In the postmordem on Hackett's candidacy, it seems that many comparisons are being drawn between new ODP chair Chris Redfern and GOP lead hack Bob Bennett. Liberal blogs are up in arms over Hackett "being forced out", and even Daily Kos is getting flak for lying about the timeline over Hackett entering the race. As far as Kos goes, he is a party hack through and through, the democrat equivalent to Hugh Hewitt. Tim Russo over at Brewed Fresh Daily has this to say :
In the intervening years, I’ve watched my party in my home state literally implode. Yesterday was the final straw.
Over the past few months, the same folks who have spent the last 10 years dismantling this once great political party brick by brick have wallowed in their self-declared Machiavellian genius, taking the greatest opportunity to thoroughly defeat the GOP in my lifetime and methodically squandering it, prancing around like king makers with no kingdom, banging their tired worn out shoes on the politburo’s table like Kruschev over a crumbling empire seen only by the blind, laughing at the mirage of success visible only to the delusional. All while simultaneously managing to anger not just the old timers, but just about every ounce of new blood the ODP had no right to expect would come their way, but did anyhow, inexplicably, because politics is supposed to be about hope.
Surprisingly, I feel the same in many ways about the Ohio GOP establishment and their blind support of Mike DeWine.
Red State has this to say about ODP Chair Chris Redfern, who follows the Democrats' lack of anything resembling new ideas:
Redfern once told me during his campaign for ODP chair that he wanted to be the Democratic Bob Bennett, by which he meant that he wanted to achieve the same degree of success and stability for Ohio Democrats that Bennett has achieved in his 18 years running the Ohio GOP. One of the hallmarks of Bennett's tenure has been the avoidance of primaries, which has allowed Republican candidates to save their money and their venom for Democrats in the general election.
Redfern has clearly taken this lesson to heart, and with the support not only of the state party but also of much of the labor movement, Redfern and other party leaders have made it clear they would be happy to see a statewide ticket that is only marginally contested in the May primary.
The leader of the ODP can't even chart his own course, he has to follow after Bob Bennett.
Now, I am all for having a unified party, but the only way to hold elected officials accountable to party principles is through the primary. Taking a Tweedian attitude and using deceptive manuevers, including installing a fake stalking horse like David Smith into the primary to negate actual serious challengers, is not only unfair, it is un-American. We need an open primary process, without the machinations of Bennetts and Redferns, where the party faithful can decide who best to carry the day for them based on the content of character and ideals, rather than who has the better warchest or the most politco hackery. That is why more and more people in this country are becoming independent, or even worse, apathetic and not getting involved in the process. They are instead saying, gee, why the hell vote when we can't decide who our candidates should be? They keep hearing, "trust us Bosses, we will get the right guy" even as time and again they get the wrong one.
It is high time to stand and be counted. Run for central committee of your party, whichever it is. Demand your central committee members to stand up for you, encourage them to have fair and open endorsement proceedings, not the farce that was Hamilton County, or the joke that my own county is fighting over. Don't be an apathetic observer--get involved. Both parties rely on us to just put up with the status quo. Get in the game, and then change it.
