, I did say it before and I'm saying it even today when I'm tired and a little bit pissed, that if there's something I can do that fits in my schedule, and I don't mean that as some sort of cryptic slam, I'll be happy to do it. But I'll also be honest and tell you, I'm looking forward to going back to my life. And I'm looking forward to coming home.

Don't be misled by talk or inconsequential action. The party I have belonged to for the past forty years is dead. They are addicted to old concepts. They have handed government to the executive branch mostly for fear that they would lose thier positions or fifes. Even a small shameful power is apparently enough to hold on to. Now that the courts and the legislature and the executive is of one, don't rock the boat by letting an outsider, perhaps a truthteller to compete. I am disgusted.

DCCC Contact Information

from Rawstory

Veteran's politican action committee 'outraged' on Hackett pullout
02/14/2006 @ 10:56 am
Filed by RAW STORY

From a release to RAW STORY.
Advertisement
#

JON SOLTZ, a 28-year old combat Veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Executive Director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Political Action Committee (IAVA PAC), released the following statement upon news that Iraq Veteran Paul Hackett was leaving the Senate race in Ohio, due to internal pressure from the Democratic Party.

"It is an outrage that the Democratic Party has forced Paul Hackett out of the race for U.S. Senate. Hackett brought credibility on the number one issue facing the nation - the war in Iraq. The Democratic Party loses credibility on that issue because he is no longer running, and because they had a hand in his decision.

"The good news is that there are still a number of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans running for office around the nation. We are committed to getting these patriots the early institutional support they need, because it is becoming abundantly clear that the party leadership has no interest in them."

Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC (http://www.iavapac.org/) is the only political action committee led by a Veteran of the war in Iraq, exclusively benefiting those Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans running for public office, and holding public officials accountable for their actions that affect the Troops and Veterans.

This is disgraceful! Since when do we Democrats practice the Republiscum tactic of "eat your own".

We are not going to get people like Paul to run if the DNC breaks promises. You don't recruit a man to run then dismiss him because a prettier candidate decides he wants back in the race. The Democratic party is supposed to be the party of integrity and honesty. If you turn on your own to try and leverage a minor advantage then you are no better than the fascists who stole our government.

From the DCCC website...

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee serves as the primary national engine working for a Democratic majority, but the real inspirations are the candidates themselves.

The Democratic Majority never got the chance to cast their vote when it came to Paul Hackett, and he was certainly an inspiration.

I do not like what I have been reading about what occurred with Paul Hackett.

As a lifelong Democrat and a veteran , I find it deplorable to find that Mr. Hackett was essentially forced to bow out of the senatorial race in Ohio by his own party! This shows that the leadership in the party is no better than the lying, cheating Republican crooks that control the government. Our leadership better wake up and smell the coffee. People across the country are enraged and betrayed.

It isn't the place of the party leadership to choose the candidates - that's the job of the electorate.

Our leadership needs to get it straight or get out.

Maybe it would be better for the Democratic Party to split out between the Progressives and the DINO's.

From the Democracy for America blog:
------------
"Anyone who has looked at poll results knows that the Democrats have been losing for over 15 years because voters don't trust Democrats on the issues. Paul's campaign gave all of us hope that the Democratic Party can again have candidates who are honest and open about their positions; thereby regaining the interest of the voters.

More importantly, Paul's campaign gave us hope that the Democratic Party has the discipline and drive to innovate by embracing the entrepreneurial competition of ideas and candidates which are so critical to honing our message and preparing candidates to battle the right-wing spin machine.

Our community understands the importance of this, and regrets that we must continue to baby-sit the congressional leadership until they have the maturity, confidence, and discipline to embrace and encourage the kind of innovative campaigns that Paul brought to the Party.

Today that baby-sitting job got a lot tougher. Even after 15 years of losing, too much of our leadership continues to waste valuable time and donors' hard earned money trying to maintain a party machine in second place. They do this by trying to bring new and exciting ideas to heal for the sake of their own second place status, because to them second place in DC is better than fighting for our country, our values and our party.

Thanks to Paul, the drive to take our country back for those who built it continues at full speed.

Paul, thank you for everything you have done. Take some well-deserved time off, but please, please, come back to the fight as soon as you can. You are the future of our democracy. You are the future of the Democratic Party—or the next Party—depending on whether the Democratic leadership in Congress can ever get beyond its remarkably oversized sense of entitlement.

Today they lost, but you kept your word and didn't compromise your values. We thank you for this, hope to see you soon, and wish you and your great family all the best." - Jim Dean

The growing concern of progressives is with an unapologetic Democratic Party strategy to move Democratic races into the DLC playbook for November and beyond.

From DFA to a dozen other progressive movements that emerged after 2004, the sense was that the Democratic Party will continue to lose if it continues with the status quo. That sense continues to prove itself prophetic.

The Hackett issue is illustrative of a Party leadership making a clear choice to re-rembrace a strategy that lost the White House, the Alito battle, the Senate, the Congress, and the zeigeist.

By now allowing Hackett a primary platform, the Party loses an opportunity to bring the progressive army into the Tent. A poor strategic choice. Hackett would not have won, but he would have given a voice to the new generation of Democrats not afraid of our values, our message, our mission.

This failure of vision is why the gates must come down now.

Across America, progressive grassroots organizations should begin to storm their local Party meetings and bring the future into focus, now.

To Mr. Dean and the Candidate Makers in Congress:

It's a sad day in the Democratic Party when a good candidate like Hackett is run out of town on the establishment rail. Sad!

We here in the hinterlands have been looking for a gonad among the Democratic congressional ranks, and now we know we must continue our search.

Rahm, Schumer and their ilk are the problem, not the future. They are the old incumbent protectionist guard who do not want their comfy applecart upset. They are willing to screw the party, new candidates, and the party's prospects to keep their personal status quo nice and safe, just like their approaches to Bush and Dead Eye Dick and the rest of the Rovians. They are all nutless wonders.

No wonder the Republicans are kinking YOUR butts in general.

If I were Hackett, I'd run as a real Republican, one in the middle, one for fiscal sanity, and one for standing up for conviction.

I am a Democrat and proud of it but a hell of a lot less proud of it now than before you ran Mr. Hackett out like a leper.

Change or lose, Boys. It's that simple.

If it is the policy of the DNC not to intervene in contested primaries, then it should have stepped in to prevent Sens. Charles Schumer and Harry Reid from pushing a good candidate such as Paul Hackett out of the Ohio senatorial race.
Much has been made of veterans as Democratic political candidates, yet now the DSCC is emulating the Republican Party by forcing out a good candidate in favor of the "preferred" candidate, Rep. Sherrod Brown, all for the sake of expediency. As a resident of Ohio, taking away my choices at the primary voting booth does not make me feel warmly toward the DSCC, Sherrod Brown, or the Democratic leadership.

Paul is on Ed Schultz trying to save face. So sad.

Henry Waxman?

This is an exercise of control of the Republican party.

Our fault is being weak enough to allow it to happen.

I don't know how substantiated this is, but our "Democratic Party leadership" leaning on Paul Hackett to withdraw his campaign for the Senate is a stab in the back of so many of us who are inspired by Paul's straight forwardedness and energy. I believe that the financial contributors to "the" Democratic leader "leaning" on Hackett to withdraw, is really a provider to the Republicans. And keeping this puppet Democrat leader in power, inhibitting more vibrant Democrats from arising is basically how we keep other, weaker countries at their "place." How disguisting!

Democrats are weak because our leadership has been infultrated.

Whisper campaign?

This is an exercise of control of the Republican party.

Our fault is being weak enough to allow it to happen.

I don't know how substantiated this is, but our "Democratic Party leadership" leaning on Paul Hackett to withdraw his campaign for the Senate is a stab in the back of so many of us who are inspired by Paul's straight forwardedness and energy. I believe that the financial contributors to "the" Democratic leader "leaning" on Hackett to withdraw, is really a provider to the Republicans. And keeping this puppet Democrat leader in power, inhibitting more vibrant Democrats from arising is basically how we keep other, weaker countries at their "place." How disguisting!

Democrats are weak because our leadership has been infultrated.

Schumer?

flood the papers, especially the big one:
letters@nytimes.com

flood the senators' offices:
schumer.senate.gov
reid.senate.com

tell anyone who'll listen. it probably won't help...but at least it will keep the story up front. we can't let our party get away with republican tricks.

-jones

Did you here that guys? He was out-polling the other guy.

Posted by Demochick on February 14, 2006 at 03:26 PM

I'm with you. McCaskill has big city and last election's loss written all over her. Why are they running her instead of an attractive rural candidate? Talent is a boring, bumbling big city Republican that could be easily picked off. Everyone in the state is angry with Congress and the incumbent is vunerable.

So what are we doing...turning a winning proposition into another predictable loss? If this is what is going on in Ohio, then I can understand the frustration.

We need to start running the best candidates for the times and circumstances. This is not a time for offering the status quo to an electorate that yearns for change. I like McCaskill and am all for giving her the chance to run when the conditions are such that she can win. That is clearly not the case right now.

So who can win in Ohio? Hackett or Brown? Which offers voters a change from the politics as usual that they clearly have had enough of in the last six years? That should be the deciding factor.

What is Schumer and Reid basing their decision on? If it's the same old let's keep out the maverick mentality, kiss this senate seat (and a sure thing in Missouri) good bye.

Just heard an interview with Paul Hackett on Ed Schultz.

I'm suddenly not as upset that he's not in the race. What I heard was "yeah, oh well, that's the way it works. Bummer, but oh well".

Perhaps all that big talk was just a stunt for when he had the support of the DSCC. As soon they announced he wasn't the candidate they supported, he changed his tune in a big hurry.

I didn't hear a guy today who is outraged, who is standing up for what he believes in, who fights the good fight. I heard a guy who just decided to give up when the going got tough. We have plenty of those types already - I was hoping Paul was different. Guess not.

The action of "Swift-Boating" done by the Brown campaign and the underhanded things done by Waxman and Schummer were despicable, but "oh well, that's politics" isn't the kind of response to that treatment Democrats in this country are seeking. We're seeking a voice to stand up against the machine - someone to inspire and go against the grain when necessary to their fight for their beliefs.

I thought that we had found such a person in Paul, but given his comments and tone in his interview, I believe now I was mistaken. Maybe the DSCC saw something we didn't see.

The actions of the Democratic leadership concerning the Ohio Senate race is disturbing. Senators Schumer and Reid have apparently have torpedoed the Paul Hackett campaign - and effectively muted a refreshing, honest voice in politics. They don't get that the public is furious over "old boy" political networks using power, influence, and money to subvert the democratic process. The Democrats will pay the price (again) at the polls if this behavior continues.

While Gov. Dean is trying to put space between the DNC, the DSCC, and the arm twisting that resulted in Hackett's withdrawl, it is clear what values are represented by the party leadership.

I recently sent a contribution to the DSCC. I wish I had it back! The leadership can't be trusted any more than Republican cronies.

It reeks of Mayor Daley at the 1968 Convention.

When I read about in fighting in our party it is no wonder we don't win elections. Paul Hackett represented a true change especially in the ethics department. Is this what the so called leaders fear? If so the bastards do not only the democrat party a dis-service but also the country. A straight shooter is what we have been asking for for years a man who says what he thinks for crying out loud not platitudes of shit that we get so often from politicians/ie:career politicians!

Help we need people like Paul Hackett or this party is doomed to the same failures of the past and I know there are many that feel the same way I do. We need some courage people!

My understanding from news reports is that Paul Hackett did not just "leave the race" but was FORCED OUT by party hacks. Obviously, this man struck a major nerve with grass-roots Democrats everywhere. His courage and honesty are what we have been waiting for. What on earth is the Party thinking by allowing this to happen? Does no one understand that we DO NOT WANT the same old crowd, the same business-as-usual beltway bureaucrats? Especially in Crooked Ohio! SHAME ON THE PARTY! After allowing the Blackwell / Diebolt conspiracy to steal the Presidential election without a court fight, now this? Either the National Party is in the wrong hands, or they are allowing a local faction that is so inept that they could not carry Ohio in '04 despite the Republicans worst economic record in state history. Boo. Hiss.

I don't even know what to say to this. I am disgusted with all branches of Democratic leadership today... I don't even understand how Schumer and co. could have orchestrated such a huge blunder. I hope we haven't shot ourselves in the foot for the midterms, if we can't even coherently display widespread anti-war sentiment... let alone make ourselves look just like the very Repuglicans we need to replace.

We can express our displeasure by writing to Reid, Schumer, Emmanuel Etc. They need to know we are watching and will take them to task for running the wagon off the trail. They need to follow Dean's example of communicating with us regulars and asking us where we want to go as a party. The people have it and the people need to wield it: power.

Whatever the reasons for Paul Hackett's withdrawal, I'm greatly disappointed. I saw some spine in the man. There aren't many dems in power I can say that about. I think there's a huge anti-war vote just waiting to be garnered, and then this...... sheesh

I miss Paul Wellstone.

To Howard Dean: I believe that you and others in the Democratic party should beg Paul Hackett to stay involved. This is one of those days when I am ashamed to be a Democrat. Unless the party can make it up to Hackett, I believe this will hurt us badly.

Gov. Dean, I was and am your biggest fan. I have always felt you were betrayed by the party. I was ready to quit but you said to stay in, so I stayed. I'm one of the most active Democrats I know. But today I am discouraged.

Please contact Paul Hackett for a personal, off-the-record discussion. Ask him to work for other Democrats especially those brave Fighting Dems. I wouldn't blame Paul if he never ran for office again, but I hate the thought.

This has been such a crappy day for me as a Democrat. Maybe I'll feel better if I make a contribution to another good Democrat who has been betrayed by party bigshots, Christine Cegelis.

One more thing - I have a sinking feeling that the party will not give proper support to the Fighting Dems. I really despise the DCCC with their mentality of only helping out candidates who look like they have a good chance of winning. With the right attitude, we could take all kinds of races this year. And even if the Dem doesn't win, a strong race helps the party for the future. I hate the DCCC. And now I hate the DSCC, too!! OUCH.

Hackett was an inspiration when he ran against Schmidt, and I was looking forward to seeing him, and more people like him, run for office as Democrats. So I understand the frustration and disappointment a lot of people here feel at this announcement.

I am not an expert on Ohio politics, so I don't know how a Brown-DeWine matchup would play out. And I don't pretend to have any knowledge of what specifically led to Hackett's withdrawal. What I do know is that it is unreasonable and self-defeating to attack Dean and his staff...the people who are doing the most to bring about the grassroots change that made Hackett possible in the first place.

The rest of the party apparatus aside, Dean and the DNC are laying the groundwork for a lot more people like Hackett to run and win, now and in the future.

Re-direct that anger towards whoever deserves it....

The Dems must be taking to heart the voice of the people:

Democrats Push Bill That Would Bar Third Parties in Races for Congress

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

Thursday, February 9, 2006

Contacts:
Scott McLarty, Media Coordinator, 202-518-5624, mclarty@greens.org
Starlene Rankin, Media Coordinator, 916-995-3805, starlene@greens.org

Panic and retaliation among progressive Democrats over Green challenges are behind HR 4694, say Greens, citing the bill's prohibitive petition requirements, ban on private contributions; Greens call the bill patently unconstitutional.

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Green Party leaders called on Congress to reject a House bill that combines public funding of congressional campaigns with a scheme to ban third party and independents from such races.

HR 4694 ("Let the People Decide Clean Campaign Act") would grant nominees of parties (i.e., Democrats and Republicans) that had averaged 25% of the vote for House races in a given district in the last two elections would get full public funding.

All others (i.e., third party and independent candidates) would be required to submit petitions signed by 10% of the last vote cast for partial funding, and 20% petitions for full funding.

Furthermore, candidates who don't qualify for funding would be barred from spending any privately raised money on their campaigns.

"10% and 20% in many districts represent prohibitively large numbers of required signatures," said Phil Huckelberry, co-chair of the Illinois Green Party and co-chair of the national Green Party's Ballot Access Committee. "The goal behind HR 4694 is to use public financing of campaigns -- itself a sorely needed reform -- to eliminate third party challenges in congressional races."

"In Missouri's 2nd congressional district, a candidate with a party that won less than 25% of the vote in the last two elections would need nearly 70,000 signatures to qualify for the public funding that her/his Democratic and Republican opponents would get automatically, and only signatures from the 2nd District would count. Nearly 35,000 signatures would be required in order to allow the candidate to spend anything at all on the campaign." (St. Louis Oracle, February 05, 2006 )

The Green Party of the United States supports public financing of campaigns as one of several measures to remove the corrupting influence of corporations on U.S. politics . But Greens warned that HR 4694 uses public financing of campaigns as a cover to destroy democracy by reducing the field to two parties.

Greens called the bill patently unconstitutional and, if passed, unlikely to survive a court challenge. But Greens said that the bill is significant because of the line-up of Congress members supporting it.

The bill's eight sponsors include liberal Democrats: David Obey (Wis.), Rosa DeLauro (Conn.), Barney Frank and James McGovern (Mass.), Henry Waxman and Bob Filner (Calif.), Steve Israel (N.Y.), and Tim Ryan (Ohio). Mr. Obey, Ms. DeLauro, and Mr. Israel faced Green competition (Mike Miles, Ralph Ferrucci, and John Keenan, respectively) in recent elections, suggesting that their sponsorship is retaliatory. Mr. Miles is seeking the House seat again in 2006 (Wisconsin, District 7); Mr. Ferrucci is running for the U.S. Senate (Connecticut).

"The Democrats behind this bill have as little regard for democracy and open elections as Republicans who have use altered district lines and other methods to fix elections," said D.C. Statehood Green Party activist T.E. Smith. "Hiding this stratagem in a bill for public financing of campaigns makes it doubly shameful."

"An obvious motivation behind HR 4694 is panic over a Green insurgency. Voters have realized that the Democratic Party has given President Bush and the GOP a pass on various abuses of power and radical actions, such as the invasion of Iraq and the confirmation of Judge Samuel Alito, which most Democrats declined to filibuster. The time is ripe for a non-corporate independent third party, and many Democrats are worried," added Mr. Smith.

MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States
http://www.gp.org
1700 Connecticut Avenue NW, Suite 404
Washington, DC 20009.
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193

Text of HR 4694
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c109:H.R.4694:

Mike Miles for the U.S. House of Representatives (Wisconsin, District 7)
http://www.milesforcongress.com

Ralph A Ferrucci for U.S. Senate (Connecticut)
http://ferrucciforsenate.org

Coalition For Free and Open Elections
http://www.cofoe.org

Green Party rebuttal to President Bush's 2006 State of the Union Address (Video News Release)
http://www.gp.org/video/2006stateofunion/

I am so angry I can't see straight. I had a lot of respect for Schumer before this. Now it's obvious that modern politics really is still the good-ole-boy network, regardless of party, and this situation has made me lose complete confidence in the Democrats.

Maybe the DNC didn't "pressure" Paul Hackett to get out of the race, but you sure as heck could have prevented this from happening. As someone who has never lived in Ohio, and probably never will, this was a race I was following as a new hope for this country. Now, I really have had my hopes dashed, and I can see the Democrats continuing to spin their wheels as the Republicans scrape more and more of what it means to be an American away from the outside world's perception of us.

Today I am VERY ashamed to be a lifelong Democrat.

I'm disappointed that Hackett has dropped out of the race as much as anyone. I'm even more disappointed if it is true that he was forced out from within the party. But let's face the facts...Dewine is going to be next to impossible to beat. Hackett or Brown are going to have a serious fight on their hands if they expect win this seat.

As an Ohio resident, I was planning on voting for Hackett in the primary and hopefully in November as well. However, the truth is that Brown was going to get the nomination regardless. Hackett was trailing Brown by a significant amount of money, and time is running out if he was expecting to win.

Brown is also a good man who deserves our support. The first objective is to beat Dewine and win back the Senate. Now I'm voting for Brown instead of Hackett...and I'm not complaining.

RE: "Brown is a good man"

I'm not from Ohio, and I honestly don't know who Brown even is - that's the problem with him that I see. Even people from way over here on the West Coast know who Paul Hackett is.

However, I'm hearing that there was a "whisper campaign" put out by Brown's people that was spreading allegations of Hackett participating in "war crimes". Sounds like the Swift Boat Veterans of America must have converted to the Democratic Party when we weren't looking.

To me, that's not the sign of a "good man".

Dear Governor Dean.

Thank you for your fundraising letter. I hope that you will understand
that in the following letter that if I say "you" I mean " you the
leaders of the Democratic Party.

I will not be sending you any money. Every penny that I can scrape
together for the 2006 election will go to Paul Hackett for Senator from
Ohio. I don't care if he runs as a Democrat, Independent, or Whig, I
feel that he has an important message, is a great American, and will be
a fine Senator. I must tell you I will never forget my disgust with the
Democratic party, which has had my undying loyalty for 35 years of
voting, would become no longer the people's party, but just like the
Republicans, the party whose loyalty is primarily to the almighty
dollar.

To use the swift boat tactics I thought were reserved for the fringe
maniacs that control the Republican party against a man who was
RECRUITED by Democratic leadership to RUN, and then to disgracefully
choose MONEY over CHARACTER is the last straw. He was told he didn't
have enough money to be the Dem candidate, and to back off. And did the
emails from Dem leadership to Hackett supporters telling them NOT to
send Paul money have anything at all to do with this?

It is sickening enough when the Dems only offer weak support for FAIR
UNRIGGED ELECTIONS (including an investigation to previously stolen
elections), then came the Dem waffling on the legality of the Iraq
INVASION/OCCUPATION (not to mention your vote FOR the war, claiming you
were "duped" even as MILLIONS of unpaid citizens (so often confused by
politicians, of all parties apparently, with PAID LOBBYISTS) stood in
streets all over the world screaming "THERE ARE NO WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION!!!" while the Democrats listened to their lobbyists, the
Bush White House flaks, and each other.

It is indeed a dark day in America.

Democratic Leaders 'Betray' Hackett

By Robert Parry

"Our country and our party are better off when people like Paul step up and run for office". A sentiment I agree with, so why do the Senator's that pushed Mr Hackett out don't subscribe. Is this our party or just theirs. If they want to make the decisions, I'll sit back and let them do the electing also.

Mr Dean,

You have a bully pulpit. Use it.

Will you be forgotten as another in a long line of Democratic losers? Or will you be remembered as a man who stood firm against corruption and cronyism?

It is time for you to speak out against the DSCC.

It is time for you personally and publically to beg Paul Hackett to reconsider.

It is time for you to vow that you will oppose any DNC support for DSCC until DSCC provides equal support to all Democratic candidates in any given primary.

Or you could help Democrats to lose again.

--Mike Bird

Wow! I cannot believe the support that we have here. I have not seen another independent thread on the KA blog garner this much attention with so many people speaking their mind.

My letter to my Senior Senator from NY was scathing. Keep up the good work, my friends.

Dr. Dean, please round up this party and get us on the right track. We have a lot of good people with no clear message.

Yes, I'm sure Mr. Hackett will be thrilled with this heartwarming thanks from the party that pulled the rug out from under him.

This is a sad day to be a Democrat.

Demand truly democratic government, served by elected officials who uphold the highest standards of honesty and integrity.

That is what it says at the DSCC.

WTF is this??? The more I read today, the more upset I get.

truly democratic government...oh yeah, we push Paul Hackett and say that is democratic.

highest standards of honesty...whisper campaigns and swiftboating is honest.

integrity...the DSCC HAS NONE!!!

Best of luck Mr. Hackett. Best of luck Democratic Party. Although I've only been a Democrat for a short time, I've already had enough. Paul Hackett was one of the best things going for this party and the DSSC goes and craps on him. If the DNC is going to tolerate this, I don't know if I can call myself a Democrat anymore. What the hell happened to the big tent? I think the tent is collasping DNC. What are you gonna do about it??

I don't really care if Hackett didn't raise as much money as Brown. If the leadership had backed Hackett the money would have been there. If Hackett had ran and lost, it still would have been worth it. It would have been a gauntlet thrown down that let the Republicans and lazy Democratic leaders know they would be held to task. It was a hill worth dying on.
Write to the people who took part in this fiasco and express your displeasure. They should have to explain.
Write to Schumer: http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/contact/webform.cfm

Write To Reid: http://reid.senate.gov/email_form.cfm

Write To Rahm Emmanuel:
http://www.house.gov/emanuel/IMA/issue.htm

And Then Write To Hackett To Say Thanks and Show your support:

http://www.hackettforcongress.com/page/s/contact

What in the hell happened to allowing *ME* the right to select *MY* senator?

You know - I live in the middle of nowhere Ohio - Saint Marys. It's in the middle of a very conservative area. I work at *gasp* Wal*Mart. I deal with people with "conservative" tendancies on a daily basis. Everyone at that Wal*Mart knows who Paul Hackett is. Most of the moderates in this area, and some of the Republicans like Hackett. This is why the GOP had such a hard time in Cincy.

And don't get me started on the Democrats around here - to them, and myself, Paul Hackett is a true patriot who should be revered.

But I digress - the last I checked, this country allowed ME to pick MY leaders - and today I was robbed. The State of Ohio was robbed.

The next time Reid and Schumer are up for re-election, I will personally donate $1,000 to the candidate that runs against them... and from here on out, the Democrats will not touch any of MY money.

Maybe then the leadership will realize: "It's the votes, stupid."

...I should add that I do not intend to vote for whichever Brown... or any '06 Democrat as well.

I should add - after my venting letter - that I do not plan to vote for any Democratic candidates in 2006 now. I'll simply withold the vote.

This is just absolutely disgusting. This is just another check with why the dems no longer have control of the house and senate. Tactics like this will even cost us the mid-term elections. Here the dems have a candidate that has all the buzz of Barak Obama and they stab him in the back. Instead they opt for a status quo money man candidate. If Reid and Howard are truly sorry they would get up off their ass, apoligize on behalf of the party, and urge him to re-enter the race. And if you are worried about the funds all you have to do is give him the backing and the funds will come. Whoever is in charge of this decision making process should be fired from his/her post.

Let's not forget why the other guy had so much money. Certain people told certain donors NOT to give money to Mr. Hackett. Mr. Hackett himself said he had no trouble raising money.

There are several sad things about the withdrawal of Paul Hacker: Reid/ Schummer have proven that they are out of touch with the pulse of the country. Hackett represents change, truth, courage, not business as usual.We don't want another career politican! On this issue these two are as cold-hearted and addled as the Republicans.
It is said that some dems staged a whisper campaign--swift boat style--about Hackett's war record. Say it isn't so. I thought we were the good guys.

I like many others are sick to hear that Hackett was pressured out of the race. The old school, baby boomer politicans are killing this party, and this is a perfect example.

At the same time, I'm disappointed in Hackett as well. As a fighter, he should have stayed in there to represent those of us who want to see REFORM in this party.

It's such a stark contrast to a situation in Georgia, where in spite of 50% of the GA GOP signing a letter asking Ralph Reed to drop out of the Lt. Governor race, he won't quit.

I really wish Hackett had that same stuborn resolve.

Word is that the swift-boating was instigated by members of Browns campaign.

That's the report from the Ed Schultz show today, at least. Listen to the interview with Paul Hackett at:

http://audio.wegoted.com/podcasting/21406Hackett.mp3

Words can't begin to describe how disgusted I am with what's happened to the campaign of Paul Hackett for US Senate.

What is the problem with the DNC?! I'm beginning to believe that the Democrats really are out of touch with the mainstream America... and that's something I typically hear from the RNC.

We need real LEADERS in the Senate, not another cookie-cutter liberal that says all the things everyone would expect a liberal to say. What does the DNC not understand about grassroots?

As a former conservative that came to the Democratic party out of disgust for what the GOP had become, I am at a loss of where to turn now. Is there a political party out there that actually represents the average American anymore?

I'll probably hate myself in the morning for asking this, but where is Ross Perot when you need him?

Good plan everyone. Let's stop supporting the Dems, stop giving money, stop voting, stop everytyhing.....that'll show 'em. Of course that also means more Bush, more Rove, more Alito, more lies, more non-existant WMD, more corruption....more of the same.

I'm angry Hackett that is leaving the race. I'm angry if our own party forced him out. But I'm not so angry that I've forgotten about the shape this country is in, the problems we are facing, and those who have put us in this position.

I'm a liberal and I'm a Democrat. I'm those things with or without Paul Hackett. I wish he was still in the race, but the race wasn't Paul Hackett. The race is about saving this country from ruin. Go ahead and be pissed off, I am, but losing and proving a point while you do it is no different than just plain losing. Either way we will be stuck with more of the same...and that is a far worse defeat than Paul Hackett not being in the race.

Believe it or not Columbus, that actually worked for the republicans. The national party started to change the way it was thinking in the late 80s.

Dean,

Perhaps you should inform Shummer and Reid of the Plan -

-Show Up Everywhere
-Strengthen State Parties and the Grassroots
-Focus On Our Core Values
-Take Advantage of Cutting-Edge Technologies
-Train Tomorrow’s Leaders

Dean,

Perhaps you should inform Shummer and Reid of the Plan -

-Show Up Everywhere
-Strengthen State Parties and the Grassroots
-Focus On Our Core Values
-Take Advantage of Cutting-Edge Technologies
-Train Tomorrow’s Leaders

Hackett's departure from Ohio Senate race highlights gulf between old, new politics

WASHINGTON, Feb. 14 — With a shove from party leaders, Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett abruptly quit a key Senate race in Ohio and further exposed a disconnect between the Democratic establishment and Internet-fueled challengers.

The political novice withdrew under intense pressure from party leaders in Washington, clearing the field for Rep. Sherrod Brown — a 30-year veteran of Democratic politics with more than $2.5 million in the bank.
Phil Singer, spokesman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Hackett's decision to quit gives the party a better chance of beating two-term GOP Sen. Mike DeWine in November. Hackett drew his strongest support from Democratic activists outside Washington and Ohio who donated money and time via the Internet, including many who considered his military record an asset against DeWine.
''Hackett would have probably won this seat,'' David Nir, one of three founders of the liberal Web site SwingStateProject.com, contended in a blog posting Tuesday. ''It's much harder for me to envision the 'northeastern Ohio liberal' Sherrod Brown breaking the 49-percent barrier, particularly with DeWine moving to the center.''

hello all, more info on Hacket on DailyKos. Let's all think about getting more involved in our party on a daily and local level. That's what Paul did; that is what we can all do to at least feel we not only have a stake on some website and on some democracy bond paper. Yes, I agree with Columbus; its unfortunate, but we all believe in Dean and in the democratic principles. And hey!...let's be careful out there!

Gov. Dean: I was a very early supporter of your campaign, and looked forward to supporting your efforts as chair of the DNC. BUT PLEASE set some feet on fire and tell the DSCC, DCCC, and DLC leaders to get out of the way and let "we, the people" decide who will run! They need to keep their noses out of OUR business...they certainly don't pay attention any other time, either! I'm working my (Dem) ass off in the northwoods trying to unseat Delay clones and these turkeys from Inside the Beltway interfere with the process (again)instead of enhance it. You can tell them that pretty soon they will be running this party all by themselves. 'Cause we are sick and tired of Republican Lite....even the Republicans are running away from Republican Lite!!

So here we go again.. shooting ourselves in the foot. We don't need Cheney to shot, we're masters. We need to have the DNC issue daily talking points, as well as rapid response points for all the nastiness that the GOP likes to spread.

You know what I am getting sick of?

This crap of, "Oh well the DNC (excuse me if I don't believe for a second this crap of "we didn't do it", they were ALL involved)screwed over someone they promised to support in order to get an old school career politician who had said he wouldn't run, but hey we're all democrats so let's now support the other guy"

SCREW YOU!

I just informed this site and every other democratic site to take my name off their donor list and email list. I no longer want anything to do with the democratic party. They keep shooting themselves in the foot while claiming they are aiming for the sky.

They keep saying they are the party of the people YET they refuse to disavow the war, refuse to disavow their votes to allow this travesty of a medicare bill, refuse to disavow their votes on the so-called tort reform bill, Democrats are now no different that ReThugs when it comes to representing the Middle Class and poor of America. They represent the vested interests of Corporate America.

IF Dems regain the power in D.C. any bets they won't do A THING ABOUT THE ABUSES? Any bets?

Any bets they won't do a thing about Medicare mess? About FEMA? About anything?

There is a serious disconnect within the Democratic party and reality. The ReThugs are in another solar system with the corruption, thieving and lying, but the Dems seem to be trying to go to the same solar system and they way they just treated AN IRAQI WAR VET says it all. They really don't want a new face or new thoughts, they want the SAME Ol' SAME OL'.

As a democrat since I first registered in 1969 when I became old enough to vote I have always voted the straight democratic ticket.

But ya know what? Seeing how they treated an honorable man who took their word they would back him until they realized he wasn't going to be a corporate toady like they are, I realized they don't really care about us, just getting power.

If this is how they treated someone they PROMISED to back and then turned on him, then what about us?

Sorry, but as much as I hate the ReThugs, and I do, as I think they are trying to turn America into a fascist, Christian Taliban style of dictatorship, I no longer feel the Democratic party is acting in the best interests of America either.

It's time for a new third party that stands by it's word, and is actively concerned about Middle America and Corporate America last.

Sorry but democratic party members are now not much different than the Kool Aid drinkers of the ReThug party.

We all have ideals and most of us who support the democratic party believe in something our leaders do not and THAT IS AMERICA.

They believe in keeping their jobs and in letting corporate America support them and screw us.

Time for a third party.

See Ya!

Posted by JayneGA on February 14, 2006 at 08:23 PM

Jayne, thank you...that was so bluntly true, it made me chuckle, well snicker...not a laughing day by any means.

Peace!

OH and another quick thing.

Someone posted above that this isn't about Hackett.

YES IT IS.

IF THIS IS HOW THEY TREATED HIM...then how do you think they feel about us? They PROMISED him full support. They PROMISED him no one else would be in the race. THEY PROMISED HIM!!

It simply shows the disconnect between us and the elected people.

**stops shaking his fist at the dem party to wave at lizzy...resumes shaking fist**

I'm sick and tired of loser Clinton DLC centrists controlling the party! I think S. Brown is worse than Joe Lieberman. Guess I'll just double my contribution to Joe's primary opponent and do whatever I can to fight their obvious '08 pick--Hillary.

You know, dears, I haven't been on this blog in months. I'm jumping in this evening to express my shock and outrage at the betrayal of Paul Hackett's candidacy. Pardon my inelegant language, but what the fuck is going on with the Democratic Party?

Not one dime will I contribute from this day forward until the party hacks-- the career politicians, wolves in sheep's clothing, put their ambiton aside and start listening to the people. I'm so damned sick of it all. The Democrats are hopeless; we need a third party that can WIN!

I'm THROUGH!

well, what the hell exactly is a...

"a silent heart attack"

and what do the other kind sound like???

i've not seen such a bunch of downplaying by the media in a while. never heard a shotgun referred to as as "pellet gun". never heard of a "silent heart attack".

While we are at it, writing to Schumer, Reid, Dean ..let's write to Brown who said he would not run, then decided to gift the party with his candidacy. Let's write to Brown and get him to remove himself from this race.

then if that does not work, the Buckeye State voters can WRITE IN Paul Hackett on their ballots. This might work well anyway because it would by pass the electronic voting machines! All write in votes are counted by hand...at least that is how it is done in the precincts here in Iowa.

Let me also say that some of the comments on this thread today came from RNC pretenders trying to divide us. We should all be unified in getting rid of the old guard. I think we have an opportunity to create more Paul Hacketts.

I know of a corrupt senator in Connecticut that needs a good a** kicking. Let's show the establishment the power of the grassroots. They only respond to fear and threats. Getting rid of Joe Liebermannnnnnnnnnnnn will strike fear in DINOs and let the politicians know who really runs this party.

Ned Lamont is probably going to need 20 million dollars before it is all over. Foot soldiers, letter writers, and celebrity support could tip the balance. Let's make the Connecticut primary the our Gettysburg!

Let me also say that some of the comments on this thread today came from RNC pretenders trying to divide us. We should all be unified in getting rid of the old guard. I think we have an opportunity to create more Paul Hacketts.

I know of a corrupt senator in Connecticut that needs a good a** kicking. Let's show the establishment the power of the grassroots. They only respond to fear and threats. Getting rid of Joe Liebermannnnnnnnnnnnn will strike fear in DINOs and let the politicians know who really runs this party.

Ned Lamont is probably going to need 20 million dollars before it is all over. Foot soldiers, letter writers, and celebrity support could tip the balance. Let's make the Connecticut primary the our Gettysburg!

My wife & I have been regular donors to the DNC, DCCC & DSCC for years. Based on the way leadership has chosen to treat Paul Hackett, we've chosen to rethink our donation strategy.

We do not view the Hackett situation as a single instance litmus test, but as one in a cascade of short-sighted, ill-informed and disingenuous decisions and behaviors. I mean, what the hell are Wyden and Feinstein thinking when it comes to court nominees?!?!?

Actions do have consequences. Democratic leaders seem to think they don't. Donations from this family will be far harder to come by for established Democrats to earn. It maybe far easier for the Cindy Sheehans and Paul Hacketts of the world benefit from our largesse.

Given their past track record, it's time for new and visionary leadership in all levels of the democratic party (okay after the midterms... and I'm still optimistic about getting the house and senate back). I sent emails stating my extreme disappointment with the way my party's leadership treated Major Hackett to both my senators, Boxer and Feinstein. I also signed on to this board.

Dr. Dean, I take you at your word on this. You have never been part of the "establishment" elite and I imagine the same powers that shoved Hackett out of the way had a hand in getting you and General Clark out of the primaries back in '04...

I wish Hackett had stood strong, but we will never really know what he was up against.

We were all so thrilled when you became Chair of DNC and were hopeful it was the beginning of change. It's just so hard to be patient when we lose a gem like Hackett due to the "old" energy boys club... ;(

Thanks for all you're doing Dr. Dean. You're really making a difference and one day we'll see the payoff. Change takes time.

Right now I am sorry to say that I consider myself a Democrat. How dare the Democratic leadership push Mr. Paul Hackett out of the race for Senate in favor of a fellow "Inside the Beltway" companion. I see it very hard for lefty Sherrod Brown to win over incumbent Mike DeWine. In fact I will most likely cast my vote for DeWine because I am so sickned over the state of the Democratic Party. We had, along with gubernatorial candidate Ted Strickland, a strong capability to win big in 2006. However I think that people will look at Sherrod and then look at Ted and say NO to the Democrats. We needed the strong credentials of moderation of Paul Hackett, the man who would have won. So tonight I say congrats to all of the insiders who ran our best chance at winning a Senate seat away. Way to go you incompetent fools. When will this party pay attention to the moderates? The Republican party is ugly but it is looking more appealing. I say time for Mr. Dean the Scream to go. NOW!

RNC PRETENDERS

I am NOT a RNC pretender. I am an angry Democrat who wants CHANGE! I also think it would be wonderful for a 3rd party!

RNC PRETENDERS

I am shocked that anytime we have a spokesman that fires up the electorate we set them aside. Howard Dean was and still is my choice and hoped for Presidential candidate. I was going to give to Paul Hackett's campaign because fires up the voters, has good middle class ideal, and common sense. I've given to many campaigns, the DNC, the DSCC, and local Democratic candidates. I will no longer give to the DSCC, they have lost my support. I will continue to give to the DNC and other organizations associated with Howard Dean. Remember the Democractic Party grew strong out of the blood of the labor movement and those who were not afraid to standup to power.

Posted by OhioZach13 on February 14, 2006 at 10:00 PM

Ballot language will have the Governors race on top....Strickland will win our state back from there.

You know how liberal Sherrod Brown is, huh? ;)

I'm still scratching my head over Paul getting the union endorsement.

I am so mad about this development with Paul Hacket. I think the Democratic leadership has really missed the boat on this one. Why should I contribute money to the Democratic party when they pull the rug out from underneth a great candidate and the people, like me, who feel (felt)hope once again. I feel betrayed. I'm seriously thinking about becoming an Indepent. And if the DNC didn't have a role to play in this they should have, at the very least tell OHIO locals they really screwed up.

Is this for real? Howard, is the Schumers of our party going to be allowed to do this. You not doing your job. You just let your members pull a "Rove" on Hackett. This is on your watch. Shame on you. You were suppose to be a statesman. I guess your just another politician.

RNC PRETENDERS

pee-wee, that's very clever, saying "RNC PRETENDERS" over and over, but I know alot of the folks posting here about Hackett tonight and they are genuine, long-time posters...Democrats, and they are mad as hell.

There are certain words that stick out. Some are truly upset. But, some are not.

AHA!

The emails to try to recruit Hackett for an independent campaign are coming in.

I am going to try my damndest to get him on the horn tomorrow or his political ops and see what we need to do.

He sounded fairly resolute, but there's nothing like a good college try to get the guy on board.

Keep the emails coming to nathan@themindvillage.com

Name
City/State
Working email

Encourage others to join on board. I will try to have a website together by morning or afternoon.

Since no one up top is listening, it's time.

Nathan

Write-in campaign!

echo...echo...echo...a sad note for this party. karl rove has rubbed off on some who call themselves leadership of this party. shame...shame...shame...suggest they appologize if hopefully not to late and bring hackett back asap. if not soon, the party leadership is just like the unethical repubs. and, maybe they don't need my help in 2006 either?

Quit bitching everybody. Dean has told us to be a party of fighters.

While I am pissed at Reid and Schumer, I am more pissed at Hackett. Why did he leave before there was even a primary?? He portrayed himself as a fighter. Where is the fight??

We as Democrats have come to fight against the Repugs who are loading their campaign pockets from super rich donors. Paul Hackett knew that. Why didn't he fight against that type of stance this time??

If he wasn't going to fight for himself, I don't want him fighting for us in the senate!!

MNDEM

This is just what I hear all over the country. The Grassroots candidates, the true reformers are shut out by the party hacks. For the Senate and Congressional candidates, don't blame the DNC. It is the fault of the DCCC and the DLC and the leadership in both the House and the Senate.

How about Paul Hackett for Ohio Secretary of State in charge of cleaning up corrupt elections? There's plenty to do! Or hire him at DNC Headquarters in charge of getting Dem Vets elected.

No one's bitching anymore - we're fighting to get him back...

I just got the humble little webpage together:
http://weneedhackett.mytopia.org/

Email can be addressed to: weneedhackett@MYTOPIA.ORG

So, we'll give it a shot - if he begs off again - we tried and we can work to politically castrate Reid and Schumer and get our women and men in in their positions.

It's time - and I am on board with cleaning this craphouse up.

I'll do what I can to help - this little Hackett crusade is my rallying cry.

http://weneedhackett.mytopia.org/

Email can be addressed to: weneedhackett@MYTOPIA.ORG

This has been a passionate day of posting and caring deeply for our democracy. How many bloggers here are PCO's or attend their monthly legislative district meetings?

How many here have bought Democracy Bonds? How many are asking their friends to buy Bonds. We can take back our party and our country this way - we buy it back one bond at a time. We finance our campaigns with small, regular donations. We take back campaigns from the rich donors - so that we can tell all the Paul Hacketts in all the states to go ahead. The money will be there for you.

DNC money is separate from DCCC and DSCC money. DNC money goes to building the party in all 50 states. It's our money. It's our DNC and Dean is our guy.

OH PUHLEEZE spare me the platitudes about Hackett being forced out.

You know what you people sound like? The same people blaming the shooting victim of Cheney! The Reichwing hacks have been all out in force blaming the guy for getting in the way of the gun or for not following hunter's rules.

You know all the comments and yelling we make about how the ReThugs blame the victims? WELL WE ARE DOING THE SAME THING!!

I shouldn't say we anymore because, if anyone has been following, I have been a loyal democrat despite being let down TIME AFTER TIME AFTER TIME by our cowardly democrats who won't oppose A SINGLE DAMNED THING DUMBYA DOES!

And spare me this crap about, "it's fake republicans saying these things, take heart". WE ARE TRUE DEMOCRATS WHO ARE TIRED OF OUR LEADERSHIP LETTING US DOWN TIME AFTER TIME!!

This is what the democratic apologists sound like. JUST LIKE THE RETHUGS!!!
Blame the guy who was being SWIFTBOATED BY OUR OWN PEOPLE!!!!!

BLAME THE GUY WHOM SHERROD BROWN STARTED WAR CRIMES RUMORS ABOUT!!!!

THIS IS WHY WE KEEP LOSING ELECTIONS YOU MORONS!!!!

WE EAT OUR OWN!!!

Posted today on Blog for America

Jim Dean is the Chair of Democracy for America.

As they say in life: "You gotta take the good with the bad." Yesterday, we had a blast rolling out our Vermont endorsements of Peter Welch for Congress and Bernie Sanders for Senate—two fabulous candidates who understand that the highest political office in our great country is that of the citizen; and who can bring independence and integrity back to Washington.

Today we are deeply saddened by the announcement that Paul Hackett is withdrawing from the race for U.S. Senate in Ohio.

We and many of you supported Paul in the Ohio-2 special congressional election last year. While we had not taken a position in his senate race (in deference to DFA members in Ohio who support Sherrod Brown), we nonetheless were thrilled that Paul had stepped up to run for higher office. The integrity and activism that his campaign embodied were—and remain—critical to a Democratic victory over the Republican incumbent.

Paul has been, and always will be a man of integrity, guts, authenticity, and courage—characteristics that too often don't seem to matter to our Party's congressional leaders in Washington. Whether you agree with Paul's positions or not, his campaign has represented the resurgence of the authentic candidate. One who speaks honestly and openly about his or her values and political positions because it is the right way to communicate with voters, and the ONLY way to gain their respect.

Anyone who has looked at poll results knows that the Democrats have been losing for over 15 years because voters don't trust Democrats on the issues. Paul's campaign gave all of us hope that the Democratic Party can again have candidates who are honest and open about their positions; thereby regaining the interest of the voters.

More importantly, Paul's campaign gave us hope that the Democratic Party has the discipline and drive to innovate by embracing the entrepreneurial competition of ideas and candidates which are so critical to honing our message and preparing candidates to battle the right-wing spin machine.

Our community understands the importance of this, and regrets that we must continue to baby-sit the congressional leadership until they have the maturity, confidence, and discipline to embrace and encourage the kind of innovative campaigns that Paul brought to the Party.

Today that baby-sitting job got a lot tougher. Even after 15 years of losing, too much of our leadership continues to waste valuable time and donors' hard earned money trying to maintain a party machine in second place. They do this by trying to bring new and exciting ideas to heal for the sake of their own second place status, because to them second place in DC is better than fighting for our country, our values and our party.

Thanks to Paul, the drive to take our country back for those who built it continues at full speed.

Paul, thank you for everything you have done. Take some well-deserved time off, but please, please, come back to the fight as soon as you can. You are the future of our democracy. You are the future of the Democratic Party—or the next Party—depending on whether the Democratic leadership in Congress can ever get beyond its remarkably oversized sense of entitlement.

Today they lost, but you kept your word and didn't compromise your values. We thank you for this, hope to see you soon, and wish you and your great family all the best.

—Jim Dean

Posted by Jim Dean at 02:48 PM
Link | TrackBack (0) | Comments (86)

Had enough of the party tell US who our candidate should be? Then, DRAFT HACKETT.

Join at http://www.hackpac.com/

Blog at http://drafthackett.blogspot.com/

We're upset and we're not going to take it anymore.

oh, btw, I cancelled my recurring Democracy Bond tonight too, and the money goes to Draft Hackett now.

Isn't this the same Democratic Leadership who has not been able to take control of any branch of this Government in how long now. I think it just may be time to replace that leadership and get some fresh blood in this party. Maybe then we may turn this around.

To Paul Hackett
Screw the party leadership I don't live in Ohio but I was born there and I will contribute to your campaign if you decide to fight. I am sure there are many others who feel the same.
decide to fight.

Thank you,Chairman Dean for that well articulated and thoughtful post.I certainly appreciate you addressing the concerns of so many of us and in such a timely fashion.It is with some restraint that I express my disappointment with the decision made by Mr. Hackett not to run.I think,that what I and my fellow Democratic Constituents find still upsetting is something that was not answered in your post.Why was he advised by top Democrats not to run in the first place? I think,this,more than the fact that Hackett backed out,is what has some of us scratching our heads to say the very least.I am not angry at Paul as I understand his position fully and I learned from a previous experience not to judge a politician based on one decision,(Feingold/Roberts vote ;D)without knowing anything else about them.So,my unsettled feelings stem from what I don't know.If anyone could answer that question,I'd be able to put my disappointment to rest.

Thank you.

FYI, I've got the second part of Hackett's interview with Ohio 2nd transcribed, if anyone is interested. The gist of this part is his reasons for not being willing to get back into the race against Schmidt.

http://howardempowered.blogspot.com/

I have known for quite some time that repubs are sheeple and it is dawning on me that we dems suffer some of these sheeple too.

Like others on this board I am so damn mad over the treatment of Paul Hackett a bright light among so many dim bulbs, guess his light scared the hell out of the elite career politicians that stand for nothing other than their own interests at the cost of the country. True patriots relish a fight for what is right not the same old rubbish we have been spoon fed and Paul Hackett inspired the real patiotism that most of us average folks out here have and gave us hope that we could really get back all that is good in our democrat values. These politicians that blind sided him need to be gotten rid of fast or I am afraid our party will be a thing of the past, other parties have sunk into oblivion and it can happen to us when those who are supposed to represent us fail to do what we want. They work for us not the other way around and need to learn this lesson, I guess the hard way by being voted out! What has happened to common sense is it just down the toilet like ethics and real values and proven courage the kind that Paul Hackett inspired. Shame on those who participated in this fiasco!

Trolls, Trolls, Trolls!

Like I said,this time,I am using caution and restraint.I will not jump to accusations when I hear news about our Democratic Leaders that upsets me.Rather,I will research, question and get the facts.I also,will be using the same type of restraint with my purse.I won't be jumping to respond to every e-mail sent to me asking for a donation either.See,I have some rules when it comes down to politics.The most important one is that I will NOT support the G.O.P..Therefore,if any political leader, no matter what party they belong to acts in a way that mirrors the Repuplican Party which I so despise,and after researching and discovering it to be true, I will not send them a single dime and I will sit elections out.I am not a sell-out and I don't support them either.

Thank You,Renee in Ohio.:)

http://howardempowered.blogspot.com

One SAMPLE of the question and answer session taken from the link provided by Renee speaks volumes and raises several questions.My fellow Democrats,while we have the right to be angry,please remember that [anger+ uninformed = a republican ].On that note,I urge my friends to get all the facts.It's NOT Paul's fault,but it's becoming clear just who's fault it really is.Read on...

snip

Ohio 2nd: The DCCC?

Hackett: Zero. I mean that most sincerely. The request was, "Get out of the Senate, to clear the Senate, and come back to the 2nd. And my response was, essentially, whatever I do, I cannot come back to the 2nd Congressional District, for the reasons I just articulated and also, more importantly to me the fact that I told specifically Jim Parker first, Thor Jacobs second, and Vic Wilson third, that I was not coming back into that race. And I'm not trying to create a cliche, or do anything other than the fact of being who I am, and that is, I will not go back on my word to them. And even to those who suggest, "Well, what if they get out, will you get in?" I say that's disingenuous and still bad for the process. Because if they were to get out, they would be getting out under duress and pressure--the same duress and pressure that got me out of the Senate race.

Let them have their primary. That is the process. (Laughing) How can I do to them what Sherrod Brown did to me? How can I do that, and then come out and lip the words "Stand by the process" or "I'm a man of my word"?

Look, people can call me a coward, people can say I'm really not a fighter all that they want to say. But in the final analysis, they cannot say I did not keep my word.

I was getting ready to contribute some refund money next week to the DNC, ODNC, and Mr. Hackett, but, NOOOOOOO, The clueless leaders of this Party chose to support a has been Brown over an up and comer Hackett. Thanks alot dumbasses. Im still voting for Hackett in the primary. Congrats to Sen Mike Dewine on his reelection.

Posted by JeffersonThomas on February 15, 2006 at 02:04 AM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is all so very disturbing.I want so bad to just trust the Leadership,but I absolutly need to know why Reid and Schumer told Hackett not to run.I have to know that.I don't care what anyone says.I NEED to know.I deserve to know.We have already announced ourselves to this nation,and the world, that we are the OPEN and HONEST government.I watched as they signed the,whatever the heck that was,paper on CSpan.So,I want answeres!Period.The Democratic Constituents deserve an answer.W H Y ?

I got this e-mail fom MoveOn.Org.The question was raised, Should we take on right -Wing Democrats? Sign It!

http://political.moveon.org/whattodo/?id=6850-6370227-OEunaVevjYPVSfGHS6ux4w&t=3

I am furious about Paul Hackett not getting the financial and political support he needed to carry on with his campaign. I have been a loyal Dem and have contributed my time and have given financially to the DNC as well as Paul Hackett. Mr. Hackett stands behind what he says and doesn't get all wishy-washy. I believe this candidate was very electable. Letting Mr. Hackett go was a terrible mistake. It makes me not want to donate anymore to the DNC. I hold Mr. Dean responsible for much of this. He should have made every attempt to to intercede on Mr. Hacketts behalf. Trust me, the Republicans do get involved in every race and at every level giving the fincancial support they need.

I am furious about Paul Hackett not getting the financial and political support he needed to carry on with his campaign. I have been a loyal Dem and have contributed my time and have given financially to the DNC as well as Paul Hackett. Mr. Hackett stands behind what he says and doesn't get all wishy-washy. I believe this candidate was very electable. Letting Mr. Hackett go was a terrible mistake. It makes me not want to donate anymore to the DNC. I hold Mr. Dean responsible for much of this. He should have made every attempt to to intercede on Mr. Hacketts behalf. Trust me, the Republicans do get involved in every race and at every level giving the fincancial support they need.

I am furious about Paul Hackett not getting the financial and political support he needed to carry on with his campaign. I have been a loyal Dem and have contributed my time and have given financially to the DNC as well as Paul Hackett. Mr. Hackett stands behind what he says and doesn't get all wishy-washy. I believe this candidate was very electable. Letting Mr. Hackett go was a terrible mistake. It makes me not want to donate anymore to the DNC. I hold Mr. Dean responsible for much of this. He should have made every attempt to to intercede on Mr. Hacketts behalf. Trust me, the Republicans do get involved in every race and at every level giving the fincancial support they need.

I am furious about Paul Hackett not getting the financial and political support he needed to carry on with his campaign. I have been a loyal Dem and have contributed my time and have given financially to the DNC as well as Paul Hackett. Mr. Hackett stands behind what he says and doesn't get all wishy-washy. I believe this candidate was very electable. Letting Mr. Hackett go was a terrible mistake. It makes me not want to donate anymore to the DNC. I hold Mr. Dean responsible for much of this. He should have made every attempt to to intercede on Mr. Hacketts behalf. Trust me, the Republicans do get involved in every race and at every level giving the fincancial support they need.

Posted by Liberty on February 15, 2006 at 03:29 AM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I understand your frustration.I am so tempted to say "To **** with you all"to out democratic Leaders however,that's not the rational thing to do.Rather,we have to get all the facts.I am still waiting to hear from Senators Reid and Schumer so they can tell me why they discouraged Paul from running in the Senate.I don't want to jump the gun or the ship for that metter,but I know one thng.I better hear from somebody....soon.

Dear Governor Dean,

You have a tough job ahead of you. I have always thought of myself as a middle of the road moderate Democrat. In preparation for the fall elections, I was ready to make $1,000 donation to the party, but after hearing what just happened to Paul Hackett, I think my priority right now is to focus these resources instead to moveon.org specifically to oust Democratic conservatives that snuffed out Paul Hackett's campaign. I liked this guy because he had the balls to say what a lot of us are thinking and frustated that our Democratic party leaders never says. Paul Hackett was a inspiration and a breath of fresh air. More than that, I viewed him as the new guard of the Democratic Party. The powerful Republican menace has devided us and we have lost our confidence, our message, and our way. It is clear as day that the moderate ilk of Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid and Rahm Emanuel need an attitude readjustment or get out of the way. These guys are not getting anybody excited and this all plays into why we have been locked into being a minority party. We are in a devisive culture war, the opposition has been winning, and all we Democrats can do is be a watered down versions of them. The same status quo bastards that held you down during your run for the presidency are doing it again and I hope you can respect my decision not to donate right now. I belive the public at large is weary of the old guard message and we need a fresh face that is competitive. My view is we are in critical times where are freedoms and rights are being whittled away by manipulative people pretending to be hyper patriots whose mission is to redistribute wealth to the mighty. The DNC need to put on a fresh face with a winning unifying message and we do not have a moment to waste...

Howard, you have house cleaning to do before I donate money to the party.

Posted by optime on February 15, 2006 at 04:19 AM

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After reading that post,it just dawned on me.I don't feel angry.I feel sad.Maybe even a little hurt.I want to say to all Democratic Leaders who may or may not read these Blogs or even visit this site and your staff,I'm growing inpatient with us being so close to gaining ground and then something that makes no sense,has to happen.I've been giving out several staunch rebuttals against opposition to our party on several different Blogs on a daily basis and it's like,I come home "DNC" and something happens yet again that makes no sense to me.How can I get out there and back us? What talking points do I have when everytime I think I'm getting somewhere,BAMMMM!If it makes no sense to me,how am I supposed to get others to understand our partys'positions? I mean,hell!Give me something.HELP ME HELP YOU! Don't insult me by keeping me in the dark and then ask for a donation.I am NOT a Republican.I am a Democrat.That doesn't work for me.Please,help us fix the problems that we as a party are having so we can go on to fix this mess that the Bush Administration has put us all in.I don't care what or how, but you all absolutly have to get together and have an emergency summit or a meeting and don't come out untill you know what direction your taking us.That's all,I'm saying.Please,for the love of all that is holy,get with the program.What's wrong? Are you being threatened or something? Give us a hint or a clue.Are you being blackmailed? What? Why do you keep sabotaging us like this? Are you being forced to f**k-up on pupose? What? Let us know,Please.In any event,I'm sorry for venting a little,but I fell so very strongly about this party and I feel like only my fellow Constituents feel the way I do.I feel like it's hitting a wall.Like all of my efforts and time is just hitting a wall.I don't have to be on the internet all day.I don't have to write letters or fuss with stupid Republicans.I'm not getting paid for it.I do it because I WANT to.I just wonder,do you WANT to? Okay,I'm done with that.Sorry,but that post tugged at my emotions.

I just spent a sleepless night, after reading about the treatment of Paul Hackett. I have talked to several other veterans/progressives here in NE Ohio and to say the least we are all outraged. I have not given money to the national party for 2 years because of the treatment of Dr. Dean by these same individuals who call themselves party leaders. This is my message, The party must change or there must be a different party. While I will not give up my progressive valvues and will work for indiividual canidates, election reform, and goverment reform, I will not support the machine that gives the Mr Brown as a Candiate for Senator. No Money, I will vote for either a Green party candiate or I will vote for Mike Dewine. This so called leadership has just disenfranchised 1000's, of Democrats.
In Ohio you can win an election with out you base and you have just lost alot of us....

I just spent a sleepless night, after reading about the treatment of Paul Hackett. I have talked to several other veterans/progressives here in NE Ohio and to say the least we are all outraged. I have not given money to the national party for 2 years because of the treatment of Dr. Dean by these same individuals who call themselves party leaders. This is my message, The party must change or there must be a different party. While I will not give up my progressive valvues and will work for indiividual canidates, election reform, and goverment reform, I will not support the machine that gives the Mr Brown as a Candiate for Senator. No Money, I will vote for either a Green party candiate or I will vote for Mike Dewine. This so called leadership has just disenfranchised 1000's, of Democrats.
In Ohio you can win an election with out you base and you have just lost alot of us....

I just spent a sleepless night, after reading about the treatment of Paul Hackett. I have talked to several other veterans/progressives here in NE Ohio and to say the least we are all outraged. I have not given money to the national party for 2 years because of the treatment of Dr. Dean by these same individuals who call themselves party leaders. This is my message, The party must change or there must be a different party. While I will not give up my progressive valvues and will work for indiividual canidates, election reform, and goverment reform, I will not support the machine that gives the Mr Brown as a Candiate for Senator. No Money, I will vote for either a Green party candiate or I will vote for Mike Dewine. This so called leadership has just disenfranchised 1000's, of Democrats.
In Ohio you can not win an election with out your base and you have just lost alot of us....

(Democratic Staffers)

See? How am I supposed to respond to the likes of DOC? What can I say to bolster his/her faith and confidence in us? That's my point right there.I want to tell that person to just vote Democrat anyway for the "cause" but what's the cause? Are we trying to win back Congress, the House and the White House? Tossing Hackett doesn't suggest that we are.Wheres Paul Begala when you need him? Maybe he can make some sense out of all this.

Corinne -

If your reference to Schumer being the successor to Al D'Amato is intended to infer that DLC "candidates win", you make my point for me about the DLC. For them, the central question is "what do I need to say or do to win," rather than "what do I want to do IF I win."

Of course, it helps to have your opponent refer to you as a putzhead, as Alfonse did, and to appear on a nationally syndicated radio show doding derogatory imitations of an Asian American judge, as Alfonse did.

And how do YOU feel about Schumer taking Bush's position on the Iraq war - "Even knowing what I know now I would still vote for the authorization." How convenient for the Republican party to have Democrats who know how to win elections so that they can support the Republican majority when they get to Congress. Why spend a dime opposing them?

The DNC and Ohio Democrats have humiliated and degraded Paul Hackett. This needs to be remedied or I will no longer donate ONE PENNY to the DNC until you get forward thinking leadership; not this good-old-boy crap. I am so disgusted with the DNC leadership, after 25-years of faithful donations and running as a DEMOCRAT for the GA house of representative myself in 1998 (GA House dist 29). I am appalled with the treatment given Paul Hackett in Ohio. No wonder we NEVER win anything anymore! I think we need new DNC leadership or a third party that truthfully and ethically represents the real progressive movement in the country. "The American Progressive Party" is starting to sound better and better to me. You have one chance to rectify this DNC and Ohio Democratic Party outrage against Paul Hackett, and not a whole lot of time to do it before, after 25-years, I bail-out on you.
Regrettably,
Arthur J Comeau (About to be former DNC member and donator unless you fix this ASAP).

Good morning, dears. Some of you may remember me; I hadn't been on the blog in months, but the disgraceful treatment-- swift-boating even-- of Paul Hacket was enough to draw me back in last night. My residence is in Texas, but my heart is breaking for my native once-beautiful Ohio. I've been doing some serious thinking about this, and here's what I'm going to do:

1. Write to Schumer et.al., and demand an explanation for this action, which on the face of it seems outrageous, insulting, and demeaning both to Candidate Hackett and the people.

2. Withhold donations from DLC, DSCC and other organizations supporting politics-as-usual in the party.

3. Donate money and time to DFA and to local candidates, bypassing party machinery altogether till these people remember that they work for the people-- not the other way around.

4. Increase my support for Sojourners, Fellowship of Reconciliation, Amnesty International, my local church, and other nonpartisan peace-and-justice organizations.

5. Consider the option of withdrawing my affiliation from the Democratic Party and exploring the third-party option.

Somebody above posted that an explanation from the party hacks had better be forthcoming, and SOON-- and it had better be a damn good one. I second that. I'll give them a day or two, and if something doesn't come through I'll be getting myself off the DLC and DSCC email lists. Yes, we're fighting Democrats, alright-- fragging and cannibalizing the very people who can help us turn this mess around. F*** this shit!

This really sucks, I know. It pisses me off and makes me want to move to Costa Rica.

But Maybe Schumer and Reid have in fact saved Hackett's political life. If he ran and lost the primary, he may have been viewd as damaged goods and not able to really compete. Once the smoke clears, he will be able to run for abother race in another district somewhere else. Remember, the goal is to win the seat, to beat the repugs, to take back the country. Hackett has been forced out, but hopefully for a victory in the senate, and if he can recover from this. Right now he should take a time out and cool his mouth off before he does any more damage at a time when we should be reeling in the Dick Cheney shooting aftermath.

ArthurCommeau and others -

Be careful when identifying the enemy here. The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is not. The DLC (Democratic Leadership Council) is. Unelected Democrats (Howard Dean and the thousands of other Democrats who are attempting to build the party from the ground up) are not the enemy. Elected Democrats like Chuckles Schumer who are members of the DLC and are running the DSCC (Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee) and elected Democrats like Landrieu and Lieberman who participated in the Gang of 14 seelout are very much the enemy.

In a recent address, Schumer made the following comments about why he and the DSSC had annointed Bob Casey to run against Santorum in PA:

"Our number one target is Santorum, he should go back to Md. or where ever he lives. So I called up Governor Rendell and I asked him who is the best candidate to beat Santorum and Rendell said "There is only one candidate who can beat him and that is Bob Casey but he won't run and you won't want him too because he is pro-life, he is a deeply religious Catholic man. So I said "those days are over Ed, yes I am pro-choice, but we need the best candidate. We can't insist that every democrat check off 18 different issues before they get (perhaps he said "get to run") So we got Harry to persuade Casey to run and Casey is winning in the polls. Etc...
And we are doing this in the other states. The American people smell the extremism in the air.

Note: "those days are over." So...screw women's rights, as long as we get elected. This is where the DLC has brought us - what do we have to do or say to get elected. Well, heck...since Republicans are getting elected, the answer to THAT question is fucking obvious, isn't it? You have to walk and talk like Republicans.

Hackett didn't get axed by the DNC. He got axed by elected, DLC, asshole Democrats.

Here in the Midwest, the morning after the Hackett hatchet job looks no better than the day of its perpetration. A winter storm's a comin' here and a political one is a comin' for the Democrats.

Eliminating primary competition is the Democratic death knell for the general election. Recent election history proves that. That Rahhhhhhhhhhhhm Emmmmmmanuel or Chuck (Hillary) Schumer is qualified to dictate to the citizens of Ohio who is or who is not qualified to represent them is pure bullshit.

I for one will not donate another red cent to the Democratic Party via the DNC, the DCCC, or general committees thereof. Never ever again.

Furhtermore, I am going to instruct my entire family, who have a history of generosity in giving to the party, to cease all donations and considerations thereof forthwith.

The stale, atrophied status quo of the Democratic Party is tantamount to politcal castration of the self-inflicted kind. Only a few like Congressman John Murtha have the courage and grit to stand up to Bush, to speak genuinely on behalf of the people instead of the caucus, and to act upon true conviction. Rahm and Company? Yeah, right.

It is clear that Rahm and Schumer are bolstering the palace guard in advance of a Hillary campaign. The last thing they want are folks in their ranks who might have the temerity not to walk in lockstep with them.

Well, take it from us here in the heartland: The Cult of Hillary will not succeed, not now, not ever. A Hillary nomination is the very same thing the Republicans want; and Rahhhhhhhm and Chuck are demonstrating their will to serve her up on a silver fricking platter.

A Hillary candidacy will produce the sharpest and brassiest edge ever witnessed on a presidential candidate. Count on it!

That is why it is essential and timely for Democrats to move beyond the Beltway to fresh, energetic, and committed candidates, candidates who are for the PEOPLE, not for the PARTY.

Mr. Dean, you are now a contradiction of your former self, having tossed in the towel of innovation in favor of the rag of convention.

You can spin the Hackett axe job any way you wish, but the truth will always be known: you killed his effort because you feared it.

Does the DNC have any concept of what this kind of thing does to our grassroots organizing efforts?

I am furious this morning, just furious!!! I sent Schumer a blistering email and if I find out who else was involved, they're getting a piece of my mind, too.

I'm ashamed of every Democrat who had a hand in this.

Just as I was becoming excited and hopeful again, the Democratic Party pulls out a pin and bursts my balloon.

Perhaps the leaders of the DNC don't realize this, but the average guy, like me, is not interested in hearing which of the Democratic big wigs put the whammy on Paul Hackett.
We only know that it was the Democrats that stopped the campaign of a Democrat who was finally "telling it like it is" with some credibility.
Telling us that it was Reid's fault rather than Dean's fault is playing the same game as the Republicans are playing and I want no part of it.

No more money or votes from me until the Democratic Party stops being a duplicate of the Republican Party.

Governor Dean: Do what you have to do to get Hackett back in the Ohio campaign or you have lost me.

Darevrap

RE:BaronScarpia

....Sounds like along with 2 Americas there are 2 Democratic parties.......

But then who elects thos "DLC Assholes"

If Hackett would have stayed on, he would have joined the club too .....

Pre election is a speculation, once elected you are in th hotseat and even your family and party dont always agree with your decisions.

I happen to think Schumer has been one of the most balsy Dems up in the face of this lame ass administration which is ruining this country fast. Sorry to see Hackett go babe, but in the big picture, its not that important. Let it go. Its early, He will move on. He has made an impact. And we must band together and move on. Lest the worst assholes (those currently in the majority) continue their dark reign!!

I say shame on the Democratic Party for betraying the very ideals of Democracy. It's not up to the party leadership to determine who the Democratic candidate is. The choice is made by the voting peoples of America. Paul Hackett was not just a good man but an outstanding Democratic candidate. We are not children, we are Americans and how dare Howard Dean or anyone in the Democratic party try to tell us they weren't involved in Paul Hackett stepping down. We're tired of lies and half-truths. We've had enough from the Bush administration and we certainly don't need them from you.

Okay, enough of all this blah, blah, blah. All this whining -- including my own! -- only goes so far. I vote for a little action here. Here is Paul Hackett's campaign URL. I've written him and offered him a donation if he changes his mind. If we don't want candidates in hock to the big money and old time power brokers, we have to be prepared to replace it with our own.

Let's kill two birds with one stone: help get an outstanding Democrat elected to Congress and show Reid and Schumer that they don't actually own the Democratic Party.... the people in it do.

http://hackettforcongress.com/

...Well, take it from us here in the heartland: The Cult of Hillary will not succeed, not now, not ever. A Hillary nomination is the very same thing the Republicans want; and Rahhhhhhhm and Chuck are demonstrating their will to serve her up on a silver fricking platter...Posted by ChuckWisconsin on February 15, 2006 at 08:50 AM

Unfortunately, Hillary (imo) speaks from both sides of her mouth...typical DLCer...I unsubscribed myself from her mailing list yesterday!!!

...Here is Paul Hackett's campaign URL. I've written him and offered him a donation if he changes his mind. If we don't want candidates in hock to the big money and old time power brokers, we have to be prepared to replace it with our own...Posted by KatyMunger on February 15, 2006 at 09:14 AM

Great positive advice...will do!

KatyMunger you are totally right! Screw Schumer, we have the power, so let's show Paul Hackett that even though the Democractic Party machine doesn't want him the important people, ie. the people, do want him.

PS. Can we also get some support for Chuck Pennacchio, the Pennsylvania senatorial candidate who is being totally shafted by the dem party who are backing their quasi-democratic candidate Bob Casey. Chuck is the real deal and with our support he can win the primary and oust Santorum.

It sounds like the midwest and Texas are on the same wave length. Hillary doesn't have a prayer in Texas; she's seen as an opportunist even among some of us who want to like her. She's too soft on the war to boot.

The DNC needs to pay attention here: nobody from Boston or New York will win in the south. John Edwards MIGHT have done it, but there was a LOT of support here in Texas for Wesley Clark and Howard Dean last time around. Straight talk is what people want. I wish the party hacks would get a clue. Unless they do, we're screwed once again in 2008.

Howard Dean,

If we cannot even tell the truth to each other inside the Democratic Party about something like DNC actions in the Paul Hackett withdrawal, then there is no hope for the party or for the country.

IF you or anyone from the DNC was involved in pressuring Hackett or his contributors, you better fess-up now or pay the consequences later. We Americans, we, the People, have had enough....mad as hell and on the brink of another 1776.

Boomer

Ditto to what others have said. I can not believe that ANYONE in the Democratic party would tell a man like Paul Hackett not to run for office. Last time I checked, this was still a free country, the Democratic party stood for public participation in the political process, and it was up to the VOTERS to decide who they want to represent them in Congress. For Reid and others of his ilk to have stepped in and crowned the candidate of *their* choosing to run against Senator Dewine is reprehensible. If Howard Dean says that the DNC had no role in this fiasco, then I will believe him and, for now, I will continue as a Democracy Bond contributor. But Dean needs to get to the bottom of this and make sure it does not happen again.

I am 41 years old have been involved in politics since I was a little kid. My parents were very active in politics so it rubbed off on their 10 children. I remember as an 8 year old watching the Nixon hearings and seeing him resign. I have been and always will be a democrat. I have voted in EVERY election since I was 18 years old.

Having said that I feel it is time to ask...plead in fact that we as a party get back to a message that the average American can understand and identify with.
I know that Dick Cheney is an odious man and I hate him. I know that Bush lied to the American people and now we are in a war that will ultimately cost us the tax payer 2 trillion dollars but these are not the things that we need to or should be commenting on. They do not resonate with the average voter. I do however think we shopuld push some very basic messages that will have a real impact in the upcoming elections and they are:
1) The birth tax that the Republicans have created with the reckless spending and special interest earmarks that have become so popular. A child born today will be born with a 27,000 dollar defecit to pay or "birth Tax" as it were.
2) I think we need to push the greed button. The fact that most Americans are feeling squeezed at the pump and with the home heating bills and the big oils companies are posting multi billion dollar profits
3) The unchecked corruption in our environmental policies and special interests preferences.Lets make sure we keep the heat on and make all of these favors done to special interewst groups very public!
These are just three examples of simple messages that are being lost because we have no unified voice and we have so many varying messages on the War in Iraq and all the other issues that should matter. Please Please lets stop playing into their hands by taking the bait and commenting on things that maybe important but make the democrats look like bad sports such as the Cheney incident. I also think that when Bush sneaks in his late Friday Executive orders that we have a forum that highlights these items. Lets have some press conferences like they did with "the contract with America" so they can't sneak these underthanded clsed doors past the average voter anymore.

Now is our time lets not waste this poltical capital!!

Dean has told us that the DNC does not get involved in taking sides during the primaries. I trust him and take him at his word until I am confronted with reliable information that says otherwise.

Dean was on the receiving end of these kinds of shenanigans 2 years ago, when it looked for a while like he might become the nominee.

If you look at what Jim Dean of Democracy for America said yesterday, I would be surprised if Howard's opinion on the matter was much different. However, being DNC Chairman doesn't make one the dictator of the party. He doesn't control Democratic Senators.

Howard is thinking long term, trying to help local volunteers organize in cities and towns across the country.

We just saw some of that pay off in the runoff election yesterday here in Austin, where Donna Howard won a runoff against Ben Bentzin with 58% of the vote for Texas state legislature. This district's representative had been Republican Todd Baxter, who resigned in the fall. Net gain of one for Democrats in the Texas legislature! Many volunteers involved in helping Donna Howard were people who were heavily involved in the Dean campaign in 2003/2004.

In my own district, we now have 3 Democratic candidates running for Texas legislature. Our current representative is a Republican who ran unopposed in the 2004 election. One of these 3 candidates lives down the street from me, and was a Dean supporter in 2004. I ran into another campaign friend of mine recently who has been blockwalking with one of the other Democratic candidates. He said he has been told at many homes,"Finally! We haven't seen a Democrat at our door in YEARS!", and their responses have been generally positive.

This is what is happening in Texas. We WILL eventually take our country back, despite some of our elder leaders' mistakes.

Honest Leadership and Open Government -- We will end the Republican culture of corruption and restore a sense of responsibility to elected office, and we will pass fundamental reforms that make government more honest, open, and accountable to the American people than ever before.

Real Security -- We will protect Americans at home by getting serious about homeland security, and address the real threats abroad by capturing or killing Osama bin Laden and focusing on actual (not imagined) nuclear proliferation. We will be prepared for the threats of tomorrow, and we will always tell the truth to our troops and the American people.

Jobs in America that will Stay in America -- We will keep good jobs from leaving and ensure that every job in America is a fair deal. We will balance the budget, ensure that the tax code is simple and fair, and create jobs by making America energy independent.

A Strong Public Education System -- We will strengthen our nation’s public schools to restore opportunity and optimism for every American.

A Health Care System that Works for Everyone -- We will join every other industrialized country by making sure everyone has access to affordable health care. We will change a corrupt, inefficient system into one that makes sure the world’s wealthiest country is also the healthiest.

Momma G wrote:
"1. Write to Schumer et.al., and demand an explanation for this action, which on the face of it seems outrageous, insulting, and demeaning both to Candidate Hackett and the people.
2. Withhold donations from DLC, DSCC and other organizations supporting politics-as-usual in the party....
Somebody above posted that an explanation from the party hacks had better be forthcoming, and SOON-- and it had better be a damn good one. I second that. I'll give them a day or two, and if something doesn't come through I'll be getting myself off the DLC and DSCC email lists."

Well said, Momma. In addition, I think you should all know that the DSCC has its own blog. I strongly suggest that those who feel that is incumbent on the DSCC to 1) acknowledge they screwed up, and 2) announce how they intend to straighten out this mess, should stop by that blog at http://fromtheroots.org . I posted my own message there this morning, and I hope others will join me in making it clear that the DSCC screwed up and they need to acknowledge that and take corrective action.

Here's what I posted:

"The Hackett Hit

"I agree with the concern expressed above concerning Schumer's jackbooted approach to the Hackett candidacy. At the very least, Schumer should have allowed a frigging primary at least. Whose party is this anyway?
Well, they've stepped in it, and now they have to make amends.

"I would suggest, for starters, that they openly apologize for their high-handed and thuggish behavior, and concede that all they succeeded in doing was hurting the cause of Ohio Democrats. I further suggest that they unreservedly apologize to Sherrod Brown, someone who has now received an ugly political black eye as a result of Schumer's Roveian tactics. The odds against any Democrat defeating DeWine, but in particular of Sherrod Brown defeating him, just zoomed sky-high as a result of Schumer's imbecilic bullying.

"Secondly, I strongly suggest that the DSCC make clear that it will NEVER AGAIN interfere with or sabotage the efforts of a legitimate candidate in Democratic primary. LET THE VOTERS DECIDE!

"Finally, in order to restore some credibility to the DSCC and undo the political and strategic damage wrought by this behavior, I strongly suggest that Senator Schumer resign from the DSCC, effective immediately.

"In the meantime, I can assure up-Chuck and his band of merry men that they won't get another penny from me, or another minute of my volunteer time, until they engage in some effort to 1)acknowledge they screwed up royally, 2) unreservedly apologize, and 3) take concrete steps to demonstrate they are prepared to make REAL amends for this injury, as opposed to empty phrases like "mistakes were made".

"Shame."

Where is the courage, are we trying for change, or just a slightly more compassionate version of what we have now.
As long as the Democratic leadership tries to show that it poses no threat to the Republicans we will not win,
Paul Hackett's stature, and image is one which would have gotten votes from voters left and right.

There are plenty of Fighting Dems to support in Hackett's wake, like Colorado's progressive point man, Bill Winter. If we can take the mountains, we can take the Hill!

I hope there is a BIG place somewhere in the Dem Party for Hackett. Don't let him slip away. When Gov Dean announced for the DNC Chair position the Reps went crazy. They FEAR no one as much as they fear Howard. That has not changed. You can tell by how viscious their personal attacks are. With a litle more political experience and public exposure, Hackett could have the same effect on them. Congratulations to Paul. The enemy FEARS him!!!
Let's wait and see what the future holds in the Dem Party for our man Paul.

ColoradoLiberal
We lived in Grand Junction for several years back in the '90's. You have the MOST beautiful state I have ever seen. I was surprised there aren't more Independents there. So many of you have really strong opinions about everything. I hope Colorado becomes a Dem stronghold to anchor the entire midwest on in Nov.

To put this simply. I am 100% disillusioned.
God, I hope in the future we develop a viable 3rd party.
The #1 brightest light for us Dems was Paul Hacket. He was exactly what we needed. I see no light at the end of the tunnel anymore. to me I only see why Dems are out of touch, appear impotent and basically greatly disappoint me.... AGAIN. I cannot immagaine a bigger F... UP
I will not donate any money dems. I will not participate in any DEM events. no more... No hope either... thanks guys...
I want to beleive in our freedoms our democracy. Hacket gave me hope. This was ugly, out of touch politics.
Gee I guess we still have Joe Liberman :(
Well maybe in 2012 Dems will stop falling all over themselves.... You have lost me.
.

criggs-- I tried to go to that DSCC blog address provided in yours of 10:37. They have yet to email me back with a login. Guess they don't want to hear from me; maybe this means they're getting flooded. Another odd thing-- daily I'm hit with emails from this, that, or the other Democratic party causes begging for money, but so far nothing today.

Went direct to Harry Reid's site, and he only responds to emails from constituents; I take that to mean that he doesn't bother to read emails from Ohio, although he doesn't seem to have a problem interfering with political processes that affect Ohio voters-- like deep-sixing a viable primary candidate.

I'm off to see if Chuckie-cheese Schumer wants to talk to me.

>>RNC PRETENDERS<<

That's right. Just keep you head buried in the sand, plug your ears and pretend everything is fine.

Dean and the DNC leadership owe the people of Ohio an apology... along with everyone else that has supported Mr. Hackett.

Nice work guys. At a time when we should be offering the American public a viable alternative to the 'culture of corruption' we just pushed out the one guy that should have been the poster boy for the Democratic Party in 2006 elections. And publicly, I might add. Now we are just another party that doesn't want to 'rock the boat' in Washington.

I am not quite sure who, within our leadership, is in charge of strategy but I work in advertising and if I managed a brand like our leaders manage our party, I would be fired.

P.S. Won't be long before everyone starts refering to us as, 'Fighting Demselves'

I guess I have one more complaint: it's time for Dean to have control over the party. (*Sees can of worms open.*) Why do we need 400 committees (exaggeration, I know) to do what the DNC should be doing to start with?

Apparently, if we're going to work on the 50 state strategy, it needs to begin in Ohio with the DNC officially and publicly asking Hackett to come back.

..still dismayed this morning.
-iBG

I was extremely displeased when I discovered that Paul Hackett pulled out of the Senate Race in Ohio because of pressure from fellow Democrats.

This country needs people like Paul to give it a shot in the arm. Who ever applied the pressure to focre him out should also be pushed out.

This is why the Republicans took control of the House and Senate to bing with.

Wow! I'm always amazed at how many people have no idea what the party structure is or how it works. Some really poorly informed people posting comments here think that the DNC pulls the strings on who runs and who doesn't. Still others can't quite seem to understand that the DNC is a totally separate entity from the DSCC, the DCCC and the DLC. I can't tell you how many times I've seen this sort of ignorance manifest itself in misplaced anger when the DLC (Al From and friends) does or says something stupid and the clueless start saying "I will never donate to the DNC again!"

The DNC's job is to build party infrastructure and offer support to candidates for nomination who emerge from the primary and caucus system as candidates for office. The DNC doesn't get to pick favorites, it just gets to help the eventual nominee.

Aim your anger in the right direction. In this case (Hackett), that would be in the general direction of the DSCC and the DCCC.

Gotta say I also see a lot of posts here that come across to me as either not-too-clever trolls or Republican operatives (same difference) seeking to foment dissent.

I'm as upset as the next person at what was done to Hackett but people should not let their anger distract them from the larger agenda which is of course to take back the house and ths senate. Sherrod Brown is no DLC Dino, he's a died in the wool progressive worthy of our support.

Make use of your anger and let the DCCC and the DSCC know that they don't get to play kingmakers in the primaries. After that, get to work to elect good Democrats. That's exactly what Paul Hackett has said he wants you to do.

What have you guys done??? How could you push a man like Paul Hackett out of the Ohio Race. Hey thanks for allowing us in Ohio to make that choice at the Primary. If it is so important for the Democrats to win back seats in the Senate, why would you take out a man, who is not afraid to speak out(not like most of the rest of you!)and has fresh ideas on where this country needs to go. I am from Northeast Ohio, and have never seen the positive response,that I have seen on Paul Hackett's run for Senate. Sherrod Brown has been on the Hill for how long and what the heck has he done to speak out on how this country is going to the dogs!! A lot of us in this area are really PO that you took that decision out of our hands. If DeWine gets back in, we now have someone to blame. You guys have really screwed up!!!!!

"Wow! I'm always amazed at how many people have no idea what the party structure is or how it works."

And I'm constantly amazed at how poor the Democratic party is at explaining how decisions are made. Paul Hackett was pushed out and the Democrats (whatever sub-organization you would like to pin the blame on) have done a lousy job at explaining how and why this happened.

I'll just add my vote as well. I admire Howard Dean greatly, but I am dismayed and often disgusted at what appears to be the machinations of a party cadre. Charles Schumer's stock has plummeted with me. Someone called the other night and almost talked me into contributing to the national Dem coffers, but I told her I didn't like the way the big shots were running things and I would wait a little longer. She said that things were changing and were going to get better. Yeah, right.

I admired Howard Dean when he stood up against administration and the mamby pamby democrats (low case intended) and argued against the war in Iraq. I worked for a was happy to hear he was elected to run the Democratic Party, but what has happened to "the fire in the belly"? Why is there no fight? Now we hear about Paul Hackett being sabotaged by his own party. Has Dean no influence over the cabal inside the party? What in the world is going on? From here on out, I will contribute ONLY to individual candidates, but not one cent to the central committee.

Okay, I don't know if the DSCC is involved in this or not -- there sure isn't a peep about this from them on their website! But they DO have their own website and a blog section. And Reid and Schumer are right there at the top of their leadership section, so it's a good place to make your feelings known. I've posted something. There's one other comment besides. There needs to be more.

It's a pain in the butt to sign up there, strange technology abounds and you have to first negotiate the main website, then find the Roots Diary section, but it's worth the effort:

Main site:

http://www.dscc.org

From the Roots Blog:

http://www.fromtheroots.org/section/__all__/

You know, they can only keep pulling crap like this if we LET them. It's our party, too! They don't actually own it, they just act like they do. Of course, it's going to require a lot more from us than simply posting on blogs -- but a first step is certainly demanding they be held accountable for their actions.

To BaronScarpia and others; maybe the DNC is not to blame, but it gets back to the leadership issue; we have no definitive leader who will stand up for or against the status quo. Just last week I watched Senator Harry Reid, when asked, who is the standard bearer, who is the leader for the Democrats hem and haw and give such a wishy-washy answer it was embarrassing (and this was on National TV). Will anyone take a stand against the status quo, in either party? I am so sad that we have succumbed yet again, devoured a good man like Major Hackett, and NOBODY IS WILLING TO TAKE A CHANCE! We lost in 2004 due to the good-old-boy network and dammit, we're headed the same way again. The DNC may not be to blame for what happened to Major Hackett per se, but not letting the Primary system work in Ohio, not letting things play out, and going with the flow, is enabling us down the same road to defeat against this awful republican regime. Will we ever learn? I donate to the DNC because we set a platform and we set the tone for the rest of the democrats across the country; that is my belief. That is what leadership is, and if we don't show and expect fair leadership top-to-bottom, how can we organize nationally to win? That is my frustrated point! Suffice it to say, the progressive democrats are watching all that goes on, and so far, 2006 is a leaderless, idealess, flop. Only 9-months till the mid-terms and there should be a movement in place to win, not good-old-boy slight of hand like the Ohio democrats have done to Major Hackett.
Thanks,
Arthur Comeau, CAPT, USAF Retired
Democrat - Lifelong

"Wow! I'm always amazed at how many people have no idea what the party structure is or how it works."

Romberry - I think it's time to change the structure of this party so that incidents like this won't happen again. There is no reason to have the DSCC and DCCC - they should operate under the DNC. The WHOLE party should operate under the DNC.

For anyone thinking of voting against Dems or not voting at all please read the following:

Pushing Them Off the Precipice of Power

The Crisis Papers

[...]

The aim, the only aim, is to break the lock Bush&Co. have on virtually all the levers of power in this country. Removing GOP control of the House, for example, would have the practical effect of giving the Democrats subpoena power to force the appearance of Administration witnesses under oath, to obtain documents, to prepare impeachment charges, etc... cont.

I am very very upset at Paul Hackett being forced out of the Race in Ohio. Paul Hackett is the type of Person the Democrats need. This makes me sick.

DNC: Kicking Air

Glad to see further comments. I emailed the Democratic party and said no more money.

EVER.

I am going to change my registration from Democrat to Independent.

As for the people trying to pass those off who are upset about the way Hackett was treated as Rethug trollz or soemthing else. Get a clue. This is all over the internet and there ain't enough trollz to cover all that ground.

We are all concerned that party politics and the machine behind them is determined to shoot itself in the foot and to actually AIM for their own foot.

Sherrod Brown is NOT a progressive. Does anyone here believe the DLC would push for a progressive? Seriously.

The DLC is nothing more than a ReThug-Lite operation. They have one loyalty and one loyalty alone. And that is to CORPORATE AMERICA.

Sherrod is just another "Beige" politician. He will bend over at every request from the DLC to give Corporate America whatever bills they want.

Sherrod has no honor, nor actual progressive beliefs. Everything he has done has been lip service to the voter. Just like Diane Feinstein who talks out of both sides of her mouth. She tells US she is fighting for the democratic ideals and then gives in and backs Dumbya's bills every time.

I don't believe Paul will come back to politics and that is to our (or I should now say; YOUR) great shame.

We lost a good one, just in order to keep the status quo with the good ol' boys club in D.C.

Sorry but for Brown to win, it would be a slap in the face of all true progressives everywhere. There must be a good third party out there to support. But I won't be surprised if Dewhine wins. We look like fools to democrats in Ohio now.

Okay, all you in Ohio get ready for a commercial this summer very similar to this:

(fade to John McCain standing in front of his senate desk, nearby are strategically placed photos of his family and him in his military uniform when he was in Viet Nam)

"Hi, I'm John McCain and I am proud to have served with Senator DeWine for the past 12 years. I can tell you that Mike DeWine will serve Ohioans with same integrity that he has shown us for all his years of public service. And I can guarantee the Mike DeWine will not beholden to the New York elite."

(fade to Mike DeWine greeting returning troops)

(fade to American flag waving in the wind with voice over)

"Senator Mike DeWine, a man for Ohio."

All I can say is smart move guys! Thank you Schumer, Reed. Thanks alot!

Wow...my nightmare happened it seems. One thing I heard from professors in my Social Theory classes and the History of American Women, studying about Mother Jones and the early 1900's struggles of The People to gain collective bargaining and get Unions....so few know about this because it is not taught as a part of American History...unless in college...but...the words stuck and stuck...Factionism is and has always been the disease of the left.

Now I do not see anything very left in any position near to any power here for quite awhile and feel that it has all shifted so right that what they call left today is what we used to call moderately liberal, but they probably cannot even pay the utility bills or buy a home let alone build a power base these days and we are all aware of the current plight of the miners in WVA. There is so much we are all disgruntled about lately and it feels like we are nearly at the boiling point, but we must channel that through ONE BIG PARTY.

Third party opportunists as well as RNC pretenders have infiltrated and are like a bunch of jumping beans throughout this thread....and yes, the good strong Dems are doing what I would want them to, complaining loud and clear, and making many brilliant points and suggestions.

Well, atleast we are honestly getting this out on the table. Hopefully counting to ten, reading more, a little time, and we can pick ouselves up from this stumble as change happens...hopefully learning from it, as was said, better early on.

Many issues, so many good comments here, too many to mention all the names. Renee's link was good, go read what Hackett said. Subjectively, it is his experience and his decision. He has been under a lot of pressure in his life the last few years...this must be appreciated, respected and understood. Thank God he has a future.

The lack of funding must be taken into consideration...and that issue in and of itself is so angering to me. Why on earth can not a gifted individual in this country not have Equal Opportunity to run for office??? This must stop and it needs to be levelled out. We have way too many rich boys in a bubble up there with no real education and the demeanor of used car salesmen. Class distinction should not color our public political democratic process and ruin the chances of a genius or highly gifted individual to change the world for the better, just common sense, just ain't fair at all but also it is actually crippling the talent pool and you guys up there know it...afterall wasn't it you who had the investigations and got the word out to the public about so many dangerous things in the past? You Old Dems are my heroes.

Now let's all be consistent with that example and yes, let's be activist for the whole big picture united, let's get this party marching in one direction in sinc on the same page on the primary issues, numbers will do it, a landslide, if not the extortionate amounts of money....we have the numbers! (yes so many mentioned that like DaveShelly above)! Sure we can protest, like crazy, but we must protest where it counts.

I hate what that Miserable Rep from District 2 did to Murtha, so do we all. The object is to get her out, and her pointy finger shrill dissonant blaming ignorant show on the senate floor. Never again go that low before the whole world that is watching!!! I am sure Hackett agrees and if Brown runs against the opposition in his place, he is a good man and I will be on the side that makes sense and offers a real leader who cares about The People. Especially in the state of Ohio. We must turn the tide of corruption and embarrassment, and stop the depression and misery of so many impoverished unemployed people who are sitting somewhere cold tonight due to the cost of heat. This is not the cult of personality, or the fan club of the movie star, brainwashed over some idol.

It is not only getting the votes but stopping the misery and the depletion of resources, hardship, poverty, deficit, education, because all of us are getting left behind quite blatantly while the money disappears off shore and we go into debt to other countries. That is the big point for the big party to have to deal with, and when they get in they will have a heck of a clean up job and we will all have to wake up and roll up our sleeves, but slowly, the rewards will begin to build up again like they did in the nineties...remember the nineties?

We did it! We had it! We were making progress and we all felt it in our savings accounts across this nation! We were inclusive, we were working and getting a fair wage, more opportunity for upward mobility, hopeful kids in college, and if Gore would have taken over, we would have many more jobs by now in the new energy fields, good talent and intelligence, because money comes from human and natural resources...now look since 2000 and they are now just saying we need to break free of our addiction to oil, oh come on.

These are the big umbrella issues and we must stay united because they bank on the fact that divided we will fall. We cannot miss any more tricks. We are getting better at not missing them, but it has been very disappointing lately and yes, we must let our representatives know while keeping in mind this is the minority party and many hands are, indeed, very tied right now. Unfortunately, it's going to take more control on the part of the people to keep cool and organize change because it's obvious that things are quite strange lately with civil servants that are not doing a good job of it and their dirty tricks are being found out, one after another.

We are all so upset for so long and the news the last couple weeks has me feeling like I am in some Twilight Zone. There are big problems and we need ONE BIG PARTY to COALESCE under NOW.

Yes, we love Hackett, he is like our Robin Hood.
There will be room for him in time, maybe sooner rather than later and we are all gladened by the support I am seeing above, what a rally of support, we should be proud of this thread for so many good comments and ideas. I am going to let you know something too, I think Hackett is super and I think Sherrod Brown is super too. I have heard Brown rip a new you know what in senate speeches this last year on c-span and wondered - wow, who is that guy, he is great! We have so many good Dems! If there is any problem it is that there are so many good Dems!!!
That is not a problem in my book, sticking together under the primary principles in a strong undivided coalition is what is getting me worried, either we do this or....
Consider the choice.

We all know Clinton won because of Ross Perot at the last minute telling his people which way to vote..or have we forgotten recent history?
To the establishment Dems. I know it is not easy but do get unified up there and I would like to get more news on this situation with Hackett and what is being done about it, there should be some real support for Hackett somewhere, I thought the idea about a shift for him to go for the opening for Secretary of the State of Ohio that exists right now was a good one above. Or perhaps Brown could fill that post? I am sure there is room for both of them and a few others and the more the merrier in Ohio!

By the way - here is some good news about Zack Space running against Bob Ney!
DON'T GIVE UP!!! Remember Lech Waleska??? SOLIDARITY. Lets stay creative and constructive, no more fears of friendly fire or hunting accidents, or shots in the foot stuff. We must push on like Hackett said...he will be okay. I know he will be busy somewhere soon in his own way and he will get the support he needs.

Meanwhile, this is so exciting, we have so much work to do still!!! Hang in there, Go Zack Go!!! If Ohio gets tough, the tough must get running.
Go to: http://www.ZackSpace.org

MarieDNC -

You make some good points. I'd - personally - rather Brown take the SoS position and Hackett get back into the Senate race. I think it's time to dissolve the DSCC and DCCC and it's time to run this party as "ONE BIG PARTY" - the DNC.

The problem is that this won't happen until *WE THE PEOPLE* put enough pressure on the party.

-iBG

Who did Turd Blossom pay off??

Just a note from someone who lives in Ohio. Sherrod Brown has no chance of beating DeWine. The Democratic party needs to quit playing the Ole' Boy game and get some fresh faces in the party. You had that in Paul Hackett and blew it!!

It's not too late, we can turn Ohio around if the Democratic Party supports Hackett.

Oh by the way.... Your man Strickland has no chance of beating Petro. You need to find the Petro Noe coin scandal link to have a chance!

Posted by MaryinSeattle on February 14, 2006 at 11:44 PM

We have an excellent candidate in Jennifer Brunner. How about AG? We don't have a good candidate there...oh wait! The filing deadline is today at 4 p.m.

J Kenneth found a fatal flaw in Petro's petitions....tsk, tsk.

I am really disgusted by this! Ironically earlier this evening, I gave $50.00 to the DNC. Had I read my newspaper prior to the phone call, I would not have given.

This is the same kind of Democrat political machinery that push Howard Deam out of the running in 2004.

I expect this kind of behavior from the Republicans!

Of course it's the DNC's fault. We need people like Paul Hackett, you bumbling idiots.

I am disgusted with the National and the Ohio Democratic Parties. I know that the "inside" thoughts are that progessives have no where else to go - so we will whine and complain - but in November we will vote Democratic. For the first time in my life, I think I will simply skip the US Senate race in Ohio - I just can't see voting for Sherrod Brown, after the politics as usual crap that the DNC and the Ohio Democratic Party pulled - in fact, after having been a Democrat for my entire voting life, I think I am going to go independent -

Fighting Dems - come on Howard - get real - Paul Hackett was a fighten Dem - Sherrod Brown is status quo - the fix is in; the only way to respond is to walk away -

Ouch, this one hurt. Let's get over to the Lord of the Flies thread to continue, things are happening rapidly in Ohio, Paul, we are taking you with us too, this thread is getting too looooooonnnnnnnggggg.

That's it for me folks. I've had enough of this incompetent, aimless, toothless, worthless party. The Hackett Scandal has pushed me over the top and I will never contribute to this party until you Howard Dean and your morons are gone from the leadership. I am changing my 33 year old Democratic Party registration to Independent. Enjoy losing. You will be doing plenty more of it come November. I am sick by this Hackett thing. Shame on you! And Corinne, please spare us the shallow excuse because all roads lead to the Party and you will never convince us they do not. What ARE you thinking people?

I called the DNC yesterday and requested a refund of my fifty dollar contribution. I told them that this kind of thinking illustrates why democrats loose.

The more I think of this the more discusted I am.
The problem is where do we go until a powerful new party arises.

I have read all the comments in this article. THERE ARE ENEMIES AMONG US.
The Republicans will break the Law or commit an Imoral act to win.
The best way to handle them is to ignore them and just calmly correct their lies!
They are desperate because they know when we get into the majority, we will put the crimals in jail and expose the Imoral to the World.

the dems have shot them selves in the foot and we will have dewine for another 6 years.are they crazy?

the dems have shot them selves in the foot and we will have dewine for another 6 years.are they crazy?

Last January at the Sacramento meeting of the candidates for DNC chair, I met a lawyer who at the time was working the cases in Ohio vs the crooked election there.

She said that in many cases, the "Democratic" leaders of the Democratic party in Ohio are actually Republicans who switched parties, went in and took over.

If this is the case, not only in Ohio but all over the country, a lot of what we see the "Democratic" leadership doing would make a lot more sense. It is perfectly logical strategy for the Republicans to colonize and co-opt the opposing party and then use these Body Snatcher "leaders" to cause it to lose repeatedly.

Naturally, *real* Democrats and Democratic candidates pose the biggest threat to such a plan, at the very least because they might actually win elections (and seats, with the power to change things!). So, we see supposed "suicidal addiction to losing strategies" on the part of "Democratic" leadership-- but it is only suicidal to actual Democrats, not to Republicans in donkey's clothing, who get to keep their sinecure year after year.

Finally, the great irony is that the same Rahm Imanuel has planted Tammy Duckworth, Iraq veteran, into the race against Christine Cegelis, who up to this point did not have a primary opponent! I think they are looking for candidates they can control-- and populist candidates are not ones they can control.

The answer to this is to power the populist candidates with zillions of our small donations, to out-power the DLC/DINO hack big-money machines. This won't happen if we give up in disgust and leave the party every time the Body Snatchers deal us another defeat. I have never donated to the DCCC or the DSCC even for the many years before Dean. I have always given directly to candidates I like, and will continue to do so.

With Hackett Departure, Old Politics Win
The Associated Press

Wednesday 15 February 2006

Washington - With a shove from party leaders, Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett abruptly quit a key Senate race in Ohio and further exposed a disconnect between the Democratic establishment and Internet-fueled challengers.

The political novice withdrew under intense pressure from party leaders in Washington, clearing the field for Rep. Sherrod Brown - a 30-year veteran of Democratic politics with more than $2.5 million in the bank.

Phil Singer, spokesman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, said Hackett's decision to quit gives the party a better chance of beating two-term GOP Sen. Mike DeWine in November. Hackett drew his strongest support from Democratic activists outside Washington and Ohio who donated money and time via the Internet, including many who considered his military record an asset against DeWine.

"Hackett would have probably won this seat," David Nir, one of three founders of the liberal Web site SwingStateProject.com, contended in a blog posting Tuesday. "It's much harder for me to envision the 'northeastern Ohio liberal' Sherrod Brown breaking the 49-percent barrier, particularly with DeWine moving to the center."

Not everyone agreed in the world of Weblogs, or blogs, but there was plenty of anger and many threatened not to help Brown. Matt Stoller, a leading voice on the liberal blog MyDD.com who wasn't involved in the Ohio Senate race, said Hackett represented a failure by bloggers to compete.

"Establishment Democrats are still more powerful than we are, by orders of magnitude," Stoller wrote. "While we can put tens of thousands into a race, they can dwarf that with millions."

Hackett said the party's decision "highlights the challenge that's still there" to close the gap between Washington and the party's grassroots.

In 2004 bloggers helped former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean leapfrog establishment candidates in the months leading up to the Democratic presidential primaries, but he quickly fell once the voting started.

Last month, Sen. John Kerry made a point of posting a message on the liberal Weblog DailyKos to assure bloggers that he and Sen. Edward Kennedy would push to block a Senate vote on the confirmation of Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. They couldn't get enough support to mount a filibuster.

On Tuesday, soon after Hackett said he was quitting politics, the largest liberal Internet organization, MoveOn.org, notified its 3.3 million members of a new strategy: working to oust conservative Democratic incumbents.

Another grassroots group that backed Hackett, Democratic war veterans, expressed outrage as well.

"Hackett brought credibility on the No. 1 issue facing the nation - the war in Iraq," said Jon Soltz, an Iraq combat veteran and executive director of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America Political Action Committee. "The Democratic Party loses credibility on that issue because he is no longer running, and because they had a hand in his decision."

Hackett said he had ended his 11-month political career. It reached its zenith last summer when his House campaign in a conservative Cincinnati-area district raised $850,000 in two months, $500,000 of it through blogs.

Republicans contended the Democrats hurt themselves.

"The Democrat party bosses dumped a candidate with mainstream vote-getting potential for one of their most liberal members," said Dan Ronayne, spokesman for the National Republican Senatorial Committee. "In doing so, the Democrats have settled on a candidate who is fundamentally out of touch with the mainstream values of Ohioans. Happy Valentine's Day, indeed."

not only that...but it is being reported in the Ohio papers that Hackett may have been SWIFTBOATED by Democrats...by his own party! ....SO MUCH FOR THE BAND OF BROTHERS! Sure, the Democrats support Veterans...AS SURFS MAYBE!

Paul Hackett of Ohio was stabbed in the back by the Democratic party. I have come to beleive that the Democrats are telling lies. They are the same as the Republicans. We need a third party led by someone who can tell the truth. I used to think tha Howard Dean was the man but not anymore. I am sick of it all. Don't come to me for money.

Paul Hackett of Ohio was stabbed in the back by the Democratic party. I have come to beleive that the Democrats are telling lies. They are the same as the Republicans. We need a third party led by someone who can tell the truth. I used to think tha Howard Dean was the man but not anymore. I am sick of it all. Don't come to me for money.

I think some are losing sight of what really matters here. I don't care if it was Donald Duck running against Mickey Mouse. The problem is that "DSCC" (and specifically certain Senators) involvement amounted to sabotage of the right of a citizen (and a Democrat to boot) to run in a primary and the rights of the citizens of Ohio to elect whom they think best. It is not about Paul or Sherrod.

Folks, the end does not justify the means. Sure, politics is a dirty business, but is it not high time we cleaned it up, made it transparent and held it to the highest standards? Or do you just want to elect democrats while trampling on the rights of other Democrats and citizens and all the time proclaiming that it was ok because one candidate was better than the other? That is what a primary is for and it is up to the citizens to decide, not the DSCC! They crossed the line of acceptability in my book.

I guess we not only have to rescue our country from a President who thinks that the ends justify the means, but also our own party from those who seem to want to do the same thing yet somehow cast it as more honorable (sort of like "Animal Farm" where "Some ends are more equal than others"). It is just wrong as far as I am concerned.

I am very new here, have never been this motivated to make a comment before. I grew up in a very conservative rupublican supporting household. It was the way I was raised, and the way I believed.
The last presidential election took a turn for me. During the campaign, I decided that I was going to vote for Kerry, not because I liked him, believed in him, or even knew his policies. But, because I thought that the war in Iraq was too much for us to be completely/solely responsible for and I believed that in order for the rest of the world to get involved, the sacrifice of one presidential election, even if it was a president I believed in was well worth the savings of american soldiers and tax payer's money.
Since I had committed myself to a Kerry vote, I began to really "pay attention" to his policies and beliefs. I listened to the usual conservative radio talk shows, but now with a critical view point. As time went on, I not only wanted to vote for Kerry because of my earlier reasons, but also because I thought he was the best candidate.
When my family and friends learned of my "new" viewpoints, I faced ridicule and more than a few "interventions".
President Bush won. Since, I have become, more critical about our policies and the policy makers, whether republican or democratic. I have come to the conclusion that both parties are corupt, only one party satisfies the wants and needs of one group of people while the other political party satisfies another.
Paul Hacket was the first person that I could honestly and truly identify with. In the twenty years of my voting ability, he was the first I would willingly donate time for, the first I would make a contribution that would be financially meaningful to my financial status. He is somebody I could have really got involved with and proudly anounce committment to. But now he is unavailable.
We the public are naive about world affairs and how the world moves forward, but it is insulting to me that we are expected to believe that Paul Hackett did not receive pressure to withdraw, whether officially or not, The DNC lost their opportunity to really move forward. Given the benefit of the doubt, even if the DNC did not put any pressure of any kind on Hackett to withdraw, they did nothing to prevent his withdraw either. Which makes them just as guilty as if they did.
He was behind in contributions, but his personality and charisma brought him media attention that have been extremely undervalued.
As Americans, we want our representatives to to have the same level of values and integrity as we expect from ourselves and each-other.
Today, I feel as though I am a person without a party.