This has been the most contentious election season here in Ohio in recent memory. Both sides (albeit mostly the ‘pubs) have run ads of dubious truthiness. A candidate has been attacked as being gay-like, and has been forced into court to defend his choice of residences. Another has been ridiculed for a fictitious 12-year-old tax bill. Yet another was cast in a remake of the infamous ‘Willie Horton’ ads from Bush Sr.

And yet, just when I think that our candidates have hit the bottom of the barrel, someone puts another barrel underneath it.

Senator George Allen (R-Va), a notable racist, sexist, anti-semite (disparaging even his own Jewish ancestors) and bigot, was giving a speech at the Omni Hotel in Charlottesville, Va. As he was leaving, a blogger asked him a question along the lines “Why did you spit on your wife?”, referencing speculations about what is contained in his sealed divorce records. The question was, perhaps, a little direct.

He was dragged to the ground by three of Allen’s staff.

Dragged to the ground. I can understand a ‘No Comment’, or pretending he didn’t hear the question (that is a popular one for W), or even letting loose like a drunken sailor. But having your staff drag a man, a constituent even, to the ground for asking a question, is barbaric.

This story in no way mitigates the behavior of our own animals.

I just wanted to put it all in another perspective.

Carry on.

WOIO 19 is having a bed few weeks.

First, they butchered a story and used photos of which the photographer explicitly denied the use. (see TMC News for his first-hand account)

And now this.

Ed Gallek at WOIO news must’ve been having a slow night. He was videotaping everybody who attended a recent Democratic fundraiser, doing a background check on each attendant hoping for a story. Either that, or he was tailing an ex-con (although there is no record of him in the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction’s Offender Database), maybe trying to score himself some crack. 

Doesn’t really matter.

The man’s name is Ray Sadik(sp?). Or I think that’s his name, because they never bothered to print it anywhere.

Ray’s girlfriend, a local business owner, was invited (‘plus guest’) to the Democratic fundraiser, and she brought Ray. Contrary to RaB’s ignorant post, nobody ever claimed that Ray was directly invited. Helpful guy that I am, I would like to inform RaB of their surely unintentional misprint. But I can’t. They won’t take any posts from me. Or anyone else who might correct them.

Anyway, I digress.

By the time Ray and his unnamed girlfriend arrived, Ted Strickland had already gone. They donated no money, and caused no disturbance.

Maybe it was the crack, or maybe his bloated ego, but Ed felt that he had a story. So he confronted Ray, and asked him about the evening.

Ray politely answered every question.

I’ll repeat that for any GOP office holders who read this (take notes):

Ray politely answered every question.

He didn’t run away, attack the credibility of the reporter, shout obscenities….

He explained how his girlfriend was invited, how Strickland wasn’t there, that they didn’t donate any money, and he even owned up to his felony convictions.

Even when Ed insinuated that their attendance must have something to do with a beleaguered nightclub project his girlfriend was involved in, he politely explained that there was no foundation to that claim.

In response, Ed Gallek concluded the piece with a condescending “Well, whatever the reason…”

Don’t believe me?

Asshole.

Feel the same? Let him know.

From TMC News  (A brief rundown of who Craig Miller is can be found here.):

The Prosecutor, Anthony Cillo, took “umbrage” with the letters that were sent in support of Miller by Officials who sent their letters on government letterhead…“It’s not proper for another public official (Mayor Craig Foltin) to try and use his influence and his letterhead, when the city lost money, to try and get this court to reinstitute a misdemeanor that was not even available.”

Judge Rothgery:

“The last community control sanction I am going to impose will be 10 days in Lorain County Correctional Facility. Those will be served beginning this date sir. That is not necessarily for a question of specific deterrence, in other words I am not doing it because I think it will stop you from committing the offense in the future. I think, as indicated by your attorneys, your abject humiliation, the problems you’re going to have with employment in your chosen field in the future, those are all things that will remind you daily of the mistake you made. But it’s for others as well. Perhaps some of those others who wrote letters to this court, for them to reflect on what they say and what they do when they take those steps as public officials.”
   

 

Then Christmas has come early for you! AP reported last night that the RNC will not be buying any airtime in Ohio in support of Mike DeWine. It’s understandable. They read the same polls everybody else does. The harder they try to emulate 2000, 2002 and 2004, the wider the lead pollsters give to Brown. Looks like the ‘Some of the Time’ that some people can be fooled has run out.

That isn’t to say that DeWine won’t be dipping into his own $2.8 million war chest.

All it means is that the commercials will have to conclude with ‘I’m Mike DeWine, and I approve this farce.”