Paul Hackett, in his own words....

(A more serious less "cheeky" second article for the Carnival of Ohio Politics)

I read what the editor of Ohio 2nd Blog wrote today with his proposal that Brown and Hackett get together, perhaps as a Meet the Blogger event and resolve, or at least try to resolve some of the Brown V Hackett sentiment that is still lingering.

As I wrote in the comments, I don't think that will ever happen, nor do I think Sherrod will do a Meet the Bloggers. There was some hope initially that this would all be handled nicely and that olive branches would be offered, a welcome back into the fold...But that didn't happen.

After reading the editorial written by Paul in the Philadelphia Inquirer (curtsy to Jill at Writes Like She Talks) I think any belief that Sherrod and Paul would sit face to face any time soon should be non-existant. In this editorial he states:

Was I screwed? Maybe, but that's life. There were a lot of political machinations, mostly behind the scenes. Much made its way into the press, including an ugly whisper campaign regarding my service in Iraq perpetrated by Brown. Brown has denied this, but county party chairmen told me about the rumors and where they were coming from. Brown had initially told me he would support my Senate campaign but then changed his mind. Again, a clash of cultures. That's politics. But that's not me. My word is my bond.

I'll be blunt and state if I were in the Sherrod campaign the worst thing he could do even prior to this latest article would be meet face to face. It has the potential of causing more harm than good. The primary for Sherrod is won, he has no real competition so the main focus is on the General. Which is far enough away that many, not all but many of the people that are not willing to consider Sherrod Brown now most likely will in November.

Right now some of what is "negative" is being blamed on the blogs. As Renee points out in her blog with quotes from "The Other Paper":

The second answer is that Brown has never gotten along with bloggers.

"I don't know why they write what they write," Brown said earlier this year when asked about blogs' disaffection with him.

But Vessels said it's Brown's own fault. He said many bloggers, who agree with Brown's liberal politics, wanted to like him.

"The route that Sherrod Brown took was very dismissive of blogs," Vessels said. "Extremely dismissive of blogs."

That's understandable. Brown probably wondered why a prominent congressman should spend his valuable time appeasing folks who sit at their computers for hours typing about politics.

But he probably doesn't wonder anymore.

I could spend alot of time taking issue with those last two sentences, as well as pointing out Sherrod's whole creation of Grow Ohio but it's pointless. That sentiment has and is being expressed and people seem to forget there are bloggers out there who did and have supported Sherrod. The people that are buying the "blame the bloggers" mentality of this aren't reading blogs or they would know why most of this happened. This wasn't just pro-Hackett people who were anti-Sherrod just because they wanted Paul. There were alot of other issues that came into play in the creation of this whole situation.

Paul made it very clear, at least the way I read what he wrote today as well as recently, he's not going to be the one to reach out. Nor is it going to be Sherrod. So? It's up to us. For some it will take time, for some it will never happen. Some good did come out of this, even though it might not have been everything people like me wanted to see be the end result.

Quoting Paul:

Again, that's politics. Was it worth it? You bet. In less than 11 months, we changed the debate on Iraq, inspired at least 11 other Iraq vets and countless non-vets to run for Congress, and invigorated a state Democratic Party to believe in itself again.

Now let's all believe again, in the promise of America, the last great hope for peace, equality and freedom.