This is a little old (a full 2 days) but I wanted to address it. Another article, that I can’t find again, actually made this issue sound as if Hackett’s camp gave their information to Brown’s opponents. This article isn’t so cynical.
According to the article someone involved with Paul Hackett’s campaign allegedly did a little extra research on Sherrod Brown’s record before Hackett quit the race.
“For Sherrod Brown, the issue of terrorism presents a big problem,” a Hackett consultant wrote in an undated memo. A paragraph later, the consultant called Mr. Brown’s intelligence votes “evidence that Brown would be pummeled in a general election match-up, as we already know how Republicans use the issue of terrorism against Democrats.”
In August, 1993, his first year in Congress, Mr. Brown supported an amendment to reduce funding for intelligence agencies by 10 percent of what they’d received in the 1993 fiscal year. It failed by a 3-1 margin. Democrat Louis Stokes was the only Ohioan to vote with Mr. Brown.
Mr. Brown voted for similar attempts to cut intelligence budgets, most of them sponsored by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I., Vt.) or Rep. Barney Frank (D., Mass.), at least once a year through 1999.
More Ohio congressmen sided with Mr. Brown on the cuts at decade’s end, including, on three occasions, U.S. Rep. Ted Strickland – now a Democratic candidate for Ohio governor.
The Hackett researchers also noted Mr. Brown voted against the entire intelligence appropriations bill in 1998 and voted twice to declassify Congress’ intelligence spending levels, which are secret. He opposed creating the Department of Homeland Security, along with establishing and reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act.
Mr. Brown also voted against amendments to a 2004 intelligence overhaul that aimed to increase the government’s power to detain and deport suspected terrorists.
Reading through all this has made me believe that Sherrod Brown is a little more vulnerable than Hackett would have been. However, I am not shy in saying that Brown showed not that he was towing the party line but that he was thinking sensibly. It doesn’t matter that he voted against intelligence appropriations bill, because we had the intelligence that could have (potentially) thwarted 9/11. And maybe he was actually voting against some crazy pork project- like a bridge from the mainland to an island with 50 people. (This from someone who used DeWine’s record against him recently…ha…see how it works?).
I’m especially impressed that Brown voted against the Patriot Act. I love anyone who did that. It shows me that he was concerned about the Constitution. That’s becoming so rare in D.C. This article makes it sound like these things will be detrimental to Brown, and I’m sure the Repubs will have fun with it. I think these make him look more honorable. It’s too bad. I’ll vote for him, but I still liked Hackett better.:P
South Dakota passes abortion ban
Wow![1] Those eggheads didn’t waste any time, did they? They didn’t even leave any room for cases of rape or incest. This is really going to cause the shit to hit the fan. I’m afraid to go blog surfing from what I’ll see posted.
According to the article South Dakota passed this law specifically so that it will be challenged in court. They want it to go to the Supreme Court. Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood has no choice but to challenge the law. This could really be it, folks. Wow, I can’t even wrap my mind around that one.
I would never have an abortion (because my religion forbids it- yes, my Pagan religion), but there is no way this should be legislated. Not at all.
It’s between a woman and her doctor. Everyone else needs to keep their noses out of it. Even if it is a moral issue then the woman having the abortion is deciding her own moral fate and that’s none of our business either. It looks like we may be descending back into the dark ages, folks.
You know, it’s only a matter of time before these activist pharmasists get their day in court too. Will they also ban the birth control pill/patch/shot? Good grief, I’m moving to a blue state for sure- to hell with the snow.
[1]“Wow” as in “What the fuck?”
South Dakota, abortion ban