In the past I’ve written that failed nutroots heartthrob Paul Hackett (from Hugh’s native Ohio, I hasten to add!) is as mean-spirited a politician as I’ve ever seen. Most politicians have an unappealing narcissistic side – generally, one doesn’t seek to lead millions of others without having a healthy sense of one’s self-worth. It’s also common for such folks to have a bit of harshness and a mean streak in them. Examples of these characteristics range from Andrew Jackson hanging a helpless young deserter to George Allen needlessly calling a kid a nasty name.

The thing that separates Hackett from the political pack is that in his short time in public life, he has shown little except a mean streak. He relishes insulting others. He delighted in calling George W. Bush a chicken-hawk S.O.B. Sort of like a crude political version of Madonna, he loves to shock. Given this strange and politically undesirable predilection, it is in retrospect unsurprising that Markos Moulitsas was so willing to throw Hackett under the bus when the far more polished and politic (and therefore more electable) Sherrod Brown decided to challenge Hackett for the Democratic nomination for Mike Dewine’s Senate seat.

Last night, appearing with former Iraq-based Pentagon spokesman Dan Senor on the O’Reilly Factor, Hackett proved that in Charles Johnson’s memorable phrase, for Hackett and his ilk there “are still depths to plum.” During the conversation, apropos of nothing, Hackett referred to Senor as “Herr Senor” and “the Unterfuhrer.” A bewildered Senor could only ask, “Are you talking about me?”

HotAir has the dismaying video evidence of political dialogue, Democratic Party style, circa 2006.

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