The new Paul Hackett: “Some have alleged that our president led us to war on false pretenses. I believe we should look into this

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.


Hilarious Daily Show clip on Paul Hackett, erstwhile Democratic congressional candidate and subject of this Mother Jones cover story and these follow-ups. Hackett recently dropped his bid for an Ohio Senate seat, claiming he’d been sandbagged by establishment Dems.

Some highlights:

Paul Hackett: “I was asked by Senator Schumer and Senator Reid and others to get out of the race…. They backed away from supporting me because they realized that I’m outspoken, that I believe in what I say and I’m willing to fight for what I
believe in.”

Ed Helms: “There’s your problem right there.”

On today’s Democratic Party:

“If you take a look back at the party of FDR
… and … of Truman and even Kennedy. That was a party that
had balls. The new Democratic Party eventually is going to have
to get back to that”

By the end of the segment the “Democratic Party machine” has smoothed out Hackett’s rough edges (“Try it again, but without the emotion.”), and he’s back on message:

Hackett: “Some have alleged that our president led us to war on false pretenses. I believe we should look into this…. I believe we should take care of our environment. That’s why I’m standing in front of a river.”

Voiceover: “Paul Hackett for Senate—because he won’t rock the boat.”

WE'LL BE BLUNT:

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't find elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

WE'LL BE BLUNT

We need to start raising significantly more in donations from our online community of readers, especially from those who read Mother Jones regularly but have never decided to pitch in because you figured others always will. We also need long-time and new donors, everyone, to keep showing up for us.

In "It's Not a Crisis. This Is the New Normal," we explain, as matter-of-factly as we can, what exactly our finances look like, how brutal it is to sustain quality journalism right now, what makes Mother Jones different than most of the news out there, and why support from readers is the only thing that keeps us going. Despite the challenges, we're optimistic we can increase the share of online readers who decide to donate—starting with hitting an ambitious $300,000 goal in just three weeks to make sure we can finish our fiscal year break-even in the coming months.

Please learn more about how Mother Jones works and our 47-year history of doing nonprofit journalism that you don't elsewhere—and help us do it with a donation if you can. We've already cut expenses and hitting our online goal is critical right now.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate