Harry Reid Took Hackett Out

Mother Jones, not usually a source that I would look to for any sane information, has what they claim is the inside scoop on how the Dems, and especially Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, took Ohio Senate candidate and angry Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett out of the race. If all this is true, it's sure to set off a firestorm among the angry left which held up Hackett as a hero of the antiwar cause.

Hackett was running against seven-term Akron Democrat Rep. Sherrod Brown in a May primary, with the winner going on to face two-term Republican Sen. Mike DeWine in November (assuming DeWine wins his own primary against a longshot Republican challenger). DeWine is considered one of the most vulnerable incumbent Republicans, and the national Democratic Party is pulling out the stops to defeat him.

But first, the Democrats had to get Hackett out of the way. The weapons used in the rubout included economic sabotage, whisper campaigns, and threats.

[...]

In late November, Hackett got a call from Sen. Harry Reid. “I hear there’s a photo of you mistreating bodies in Iraq. Is it true?” demanded the Senate minority leader. “No sir,” replied Hackett. To drive home his point, Hackett traveled to Washington to show Reid’s staff the photo in question. Hackett declined to send me the photo, but he insists that it shows another Marine—not Hackett—unloading a sealed body bag from a truck. “There was nothing disrespectful or unprofessional,” he insists. “That was a photo of a Marine doing his job. If you don’t like what they’re doing, don’t send Marines into war.”

I can't wait to see what the lefty blogosphere does with all of this.