Ohio's Republican
leader wants Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Paul
Hackett to apologize for calling some conservative
Republicans religious fanatics and comparing them to
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden.
Hackett was unapologetic Tuesday for the
comments he made in a newspaper story, saying
religious fanatics of any flavor should be ashamed. "I
said it. I meant it. I stand behind it," he said.
Hackett said in a Sunday column in The
Columbus Dispatch: "The Republican Party has
been hijacked by the religious fanatics that, in my
opinion, aren't a whole lot different than Osama bin
Laden and a lot of the other religious nuts around the world."
Hackett, an Iraq war veteran from the Cincinnati
suburb of Indian Hill, is running for the Democratic
nomination for U.S. Senate against Rep. Sherrod Brown.
They are vying to run against two-term Republican senator
Mike DeWine.
Hackett also said the practice of denying gay
men and lesbians equal rights is un-American. The
newspaper asked Hackett if that meant the 62% of
Ohioans who voted to ban same-sex marriage were un-American.
"If what they believe is that we're going to have a
scale on judging which Americans have equal rights,
yeah, that's un-American," Hackett said.
Ohio Republican Party chairman Bob Bennett said
Hackett should apologize, saying his comments applied
to any "people of faith" and, therefore, most Ohioans.
"These intolerant views have no place in the public
debate, and I hope his fellow Democrats reject this divisive
hate speech," Bennett said, while calling on Ohio
Democratic Party chairman Chris Redfern to condemn the remarks.
"If Bob Bennett needs an apology, he should
apologize for Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Bob Taft, and Tom
Noe," state Democratic Party spokesman Brian
Rothenberg said. "This is nothing more than a smoke
screen from the corruption that surrounds him." DeLay,
of Texas, and Ney, of Ohio, are Republican congressmen who
have stepped down from leadership posts because of
their ties to lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who has pleaded
guilty to bribing members of Congress and other charges.
Taft, Ohio's Republican governor, was convicted
of ethics charges for failing to report gifts. Noe, a
GOP fund-raiser, is charged with illegally funneling
money to President Bush's reelection campaign.
Hackett said Pat Robertson, a television
evangelist and former GOP presidential candidate, is
an example of the kind of Republican he was
criticizing. Robertson called for the assassination of
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and said Israeli
prime minister Ariel Sharon's recent stroke was divine
punishment for ceding the Gaza Strip to the
Palestinian Authority. Robertson later apologized for the
remarks. (AP)