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...