Welcome to Brett Hall and kypolitics.org

We'd like to extend a welcome -- a laurel and hearty handshake, if you will -- to former Fletcher administration spokesman Brett Hall, who's entered the blogosphere with his www.kypolitics.org entry.

We've met Hall on several occasions. He's an intelligent and insightful man and a clever political strategist. Unfortunately, his penchant for telling the truth and his use of blue language led to his dismissal from the governor's office.

He describes his blog as an alternative to Mark Nickolas' bluegrassreport.org site, but without the personal attacks. Now politics is personal and can get very personal sometimes, but those personal shots need to be grounded in truth. We won't be timid about taking personal shots at well-deserving losers like Greg Stumbo, but there's truth behind those shots. Too often Nickolas rushes into "print" with only innuendo. false allegations, unsubstantiated rumors and the like. And he allows libelous comments to be posted and remain on his site. If bluegrassreport.org was a newspaper, and the comments section was a "Sound Off" or "Speak Your Piece" type of forum for anonymous called-in comments, he'd probably already be facing half a dozen libel suits.

Already, the Hall-bashing has begun on Nickolas' blog. Someone referred to him as a foul-mouthed Yankee. Not true. While Jersey may have been his latest outpost prior to coming to the Bluegrass, Hall's originally from Texas. They have a tendency for shooting straight down there. Hence Hall's very true comment that some in the GOP hierarchy are not supportive of Gov. Fletcher and his re-election bid.

Hall appears to be a loyal friend and passionate defender of Ernie Fletcher. He had high words of praise for the governor after he was let go as spokesman. Our embattled governor needs this type of support. He deserves it. He's earned it, particularly in the face of persecution by Stumbo and the Democrats and tacit endorsement of the Democrats' tactics by key GOP leaders in this state. We need more Brett Halls and fewer Jack Richardsons and Ted Jacksons and Billy Harpers.

So welcome, Brett and kypolitics.org. We're glad you're here. Keep telling it like it is!