Will the Dem establishment learn ANYTHING from Hackett?

[senseandsensibility]

Hackett ran in a very conservative, very red district. But he didn't run as a republican light. He called * an SOB and a chickenhawk. But here's the really weird part: HE DIDN'T APOLOGIZE. I don't know if the Dem leadership has wrapped their brains around that one yet.

Now. considering that Hackett didn't pay a price for his rhetoric, what are the chances that we will see this happen as a STRATEGY by other Dems running in 06? I know, we don't do strategy. I'm already getting depressed.

[wli]

1. The DLC will take over and we'll have 2 Republican parties.

And regime rotation between 2 identical parties, as usual. The neocons merely orchestrated a hard overall turn to the right. The Dem establishment will just follow suit.

[Montauk6]

3. The DLC will probably claim that all Hackett wasn't so far to the left

he would have won by a landslide.

[imenja]

14. and it is the indolent left who make that possible

[TWiley]

18. We need to shelf our "republican light" advocates and go

with Howard Dean.

[sasquatch]

2. Howard Dean is learning from this I bet

And he'll run Hackett for Senate in this state and use his strategy in every state in the union.

[WatchWhatISay]

4. Now I understand why Paul Begala said today

when they were talking about the Hackett near win and the things Hackett said about Bush, he said something like

attention dem candidates, this guy is a marine and thats why he can get away with it, while most of the rest of us can't

[Lannes]

5. He also said we shouldnt pack up and leave Iraq instantly

Without properly training the troops(and offered solutions to speed up the process) which isnt a very popular idea here which I totally understand but I agree with Hackett.

I dont believe that makes him or anyone else "republican lite".I wish that term wasnt used as often because there are those that do deserve that moniker but it seems to get tossed out every time someone goes against the grain on anything.

edit for clarification

[Webster Green]

6. Hackett might be anti-chimp, but unfortunately, he is pro war....

I heard him in an interview going on about "spreading democracy" and "finishing the job in Iraq".

What a crock of shit!

[Lannes]

7. He was asked if he were in congress would he have voted for the war

He said no.

[Webster Green]

9. I liked what I was hearing up until that point....

...Then he totally lost me with the "spreading democracy", and "finishing the job" crappola. What fucking job? There is no job to finish in Iraq. There is no reason to even be in Iraq. I don't think the guy is too bright if he believes that there is any justification for us to occupy Iraq.

[Lannes]

12. My reasons for staying are different than his

I dont buy into that spreading democracy crap either if he did say it.My concern is two fold.One all out civil war which could draw in other countries in the mideast and destabilize the region further.Two the idea that we could leave after royally fucking up that country without giving them at least some mechanism to restore order.

Having our troops home tomorrrow would be fantastic but there are pols on both sides of the aisle that say decades.I say BS.If we got europe involved in the training and used hackett's methods to better train the troops that we are training I believe we could be out in less than 2 years from the time everyone was on board.

The insurgency cant be defeated by Americans but several hundred thousand well trained troops and the abscence of Americans drawing every jihadist from under the woodwork and creating more might be enough for them to say,the Americans are gone,we've lost our base of support and the Iraqis have a large force to fight us.

I believe thats the quickest way to quell the violence,or at least reduce it substancially.This way Iraq can say no thanks we dont need your help anymore to America or any other country in the region that may try to take advantage of the situation.

[burrowowl]

8. Given the Dem establishment

as did Clinton bows before Corporations including Dean a Dem-Libertarian,etc.
I am not optimistic for America.
Imerialistic War, Damn the Worker, etc.
The USSR was downed by trying to outspend Capitalists on weapons, U$ Capitalists will now do themselves in by accumulating all the money and then ... NOBODY ELSE HAS ANY MONEY NO MORE and CAN'T BUY ANTHING NO MORE!

[Lannes]

10. At least Clinton raised the standard of living of many Americans

Yeah he f'ed up on Nafta.But overall there was a great deal of prosperity and it wasnt just the wealthy that benefited.

Bush is waging all out warfare on the poor and middle class and trying to turn us all into serfs.Ill take Clinton over Bush any day.

The wealthy owning almost everything is an obvious problem but the debt Bush and this republican controlled congress is passing on to us and future generations is worse because we know the rich arent going to pay their fair share of it.

[Land Shark]

11. Hackett will be spun as a "support the troops" anomaly and the claim

will be that there aren't enough quality Iraq vets to run and call * a chickenhawk and that no one else should do that because some unnamed focus group didn't like it.

with focus groups, you put a seed in front of them under an inch of soil and water it and the focus group agrees each and every time that the seed is a germination failure --- since the focus group has to give its judgment at the end of the 1-2 hour long process, at which point nothing has yet happened.

[imenja]

13. and pro-gun

He don't strike me as a leftist. He supports the war and oppose gun control. Is ideology for you defined by acerbic rhetoric about Bush rather than policy?

[T Town Jake]

15. "and pro-gun"...

...This formulation has always struck me as rather idiotic.

Let's see:
I own the rake in my tool-shed, and find it a useful tool from time to time. Does this make me "pro-rake"?
I own the bricks that make up the structure of my house, and have the "use" of the protection & shelter they provide. Does this make me "pro-brick"?
I own the tires on my vehicles, and find them useful in facilitating my transportation hither and yon. Does this make me "pro-tire," or does that get a category of its very own ("pro-wheel and other assorted round things")?
I own my swimming pool..."pro-water"? Or "anti-heat"?
I own the electrical outlet that powers the computer I'm tip-tip-tip-typing away on. Does this make me "pro-electricity"?

How, exactly, can one be "pro-" an inanimate object? Is there some kind of peculiar philosophy with a widespread following I haven't been clued into over the years?

It's a curious thing...

[imenja]

20. anyone who supports owning weapon of mass or minor destruction is progun

and how bizarre you equate a gun with a rake. One thing you cannot be called is pro life

[Swamp Rat]

16. WE THE PEOPLE will see this as a comprehensive theme in 2006!!!

HA! I got to vote FIRST in this column! :D

Hell, I've long started this program! The word "we" struck me as "We the People," like we and our patriotic Brother Hackett!

I see unapologetically kicking the living shit outta the rethuglicans in 2006 as the best way to go!

[senseandsensibility]

17. Good attitude

swamprat!:)

[Imagevision]

19. Absolutely not! they'll still trust paperless voting machines.

No problem using an ATR but use them for general elections? for the office of President? corruption working at its finest right in front of our eyes. So sad that this is happening in america land of the free and all that BS.