Fri 17 Feb 2006
David Goodman @ Mother Jones has published an in depth story on the backroom dirty tricks to get Paul Hackett out of the Ohio Senate Race. By far the most disturbing aspect was the whisper campaign accusing Paul Hackett of war crimes and saying that there were pictures. (All Lies)
The only thing missing was who was leading the swiftboating campaign.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you are someone who cares about the Democratic Party and wants to see its vision of the future resonate in 2006 you will do everything in your power to slice out the cancer of a human being responsible for this mess. Their career in Democratic politics needs to end now. You know who he is. You know who he works for.
This story has the potential to trigger a cascade failure. Direct, focused, and merciless action is called for now.
25 Responses to “Cascade Failure”
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February 17th, 2006 at 4:54 am
That was a rather breathtaking story.
The last paragraph felt like a sucker gut-punch. I guess I get it now, and I don’t feel fine.
For the record, I still think the swiftboat campaign smells of Rove and his kind.
February 17th, 2006 at 6:18 am
Ignoring the utter absurdity of Comment 1 –
I think it’s more than one human being, perhaps even more than a few, and I think at least one of them is a sitting congressman or Senator.
The fact that he tried to figure out how to stick it out even knowing the “war crimes” lies were going to get kicked around in the final weeks shows how determined he was to figure out a way to make it work. But he couldn’t.
It seems like every day this week I’ve said “I thought I’d seen it all,” and something’s come along to top it. I really don’t see how this one can be topped.
February 17th, 2006 at 6:22 am
I do not think this is coming from Rove or the GOP. Rather this is from within the party. If this had started after the primary after Hackett had won then I would have agreed with that.
Why do you think this is coming from Rove when all the other shananigans ie calling Hackett’s donors to stop supporting him was coming from Dems?
No there is a cancer in our own party.
I don’t know who this is coming from so I won’t name a name but there has been swiftboating of Hackett in other ways from within the party from such people like David Sirota, etc.
There is some bullshit too with this “Nation” article saying that Hackett dropped out because of his own internal poll. Suspiciously David Sirota referred specifically to this article. I suspect Brown called in people he knew to get such bullshit balls rolling.
February 17th, 2006 at 6:49 am
My prediction,
What comes around goes around.
At the end of the day, Brown’s campaign “mini-me Rove” back room tactics may have aliented as high as 20% of the Dem voters (I say this number because in Hackett’s internal poll there were about 20% of primary voters that were voting for Hackett over Brown).
Brown will need those voters in order to beat DeWine in the general. Even if only 5% of those voters now don’t show up in the polls for the general that could mean a win for DeWine.
Poetic justice may mean that DeWine wins in the end.
February 17th, 2006 at 7:21 am
[…] No matter what you think of the man, David Goodman’s “Backroom Battles” story at Mother Jones about what was done to Paul Hackett’s candidacy by people in his own party, particularly the “war crimes” whisper campaign, should send chills down your spine (HT OH02). […]
February 17th, 2006 at 8:28 am
I’m not familiar with all the players in Ohio but I would love to know who is responsible. It’s a terrible thing all by itself but it has hurt the party tremendously. Hackett appeals to independents and old fashion republicans. I doubt Brown does. They handled this so badly from the very beginning. One should get one offer to run and if one delcines, that’s it. This whole thing makes everyone in the paty look like a bunch of weak morons. Watch the republicans circle. Has anyone high up in the party thought about Brown’s long voting record that the repugs will eviserate? How Brown doesn’t garner much national attention? How he comes off like a smarmy ass in interiviews ? Just wondering.
February 17th, 2006 at 8:38 am
I think I will back off of accusing Brown and/or his campaign to have started the whisper campaigning. Whispering that it was Brown only feeds into the bullshit.
But it does look suspicious that it was someone within the Democratic party.
February 17th, 2006 at 9:31 am
I wouldn’t have said that they know who it is if I didn’t know who it was and knew that they know who it is.
It is not a Republican.
This is a cancer. Treat accordingly.
February 17th, 2006 at 9:46 am
Editor,
Is it someone who blogs?
February 17th, 2006 at 10:09 am
Who is it Editor? Give us a clue. I’d have trouble keeping my hands in my pockets if I ever found out who did that to Paul.
February 17th, 2006 at 10:20 am
The Ohio Democratic Party needs to lead on this. People say the name off the record but people need to come out ON the record.
It will come out.
At this point the leadership should be in full out damage control mode.
Me, I’m looking to get depositions. That’s how serious I take this.
February 17th, 2006 at 11:07 am
Editor — This and other stories are erupting on the internets today. Just saw a post at Daily Kos about Sherrod’s allegedly neutralizing Tim @ Buckeye Politics.
It is unfortunate that all this stuff is coming out now, but will hopefully help Sherrod’s campaign clean up a bit before the general.
http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2006/2/17/81234/3315
February 17th, 2006 at 12:07 pm
Gahh! I thought that story was dead. Since Russo wasn’t talking I never touched it.
The momentum is building. It’s got a life of its own beyond anything that any “blogger” can control.
Like I said, this story has the potential to cause a cascade failure. Action is called for NOW.
February 17th, 2006 at 12:35 pm
See I dont get the need for protection. This is completely dysfunctional.
If Uncle Nester is molesting all the kids in the family you dont just tell everyone to make sure the children dont go near Uncle Nester.
You take Uncle Nester out in the field and beat him till he cant see, hear or speak and then you call the police and prosecute his ass.
There is no reasoning or giving him time to get over his affliction. This is NOT debatable.
February 17th, 2006 at 12:37 pm
It’s all about firsthand evidence. People are talking off the record. No one yet is standing up and saying things publically. Until then what can you do?
The only reason I know is that I was told by people who’s identity I promised to protect. The ball is in the leadership’s court.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:06 pm
To get depositions you need a court case. To have a court case you need a plaintiff. I don’t see it happening, given the current leadership. And I don’t see Paul being a plaintiff, though if he was, he might end up owning the Democratic Party.
They think it will die down. Yeah, it will, after 10%-20% of the base leaves the party and/or decides that voting isn’t worth it. It’s easy to get caught up in things, but this has the potential to do serious structural damage, and already appears to be doing so.
Goodman shouldn’t be the one breaking this story, and the story shouldn’t stay relatively buried in Mother Jones. But I bet it will. The DNC has any number of people who talk to sympathetic reporters all the time. I have a hard time believing other reporters don’t know of this, but they think their job is to not make the DNC and major Dems look bad, no matter what.
I also think the legal repercussions of donor tampering, and I believe there are some, need to be explored.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:08 pm
OK, I’m an idiot when it comes to law. When do you do when you just want a legal statement from someone. If I interview people, I want it to have some legal weight, because this stuff is dynamite.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:25 pm
‘The Valentine’s Day Massacre’…
Is Paul Hackett a “war criminal?” HELL NO!…
February 17th, 2006 at 1:26 pm
have the transcript notorized?
not sure…
not an attorney either.
February 17th, 2006 at 1:32 pm
Mr. Editor is lucky to have Mrs. Editor!
February 17th, 2006 at 1:33 pm
That’s my baby
February 17th, 2006 at 2:25 pm
I think you’re looking for affidavits at a minimum.
BTW, I was on errands for the past 90 minutes and Rush was all over the Mother Jones story in the opening segments of his first two hours. Just after 1:00, he basically read it word for word.
February 17th, 2006 at 2:30 pm
Say what you will about the man, but Rush is the master of finding a good hook.
Look for it on Fox News. I would bet that it will be on tonight.
These things travel very fast. I’ve said in other forums that I think they’ve got 12 hours to try to control the news cycle in some way. I may have to down grade that to 4 with Rush’s entry.
February 21st, 2006 at 1:45 pm
[…] Though the Invisibler did an ain’t-it-a-shame editorial on Hackett’s withdrawal on Thursday, it was AWOL on the war-crimes rumormongering story until today, and, in my opinion, only decided to report on it because of Hackett’s appearance last night on Hardball, which is the event that drives Malia Rulon’s coverage. Why it took a Hardball interview to make the story important enough to cover is a complete mystery. Ms. Rulon does own up to the existence of the Mother Jones story from last week, but doesn’t explain why it was ignored for four days (unlike OH02 and BizzyBlog, to name just two, who were on it within hours). […]
April 17th, 2007 at 8:59 pm
[…] is also stunning is the attempt to believe (and I’ve seen it elsewhere already), in light of what is definitely known about his own party’s efforts to take him out, […]