Hackett manhandles GOP talking-points action figure

As a Veteran myself, it pains me any time I see a fellow Vet humiliated. But last night was worth it because a) The Iraq war Vet in question so thoroughly deserved it and b) the smackdown was delivered primarily by another Veteran, Paul Hackett of Ohio.

The venue was MSNBC's Hardball with Chris Matthews Tuesday night and the person getting his comeuppance was Van Taylor, a Republican Iraq war Veteran who is running for the House of Representatives against Democrat Chet Edwards in Texas.

Taylor, who appeared to have carefully studied one 3X5 card from the Republican National Committee in preparation for his appearance last night, was almost comically unprepared and could only manage to hit the usual GOP talking points no matter what Matthews asked him or how Hackett responded.

It was the usual stuff: "We need to stay in Iraq until we get the job done." "We need to fight them there, because if we don’t fight them there, we're gonna have to fight them here."

You know the drill.

When Matthews hit him on the fact that almost nobody in Iraq is being killed by Al Qaeda -- because Taylor kept bringing Al Qaeda into the picture -- the befuddled Texan could only go back to his prepared script.

"We need to be in Iraq because of Al Qaeda and we cannot leave Iraq until Al Qaeda is eradicated from that country."

There's a long pause before Matthews blurts out "But those are talking points!"