Tuesday, August 15, 2006

Ohio Republicans Trying to Stay Out of the News

Republican Rep. Deborah Pryce and the rest of the Ohio Republicans are trying their best to stay out of the news. Even Republican fundraisers are by invitation only so that the candidates are not exposed to the angry Ohio voters. How long can the Republicans hide from the Ohio voters?

A recent letter to the editor published in the Columbus Dispatch shows how voters feel about Republicans and management of the nation and Ohio:

Regarding Ohio Republican Chairman Robert T. Bennett’s Aug. 7 letter, in which he feigned righteous indignation over the claim that his party was in on the anti-Ted Strickland smear campaign (what, little old us?), I would like to reply with a quote from one of my long-time heroes, Bugs Bunny, "Don’t you believe it!"

Republicans have been engaging in sleazy tactics for years (does anybody remember the swift-boat campaign?), and every time somebody calls them on it, they try to shroud their culpability in a heavy coating of moral self-righteousness. Hopefully, it won’t matter this time around.

Bennett says that his party doesn’t need to take the low road because Strickland’s record speaks for itself. Well, so does the record of the Republican Party. Republicans have run not only this state but the whole country for the past several years, and look at the results. That is the only thing that should be of any relevance to voters come Election Day.

War, corruption, unemployment. What do you say about that, Bennett?

It appears that Ohio voters are not feeling any love for Republicans. Even though the Republicans will tell us that they've done a fabulous job, we know what they've given us: Taft's scandals, Pryce caught red-handed, Ney's association with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, ethics violations, the $13 million missing from the Ohio Bureau of Workers' compensation, massive job losses, Tom Noe and the coingate scandal, refusal of the Ohio Republican controlled legislature to work on raising minimum wage or fixing the funding for public schools, Bernadette Noe's hands in vote counting, Jean Schmidt's attack on decorated veteran Rep. John Murtha, John Boehner's associations with lobbyists, support of the war in Iraq, etc., etc.

Given the choice, I think Ohioans would rather stick a fork in their heads than support more corrupt Republicans.