CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Somehow, the last person that comes to mind in the same breath as Marine Corps Reserve Maj. Paul Hackett is the late British playwright Noel Coward. He was a dissolute playboy, a trendsetter in men's fashion, an actor and songwriter, master of the quip and, as everyone now knows, a male who preferred other men as lovers. Hackett practices law in Cincinnati, is married with kids, served in Iraq, dabbled in Democratic politics and has never written a musical or performed on the British stage.
But Ann Coulter -- the rightwing's disagreeable blunder -- has pegged him as the Democrat's Coward. As the Brit might have quipped about Coulter,
"Sharp wits, like sharp knives, do often cut their owner's fingers."
She cut her fingers by writing in her most recent column that Hackett is in the Teresa Heinz Kerry wing of the Democratic party, which she proclaims a far left nut-house.
"The congressional campaign of anti-war Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett was treated in the media as if it were the Second Coming. The New York Times described Hackett adoringly as a 'lean 6-foot-4, he is garrulous, profane and quick with a barbed retort or a mischievous joke.' The Times even produced the obligatory quote-ready Republican who said that 'Mr. Hackett's service had caused him to consider voting Democratic.'"
"Then we found out with a little more specificity what some of those quick-witted barbs were. Hackett called the president a 'chickenhawk,' referred to Bush's 'Bring it on' statement as 'the most incredibly stupid comment,' and called Bush 'the biggest threat to America.' Yes, he was a veritable Noel Coward, that Hackett."
Nope, Hackett isn't Noel Coward. He is a Marine officer who used unvarnished language and told what he considered the truth. On the other hand, consider the words of Sir James Matthew Barrie, a Scottish novelist and dramatist who died in 1937 when Noel Coward was reaching his prime. He seems to have penned the perfect put down of Coulter:
"You see, dear, it is not true that woman was made from man's rib; she was really made from his funny bone."
No Bill, in the OH02 July 2005 campaign, Hackett was a guy who locally pretended to be a Bush-supporting soldier who talked of how noble what we were doing in Iraq is, while telling national publications how Bush is/was the things Coulter cited. That is, he told OH02 TV viewers lies and the national pubs "the truth."
ReplyDeleteHe got exposed by right-side bloggers. Thanks to that, his POS local commercial ultimately got seen by Rush, who spent almost 2 hours on election day ripping him.
More here and here.
Conventional wisdom is that lefty blogs almost got him elected. True to an extent, but local center-right blogs played a big role in ensuring that he didn't.
My Dear Mr. Blumer --
ReplyDeletePeople in Ohio vote based on what Rush Limbaugh says? Our schools could be worse than generally suspected.
Jean Schmidt has won all her elections -- primaries and generals -- to the House basically because her home county has stuck with her by margins that allowed her to squeak by. Her district is overwhelmingly GOP. But it nearly votes 50-50 on the ballot line where her name appears. Clermont County is big enough to barely put her over the top.
That has nothing to do with Limbaugh. And her present weakness comes form the fact she was unable to carry all seven counties in OH-02 last time out.
As for Hackett and Coulter -- he's a class act and served his country. She's not fit to shine his shoes.
I wonder if Paul Hackett is going to be at Xavier when Ann shows up next month.
ReplyDeleteHe could join this effort - http://counteranncoulter.blogspot.com/
I love that that ad still bugs Tom so much. LOL
ReplyDeleteHi Chris --
ReplyDeleteTom is a man of strong beliefs to which he is committed. As you already know so well.
I really, really enjoy what he has to say. We don't see eye-to-eye on much, I suppose, about politics.
How are you doing? It is great that you are becoming more and more and more active. You are one of the originals and I remember reading you back a couple of summers ago and wondering what is the blogging stuff, what the heck is up with that. Chris, is there any way that us SW Ohio bloggers of all stripes can meet for lunch or beers some Saturday or Sunday. It would be fun to put faces with names. They are much tighter in NEO than we are down here. If anyone is interested, I'd suggest Molly Malones on Montgomery Road in the Cincinnati neighborhood of Pleasant Ridge. I know the management, and I'm sure they would be glad to have us all stop by. Perhaps we could get a candidate to stop in to take a few questions.....
Or in Dayton. Or, in the suburbs in between Cincy and Dayton. Mull it over, please, and drop a line. This is moderated, so I can take a message offline if need be. I'm think all bloggers of all poltical persuasions for a group howdy session.