Ohio 2nd Blog

NPR hosted an interesting debate with David Sirota, John Zogby & Bill Burton, spokesman for the DCCC, on the Iraq war. Once again Paul Hackett was a focus.

Zogby and Sirota are maintaining that Iraq must be a central issue for the Democratic Party while the DCCC feels that local issues are key. Burton maintains that local issues were really the key in the Hackett race and that Iraq wasn’t that significant. That simply isn’t true.

As someone who watched the race virtually from day one Hackett couldn’t help but talk about Iraq. Iraq was what people wanted to discuss. Iraq was on everyone’s mind. As the race went on it became more and more of a focus simply because people were, and still are, desperate for answers, and Paul Hackett was the only candidate who seemed capable of talking about it from an honest perspective.

Also of interest is the article in The Nation on the failure of the Democrat strategic class:

…the Democratic strategic class, consisting of the party’s leading foreign policy thinkers, could have provided a powerful check on a reckless Administration intent on rushing to war. Instead, it bears partial responsibility for the war’s costs: more than 1,800 American fatalities, thousands of maimed and wounded US soldiers, many more dead Iraqi civilians, spiraling worldwide anti-Americanism, surging world oil prices, a new breeding ground for Al Qaeda, multiplying terror attacks abroad and mounting economic insecurity at home.

At the same time, talking tough on Iraq has been a disastrous moral, tactical and political miscalculation for Democrats. A recent Democracy Corps poll found that Iraq tops the list of factors motivating voter discontent toward President Bush. “This is a country almost settled on the need for change,” political consultants Stan Greenberg and James Carville write. Yet Democrats will only prosper if they pose “sharp choices,” something the strategic class has been unwilling or unable to do. A few small progressive think tanks, helped by the dissident establishment, have tried to pry open badly needed institutional space for a bolder national security policy. A few courageous elected officials are attempting to drum up Congressional support for withdrawal. Thus far, the hawks have drowned them out. Unless and until the strategic class transforms or declines in stature, the Democrats beholden to them will be doomed to repeat their Iraq mistakes.

Paul Hackett was on Hardball last night. What really stood out for me was that he’s expanded from his emphasis on training, and in many ways is echoing what a lot of other military experts are saying:

GREGORY: If the president were to call on you now and ask your advice on what you ought to do in Iraq today, what would you tell him?

HACKETT: Define the mission, accomplish that mission if possible and then…

GREGORY: All right. But those are generalities. So, what should the mission be? You define it for him.

HACKETT: I think right now the mission is, we pick up and we get out of there as efficiently and cleanly as possible.

GREGORY: Right away, bring troops home today?

HACKETT: I think that’s what we’re moving toward anyway.

GREGORY: Well, that by—perhaps by next spring.

(CROSSTALK)

GREGORY: In other words, whether or not there’s a political progress, whether or not there is a…

HACKETT: I see no progress there today. I don’t see—I don’t see any political progress.

GREGORY: But how can you say there’s no progress, when you had millions of Iraqis who—who—who showed up to vote, who risked their lives to vote, that there is an effort under way to actually draft a constitution? I mean, do you think that the insurgency really represents the Iraqi people?

HACKETT: I think right—no, I don’t.

Right now, I think the country is in civil war and I don’t think that we’re going to be effective in the middle of a civil war.

GREGORY: Is there any upside to cutting and running now?

HACKETT: I don’t think there is any upside in cutting and running. I don’t think there is—aside from saving billions of dollars and countless lives. But I don’t think there’s any upset—upside in staying either. I think we’re probably at that point now and I think that Americans all have to critically look at what the administration is asking the military to do there. And being beat cops on the streets of Fallujah, Ramadi and Baghdad I don’t think is the best use of the military.

We are nation-building over there. President Bush in 2000 said he didn’t want to nation-build. Well, guess what, folks? That’s what we’re doing over there. We’re nation-building and we’re painting schools. I don’t think painting schools and act—and using the military as beat cops if the best use of this military. That’s my personal opinion.

More Hackett Senate speculation from the right. The loose cannon mantra will be a big one as they try to tie the Dean Scream theme to him. The key thing is to not get all defensive about it. Once you play that suit you are committed. The important thing to remember Public Enemy’s advice: Don’t believe the hype. Eventually they’ll just come off as the whiners they are.

Paul Hackett will be on Hardball tonight.

Words Have Power over @ MyDD coins an interesting phrase, the Hackett Effect.

Hughes for America has Hackett’s retort to Rush’s last minute attack:

That’s typical for that fatass drug addict to come up with something like that. There’s a guy … I didn’t hear this, but actually when I was on drill this weekend, I’ve got to tell you, he lost a lot of Republican supporters with his comments. Because they were coming up to me, telling me, “I can’t believe he said that! Besides that, he called you a soldier. He doesn’t know the difference between a soldier and a marine!”

So generally, the consensus is Rush doesn’t know squat about patriotism. He’s typical of the new Republican. He’s got a lot of lip and he doesn’t walk the walk. (_more…)

UPDATE: Hackett is scoring a lot of points on the crosspost @ DKos. He might really be onto something taking it to Rush. Al Franken has already shown that it is a very popular activity.

I’ve been told that Paul Hackett will be appearing on today’s Diane Rehm Show @ 10 AM. The topic is military service and the war in Iraq.

Veteran Ohio 2nd blogger Ann Driscoll weighs in on the results.

Everybody’s favorite foul mouthed columnist repeats what seems to be on everyone’s lips in Washington DC:

OHIO BLUNDERS

Republican Jean Schmidt, who nearly lost a special congressional election in a heavily Republican Cincinnati district Tuesday, failed to return telephone calls from supporters who had lined up large amounts of donations and who offered significant technical assistance.

Schmidt, the surprise winner of a bitterly contested Republican primary where she figured to finish third, was not prepared for a tough general election campaign. Her poor performance has led to speculation that she will face serious opposition in next May’s 2006 GOP primary.

A footnote: Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett ran so well as a Democrat against Schmidt that party strategists in Washington fear he will be the candidate against Republican Sen. Mike DeWine next year.

UPDATE: More discussion of this over @ MyDD.

DKos > OH-Sen: Who will step up?