The Republicans are good at shouting out one line. “Support
Our Troops”. They make it sound as though that is a Republican only stance, when
in reality it is something a large majority of Americans do regardless of party
affiliation.

So why is it then that the Republicans are so supportive of
our troops yet they won’t support a troop who happens to be a Democrat? Paul
Hackett served his country with the utmost honor and respect. He risked his life
to go to Iraq and help train Iraqi soldiers. A Major in the Marines, he made the
call to duty in order to try and get the job done.

Paul Hackett went there and did his job and came home. When
he came home we started hearing stories of how the training wasn’t going as good
as reported. He decided to try and make a difference and run for the vacant seat
in Ohio’s second congressional district.

Now that Paul Hackett is out there explaining why he
doesn’t feel we are doing the job to the best of our potential, the Republicans
feel he no longer deserves support. In fact, the insight that Paul brings back
from Iraq is not what the Republicans would consider hands on experience. They
consider it liberal views.

Yesterday, Hackett’s opponent Jean Schmidt was asked about
her past associations with rare coin dealer Tom Noe.   As soon as she heard
that, she went into the Cheney defense more of “I don’t know Tom Noe, I have
never met Tom Noe, I wouldn’t know Tom Noe if he was here right now”. Well with
Jean having an opponent who is not only a Marine but also a lawyer, he saw that
as a challenge and took it on.

Paul quickly went into action and generated state documents
that prove Schmidt’s past affiliations with Tom Noe. He generated meetings from
the State House where Noe was giving testimony and Schmidt sat on the committee
and questioned him. He also found proof of campaign donations from Tom Noe to
Jean Schmidt.

The most critical evidence lies in the lobbying that Jean
Schmidt did for Noe. Schmidt went to Governor Taft on behalf of Noe pushing for
legislation to approve an internet based lottery out of Cincinnati. Gambling has
been a touchy subject here in Ohio for the past few years, and the Republicans
have been the party defeating it.

So Paul Hackett uncovers this proof that Jean Schmidt was
lying and holds a press conference yesterday to let everyone see what he has
found. Did Schmidt come clean on it? Of course not! Now Schmidt is out there
saying that he is just doing this to cover his liberal views. Once again she
goes to the Republican play book.

Now this really leaves me wondering. It seems that
Republican’s all over the country have worked successfully to get the word
“liberal” demonized. When they are confronted on issues of the truth or legal
issues, they quickly turn to calling their opponent liberal. I guess to the
Republicans, liberals are worse than liars and criminals. Even on the federal
level, Republicans are facing at least 6 house ethics probes, while there is
only one Democrat facing a probe. Here in Ohio, the Republicans are facing a
deep criminal investigation into misappropriation of Worker’s Compensation
money. Oh and lets not forget the brain of the RNC, Karl Rove, who is involved
in the leaking of a CIA agents identity.

The truth is being called a liberal is not as bad as being
a Republican anymore. At least liberals don’t lie, cheat and steal. That is
something left to the Republican Party.

Hopefully tomorrow, the second district of Ohio will wake
up and realize that we need to support our troops. We need a voice of the troops
sitting on Capital Hill, and that voice comes from Paul Hackett. We are a
democracy, a government by the people for the people with a system of checks and
balance put in place in order to preserve it. The last thing we need is another
person in Congress that will sit there and mimic the President and find no fault
in him at all. We need someone that will question the President and work to
repair his failings. Remember Iraq was supposed to be a quick simple war. We
took Baghdad in three weeks. Two and a half years later we are still there,
feeling stuck in the country while our troops continue to die. That is fault in
our planning and the accountability stops at our commander in chief.