Tuesday, February 14, 2006
Sens. Schumer, Reid Dump Iraq War Vet Candidate
Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and vociferous critic of President George W. Bush, announced Monday that he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the Democratic nomination to the United States Senate from Ohio.
Hackett told the New York Times that Senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., pushed him aside for Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Hackett was facing Brown in the Democratic primary for the right to take on Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine.
"I made this decision reluctantly,” he said in a statement, "only after repeated requests from party leaders as well as behind-the-scenes machinations that were intended to hurt my campaign.”
Hackett explained those "behind-the-scenes machinations” to the Times, claiming Democratic leaders had been calling his donors and urging them to stop supporting his candidacy.
He told the Times he felt betrayed. "For me, this is a second betrayal,” he said. "First, my government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my own party is afraid to support candidates like me.”
Hackett gained prominence last year with a failed bid for the United States House of Representatives, when he became the first veteran of the current Iraq war to run for national office.
He offered biting commentary on the Bush administration and social conservatives, at one point comparing the religious right to Osama bin Laden. And he refused to back down. "I said it. I meant it. I stand behind it,” he replied to Republican requests for an apology.
Mike Lyon, executive director for the Band of Brothers, a group pushing Democratic veterans for Congress, told the Times it was bad strategy for Democrats to push Hackett away.
"Alienating Hackett is not just a bad idea for the party,” he said, "but it also sends a chill through the rest of the 56 or so veterans that we’ve worked to run for Congress. Now is a time for Democrats to be courting, not blocking, veterans who want to run.”
But Markos Moulitsas, founder of the liberal blog The Daily Kos, offered a more pragmatic analysis.
"Bottom line,” Moulitsas wrote, "Hackett didn’t stand a chance (in the primary), he wasn’t backstabbed by his party since Brown’s candidacy was announced before his was … and the party wasn’t out to (get) him.”
Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and vociferous critic of President George W. Bush, announced Monday that he was withdrawing his name from consideration for the Democratic nomination to the United States Senate from Ohio.
Hackett told the New York Times that Senators Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., and Harry Reid, D-Nev., pushed him aside for Rep. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio.
Hackett was facing Brown in the Democratic primary for the right to take on Republican incumbent Senator Mike DeWine.
"I made this decision reluctantly,” he said in a statement, "only after repeated requests from party leaders as well as behind-the-scenes machinations that were intended to hurt my campaign.”
Hackett explained those "behind-the-scenes machinations” to the Times, claiming Democratic leaders had been calling his donors and urging them to stop supporting his candidacy.
He told the Times he felt betrayed. "For me, this is a second betrayal,” he said. "First, my government misused and mismanaged the military in Iraq, and now my own party is afraid to support candidates like me.”
Hackett gained prominence last year with a failed bid for the United States House of Representatives, when he became the first veteran of the current Iraq war to run for national office.
He offered biting commentary on the Bush administration and social conservatives, at one point comparing the religious right to Osama bin Laden. And he refused to back down. "I said it. I meant it. I stand behind it,” he replied to Republican requests for an apology.
Mike Lyon, executive director for the Band of Brothers, a group pushing Democratic veterans for Congress, told the Times it was bad strategy for Democrats to push Hackett away.
"Alienating Hackett is not just a bad idea for the party,” he said, "but it also sends a chill through the rest of the 56 or so veterans that we’ve worked to run for Congress. Now is a time for Democrats to be courting, not blocking, veterans who want to run.”
But Markos Moulitsas, founder of the liberal blog The Daily Kos, offered a more pragmatic analysis.
"Bottom line,” Moulitsas wrote, "Hackett didn’t stand a chance (in the primary), he wasn’t backstabbed by his party since Brown’s candidacy was announced before his was … and the party wasn’t out to (get) him.”
