In a recent episode of Meet the Press, Sherrod Brown and Mike DeWine, the candidates running for a senate seat, used the popular Sunday morning show to belittle each other, to make slightly veiled attacks and to generally discuss everything except their stances on the issues. Tim Russert literally called time out between the two warring candidates, according to a transcript of the interview.
And politicians wonder why confidence has evaporated.
Neither Brown nor DeWine won any points for decorum on the program, but it was Brown who claimed the ideological victory.
He proposed giving tax cuts to the working middle class ' a rapidly vanishing group thanks to the economic policies of George W. Bush ' and recognized the realities of our occupied nations. ' namely, that the majority of Iraqis do not want American soldiers in the country and that the violence will continue until they leave.
He voted against the Patriot Act, one of only 66 representatives to do so. DeWine and other GOP critics attacked him for not providing law enforcement with the tools they need to combat terrorism. Faulty logic aside, standing up and voting against a law that basically gives more power to the president was the right choice.
DeWine has, for too long, been a puppet of the Bush administration. He has voted to drive Iraq and Afghanistan into the ground, to pass more laws that threaten civil liberties while still not effectively protecting the nation's borders or ports and to give tax cut after tax cut to big business and the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans. His inclusion in the Gang of 14 shows he tried to reverse his partisan politics just in time for an election year.
He does not represent Ohio's interests. He represents a politician playing to the Republican Party, the administration and his numerous soft-money donors.
A New York Times article that ran yesterday reported that the national Republican Party has lost confidence in DeWine's campaign, and it has started shifting finances and other resources to senate candidates with a better chance of winning.
His own party realizes that Ohio voters want a candidate with its interests and with progressive ideals on how to fix the problems DeWine has helped create during his tenure.
Sherrod Brown is the kind of politician that Ohio voters need to fight for them in Washington, and he is our endorsement for the Ohio senate seat.
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Sherrod Brown emerges from dirty debate with most progressive ideas, interests for Ohio
