Sun 31 Jul 2005
The Cincinnati Enquirer has endorsed Jean Schmidt for Congress. While normally the Enquirer endorsing a Republican would be no surprise, this time around many people were hoping that they might break the rut.
Their big critique of Hackett is how Iraq is such a defining issue in the campaign. From what I’ve been able to get from him it’s a defining issue not because he wants it to be but because that’s all people are talking about. It’s the defining issue of his campaign because it’s the defining issue in America today. Blue or Red people are worried about what’s going on over in Iraq.
I remember trying to get Paul Hackett to talk about Iraq after he won the primary. It was like pulling teeth. He didn’t want to talk about it and you could tell. Jobs, Health Care, Social Security… you bring up Iraq and you’d hit a wall. That’s not the case any more. The yellow ribbons are everywhere. People are desperate for someone that will talk honestly about what’s going on over in Iraq. Republicans won’t, Democrats won’t, Jean Schmidt won’t and the Cincinnati Enquirer won’t. Paul Hackett does.
The Enquirer editorial board has been on electing more women lately. This endorsement would fit that pattern. The most telling part of the endorsement is the picture. That’s the best picture of Jean Schmidt campaigning that I’ve seen, and there are still only a few people with her. Meanwhile Hackett has been out knocking doors with hundreds of people.
I remember Joe Braun after the first debate giving me a hard time about how there weren’t any Schmidt pictures of her campaigning on my site. I said, send them to me… I’ll put them up. I never got one. I figured it would be interesting to see what’s going on from their end of things. Nothing. No excitement. No passionate support. Just the endless mantra that there’s no way that she can lose. High praise indeed.
This would give Schmidt the Enquirer and Community Press and Hackett the Post and Dayton Daily News. The WhistleBlower likes to point out that no one has won the district without the Enquirer’s endorsement. That would be a little more significant if Republicans didn’t so consistently win in the district. Picking Republicans to win isn’t going to get you a high return on your bets here.
This will be a boost to a campaign that has had little good news of late. The question is, will it be enough? That’s up to you, my friends. It’s all about boots on the ground now.
UPDATE: A response from Jean Schmidt’s campaign manager is up in the comments.
UPDATE 2: Ann Driscoll goes to town on the Enquirer. She’s batting .500 with yesterday’s prediction.
Hey,
I have enjoyed reading your blog and others on the liberal side for the last week or so. I really would like to see Paul win. But he won’t because of abortion. This single issue has brought Dems down for the last 20 years and will continue to do so unless by some miracle the attitude of 40% of the country changes. Even so, they will replace gay rights as their single issue. It doesn’t matter if you are a populist, and you say all the right things, and you teach Sunday school, etc. If you are pro-choice, there is a active and consistant bloc of people who will vote against you. It doesn’t matter if you are the most corrupt SOB to walk this earth, if you cheat on your wife, and if you are a total corporate shill, if you are pro-life, there is an active and consistent bloc of people who will vote for you.
It’s so sad. I don’t know how we can move past this. I really don’t.
These single-issue voters probably spend a total of 5 minutes in 364 days thinking about abortion/reproductive issues, but on election day it is Priority #1.
And the funny thing is that I don’t know that are Congresspeople can really do any legislation to change it. It has to come from the courts (but I guess the judges are appointed by the executive and legislative branches).
I hate to bring down this party we’ve got going on online, but it’s time someone brought some reality to this election.
Paul Hackett is pro-choice. Jean Schmidt is the President of a Right to Life organization. The district went for Bush 2 to 1. There’s no way. There’s absolutely no way.
What you don’t know is the behind the scenes motion that has been going on concerning Right to Life. It isn’t one organization but many, both local and national and they are competing for votes and dollars. People like to see things in simple binary terms… red blue… black white… Democrat Republican… Choice Life. That isn’t what’s really going on.
Jean Schmidt made a big slip in the first debate when she didn’t repeat her pledge that she was 100% pro life. She tried to finesse it. She tried to have her cake and eat it to. They problem with having a base that is fanatical is that they are fanatical. They do not tollerate any wavering on their core issues.
I have heard from sources that there has been an active push to undercut Schmidt’s base from other right to life advocates because of her statements in the first debate. That’s why she was so forceful in her statements about being pro life in the 2nd debate. These rumors gain significant credance because one of the players behind it, as so I have been told, has made a very powerful attack against Schmidt on the issue of taxes.
They see Schmidt as someone who has already betrayed them on taxes. Now she’s seen as waivering on abortion and so they strike.
The biggest lesson that I can bring home to my progressive friends is that the facade that they maintain in press conferences is nothing but. Blackwell, McEwen, Taft, DeWine, Schmidt etc etc etc they all represent factions struggling for power against each other. While Democrats are trying (very unsuccessfully I might add) to defeat them in the general elections, they are each trying to defeat each other in the primaries and in the courts. In Ohio, politics is a cannibalistic blood sport.
One trend that Ohio watchers need to look out for from the right is what I will dubb the idealists. They are the true believers. They have their own strict moral code and they stick to it. They don’t tollerate deviance from anybody. That makes them very hard to fight agaisnt, since principals are so high. At the same time, they are willing to play political hardball with the best of them if it helps achieve their aim.
The strongest attack against Jean Schmidt hasn’t been from Paul Hackett and the net roots… it’s been from factions that people consider on the surface to be her base. They see the 2nd as a Republican district. They don’t take Democrats seriously at all. Turnout in 2006 will be a sinch. Let him get his short term and then vanquish him in a while. I can see the logic of it. They are taking a big risk. The Republican Party isn’t a group that will tollerate much more fracturing of their base. I’m thinking that a spring house cleaning may be around the corning in the heart of Bush country.
Is it just me or does that endorsement seem kind of wishy-washy? I am not surprised that the paper endorsed her, but it seems that their major driving point is that she is a woman and we need more women representing our country.
I expected to see an endorsement that got behind her ideas and promoted them, rather it is full of statements about Hackett, things like Schmidt is “closer to the views the Enquirer takes”, and how neither can fill Portman’s shoes, but we can hope she will use creativity.
Agreed… it’s a very weak endorsement.
Man, I would love to be a fly on the wall for the meetings that lead to it.
Jean Schmidt campaign manager Joe Braun has been kind enough to email us a response to this post. I submit it here in full:
One thing I’ll say that is different between Republicans and Democrats: Republicans only get blindsided by an attack once. Be assured that next time they will have a powerful response. I look forward to seeing what it will be.
I would like to be more hopeful. But I’m not. Even if all these GOP groups are fighting and backstabbing, the average voter will get all the info she needs going to church this morning, and it won’t cost Schmidt a cent. I am positive that Kerry lost because anti-gay laws were on the ballot on Nov 2nd, and that motivated the lifers/pro-family crowd to come to the polls in record numbers.
Until this issue is resolved, we’re screwed
in any overly-religious part of the country
BTW, I’m not being binary. A good portion of the country is pro-choice, and another good portion is pro-life, but can be persuaded. But the pro-lifers who are true believers are probably the most consistent voting bloc in the country. They vote as if their life depended on it (which makes sense in relation to their beliefs). As we can see from recent terrot attacks, religion can be a powerful motivator for action. Until we can get the US religious community focused on something besides gays and abortion, Democrats in “red” areas are screwed no matter how good they are.
It’s shocking to think that an Iraq war veteran could loose to GOP hack. But exactly what’s going to happen.
Oi! There’s nothing that I dislike more than defeatism. I can take attacks from the opposition, but when my side starts talking about how we’re doomed I go mental. I’m done attending the Ohio liberal pitty party.
Again, I’ll quote Paul Hackett quoting Thomas Paine: Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
This is ridiculous. I am a woman and I am a resident of the 2nd District. Jean Schmidt does NOT represent any of my concerns. Earth to Enquirer, Congress is NATIONAL. Regarding national and international issues, Jean Schmidt had to refer to her text books from 101 classes of 30 years ago. She does not have a clue as to how to disseminate the national and world issues. She will have to and does rely on what the boys in Washington tell her. How is that for getting a woman’s perspective? As far as representing the 2nd district, yes, she will represent the rich boys here in the Republican Party by doing away with the family farms and putting up Walmarts and mega farms. While we go to church and thank the Lord that abortion is illegal, homosexuals are forced back into the closet so we can pretend they do not exist, and that we have a job at Walmart, paying minimum wage and continually watch how the men get the promotions and increases over women. Yes, Jean Schmidt sure represents what I want. And I am thankful that the Enquirer is working to help women toward equality.
Stop endorsing the Cincinnati Enquirer, a Gannett Co. Inc. newspaper. It is a paper that supports the Republican Party and the deterioration and muting of the working class. They have put the Cincinnati Post out of business. They refuse to deliver the Post to Clermont County residents so we cannot even attempt to get an inkling of what the Cincinnati Enquires does NOT consider news. Boycott the Cincinnati Enquirer. If they want to cater to one group, then that group can read their one-sided “news”. The rest of us will read the Toledo Blade or Dayton Daily News for information.
Cincinnati Enquirer “… GET OUT OF THE WAY!”
I think that people (Republicans) will read this Enquirer endorsement and be given fresh reasons to look at Paul Hackett. The endorsement is weak as it only endorses the potential of what they “hope” she can do in Congress. The princeable reasoning is that 2nd district voters should give her a chance because she is a Republican and there are a few more of those in Washington right now. However, anyone motivated enough to get out to the polls on Tuesday will take the Enquirer’s statement that the 2nd district would be well represented by either candidate to heart.
As I predicted last week, the Enquirer endorsed Schmidt. No suprise. Their rhetoric is showing however. I especially liked the heading:
Schmidt’s Weaknesses. As I read that section they spent a whole sentance on her faults, they mentioned lack of tact, superficial answers and “relies too often on anecdotal evidence to prove a point” . WOW those are some huge weaknesses, who was the investigative reporter that revealed these shocking truths to the public? Of course this being an endorsement one wouldn’t expect to read about Schmidt’s ethics lapses or her tax increases. The Enquirer thinks her weaknesses are in her delivery. Just come out and say it……..Jean you need to sing the party line an octive higher.
The only credible argument the Enquirer offers is that Schmidt will have more immediate access to power because she is a member of the majority party. I don’t see that as being necessarily true. She would have to do thier bidding for a long while before they allow her to nibble on the carrot.
Power corrupts, complete power corrupts. The GOP corruption in Washington is beginning to show. Ohio’s 2nd district can choose to sit back and elect a rubberstamp to congress. I say we show DC some backbone and send them a message in Paul Hackett.
“Credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause: who at best, if he wins, knows the thrills of high achievement, and, if he fails, at least fails daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat” – President Theodore Roosevelt
Once again, the Enquirer endorses Schmidt
And there you have it. The Cincinnati Enquirer has officially endorsed Jean Schmidt for Congress, and the Democrats have already began their whine-offensive…
The endorsement of Schmidt by the Enquirer was no surprise. It was nearly as weak as the Community Press which stated, we endorse but she should stop “going along to get along” with Republican policies and watch the ethic violations. Great endorsement. The Enquirer endorsed a “Republican” to replace Portman, not Schmidt herself. Same thing for the Enquirer. I did expect better. Lets wait til Tuesday – I have faith in the voters I’ve met.
OH-2: Google Me This, Mean Jean Schmidt
Heh. This is what everyone sees when they do a Google search of “Jean Schmidt.” More to the point, this is what dozens of voters in the second congressional district have seen for days when Googling her in search of information for tomorrow’s specia…