How to fail Political Damage Control 101

Political Damage Control 101 is usually a fairly easy course. Say something stupid. Realize you said something stupid. Then either claim you didn't mean it or were quoted out of context.

Political novice and erstwhile U.S. Senate candidate from Ohio, Paul Hackett handled step one very well.

Asked to define being pro-gay-rights, Hackett said anybody who tries to deny homosexuals the same rights, including marriage, as every other citizen is un-American. Are you saying, he was asked, that the 62 percent of Ohioans who voted in November 2004 to constitutionally deny same-sex marriages are un-American?

"If what they believe is that we're going to have a scale on judging which Americans have equal rights, yeah, that's un-American. They've got to accept that. It's absolutely un-American."

The Republican Party has been hijacked by the religious fanatics that, in my opinion, aren't a whole lot different than Osama bin Laden and a lot of the other religious nuts around the world," he said. "The challenge is for the rest of us moderate Americans and citizens of the world to put down the fork and spoon, turn off the TV, and participate in the process and try to push back on these radical nuts - and they are nuts."

So, if you disagree with him you're un-American - and on at least one issue 62% of Ohioan who vote disagree with him. He also believes if you go to church and believe in God then you're not much different than Osama bin Laden.

Well, he got step one handled real well. However, he missed the boat on steps two and three.

Hackett was unapologetic Tuesday for the comments in a newspaper story, "I said it. I meant it. I stand behind it," he said.

Hackett's primary opponent, Sherrod Brown knows a little something about politics and realizes that if his opponent is making a fool of himself there is no need to get in the way. I think Hackett's biggest failing is he doesn't understand his target audience. In California or other coastal states he might seem close to mainstream. In Ohio he sounds like a raving lunatic. He should have learned from his congressional race of last year. Even Ohioans who are not fans of President Bush disapproved of Hackett calling the president an SOB.