Shining a spotlight

Remember Ronald Reagan's 11th Commandment? "Thou shalt not speak ill of a fellow Republican". It served the GOP well for quite a long time with righties always closing ranks in times of chaos and scandal. Give aid and comfort to the ayatollah? No problem, just keep your mouth shut and the problem will eventually go away with the next news cycle. Sort of like waiting for the garbage man or the next high tide.

It's too bad Phil de Vellis didn't learn anything from Ronald Reagan. For not only has Phil spoken ill of fellow Democrats but has gone one step further by giving them up to the GOP when his own candidate got desperate. The result? A complete debacle with the opposite desired effect. His own candidate tarnished and backpedaling while he falls on his sword yet again. It's amazing to us at ODP Watch how often and easily this guy gets caught.

So from here on we will keep an eye on where Phil de Vellis ends up and will report the news to any available media. Maybe then the candidates will get the message that employing ratfuckers to go after fellow Democrats is a really bad idea. You morons do realize that when you go nuclear on a Democrat you essentially give the GOP a playbook on how to win in the general election, right? RIGHT? Unless of course they go after Republicans instead. My, what a novel idea.

Is Phil de Vellis really proud of his creation?

We all know that politicians will do anything to get elected. In spite of all the high-flying rhetoric about God, values, Peace On Earth, Good Will To Men...not too many of them can resist the itch to play dirty if they think they can get away with it. During last year's primary battle between Sherrod Brown and Paul Hackett it was Phil de Vellis who not only smeared Hackett but then did the unthinkable...he went to the GOP with what he thought was a story about Hackett in the hopes that they'd do his dirty work for him. To whit:

From: Philip de Vellis [mailto:philip@sherrodbrown.com]

Sent: Tuesday, February 07, 2006
To: (removed on request of recipient)
Subject: FYI - Hackett's Voting History from Plain Dealer

I thought you'd be interested in this clip from the Plain Dealer's new political website:

The Plain Dealer

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

Hackett's history

There's no question Paul Hackett is a fresh face and fast-rising star in the Democratic Party. Turns out he's fresher than most.

The tough-talking Iraq War veteran from Cincinnati didn't officially declare himself a "D" until nearly two years ago, a few weeks shy of his 42nd birthday.

Election records in Hamilton County show that Hackett, now campaigning against Rep. Sherrod Brown for his party's U.S. Senate nomination, first picked up a Democratic ballot for the presidential primary between Howard Dean, John Kerry and John Edwards on March 2, 2004.

In two earlier primaries during the 1990s, records show, Hackett had asked for Republican ballots.


Of course when the Brown campaign was confronted with the cold hard evidence of their involvement in all this they screamed "Mea culpa" and promised that the people involved would be jettisoned. Well, that never happened. The truth is, the very politicos that promise to be clean will use these kinds of attacks if they think they can get away with it. That went for Sherrod Brown and it's looking more and more like Barack Obama's modus operandi as well. Obama's lame excuse for de Vellis only prompted groans here at ODP Watch...

"If I have a phone contract with Verizon and an employee of a phone company
does something that you know, we’re not, we’re not responsible for that.”

I mean, your website isn't like your phone system. Blue State Digital,
which was born out of Howard Dean's campaign, isn't like a utility company.
Verizon doesn't have people with titles like "senior strategist."

Over at the Huffington Post de Vellis crowed about how he was proud of his creation. "Hi. I'm Phil. I did it. And I'm proud of it." Really Phil? Are you proud of the fact that you achieved the opposite of your intention with your little commercial? That you've actually managed to make Hillary look like a sympathetic character and that you've left Barack Obama with egg on his face and with plenty of 'splainin' to do? Yeah Phil, by all means be proud of your brainchild. Mission Accomplished buddy! But we here at ODP Watch think this goes deeper, that Phil de Vellis doesn't have the technical expertise to do this all by himself. Others may be involved and if we were betting men we'd put money on it. Could Phil de Vellis be the Scooter Libby of whoever is behind this? Is he just the fall guy? Stay tuned...

The Scum Also Rises

Well well well, look what the cat has dragged in. Could it be the corpse of Democratic hit man Phil de Vellis? The same Phil de Vellis who smeared a fine Democratic candidate named Paul Hackett? The same de Vellis who posted at Buckeye State Blog under the name of "Jews For Jesus" while attempting to smear Hackett who back then was seen as the brightest star the Democrats had seen since JFK? It should be noted that de Vellis was doing this political skullduggery while acting as Sherrod Brown's web outreach guy.

Now we find out that Phil de Vellis is the man behind the infamous "Hillary 1984" ad that has been the rage on the internets. I guess smearing Hackett wasn't satisfying enough for Phil as he has now moved on to greener pastures. We at ODP watch are appalled that this political hack can call himself a Democrat with a straight face. He is not and never will be a Democrat nor will anyone who employs him. He is a political opportunist whose tactics must be rejected by the DNC and every Democratic candidate. He has smeared Paul Hackett, tarnished the Barack Obama candidacy and demeaned Hillary's reputation as well. We must reject the tactics that put us on the same playing field as Karl Rove and the dirty tricks of Tricky Dick. There must be no equivocation from Democrats on this. We can't afford to be "Republican lite" on the issues nor on our ethics. We'll have more on Phil de Vellis and his history in the Hackett/Brown race from last year. Stay tuned...