Update on Paul Hackett

Mother Jones magazine has shed further unflattering light on the Democratic Party's smackdown of Paul Hackett, the Iraq war veteran who staged a surprisingly strong Congressional run last year in an overwhelmingly Republican district in red-state Ohio only to be told he was not welcome to run in the U.S. Senate primary. Party leaders, looking to the past and thumbing their noses at the future, selected a longtime Congressman in his place.

According to the magazine, there was a "whisper campaign" suggesting that Hackett committed war crimes as part of the effort to keep him off the ballot. A chilling excerpt that would seem to be a tactic from the Republican play book:

In late November, Hackett got a call from Sen. Harry Reid. "I hear there’s a photo of you mistreating bodies in Iraq. Is it true?" demanded the Senate minority leader.

(Hat tip to Taegan Goddard at Political Wire.)