August 04, 2005

Congratulations Paul Hackett Greetings, loyal

Congratulations Paul Hackett

Greetings, loyal readers of The Hatemonger's Quarterly. It is your Maximum Leader of Naked Villainy writing again on behalf of the Crack Young Staff as they move into their new corporate-financed offices.

Today your Maximum Leader would like to extend his hearty congratulations to newly minted United States Represenatative Paul Hackett of the Second Congressional District of Ohio. Congressman Hackett (aged 43) takes the seat of Rob Portman, who vacated the Cincinnati-area district seat to become President George W. Bush's Trade Representative.

Congressman Hackett, a Democrat, won the seat after a tough special election against Republican Jean Schmidt, a former State Assemblyman.

The election was seen by many pundits to be a referendum on President Bush's leadership as well as the overall Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism, or GSAVE (formerly known as the War on Terror).

President Bush won the Second District of Ohio easily in 2000 and 2004. And (former) Congressman Portman regularly won re-election in the district by upwards of 70%. The very "red" district was viewed as being a "safe" Republican seat.

So how did Hackett pull out a resounding victory which will surely be trumpeted by Democrats nationally as a sign that they can retake the House of Representatives in 2006? Congressman Hackett ran on the fact that he is a veteran of the war in Iraq, and a strong critic of that war. Additionally, he attempted to link Ms. Schmidt to the unpopular and embattled Republican Governor Bob Taft. The Hackett victory will certainly serve as a blueprint for other Democrats as they seek to unseat Republicans.

Noteworthy Democrats are quoted as saying, "Every Republican in Congress should consider himself put on notice..." and "Americans will no longer tolerate the Republicans' continued abuses of power and catering to corporate special interests..." Howard Dean, Chairperson of the Democratic National Committee is quoted as saying, "We have the power to win back Congress. Yesterday proved it. Yeaaaaarrrrrggggghhhhhh!"

One can hope that the Republicans make the most of their brief time remaining as the majority party in Congress. The future looks bleak for the GOP as Democrats celebrate.

Carry on.

Posted at August 4, 2005 08:00 AM | TrackBack