(Cross Posted on
BSB)
I was driving through Columbus listening to the local country radio station enjoying a great set of Waylon, Johnny and George, when an ad came on the radio. This ad said that "During Ted Strickland's 12-year tenure in the US Congress, he voted to increase social security and gas taxes by more than 30%, and voted for the the largest tax increase in US history. He has consistently voted against tax cuts including tax relief measures for married couples, farmers, military personnel, small businesses and the self-employed. "
They went on to include that Ted voted "multiple times in favor of taxpayer-funded abortions and the taxpayer-funded development of an abortion pill." There were other charges such as Ted voted against marriage (funny in and of its self) and that Ted is pro-government corruption. In the end, the point of the ad was that Ted Strickland clearly wants to tax you out of house and home, hates America, it's freedoms, and apple pie.
These ads were put on by Ohio Common Sense, a group that Modern Esquire exposed to be funded and directed by a group of Blackwell supporters. Shocking I all know.
Typically I'd be rather disinterested in these ads and thier content but when you interrupt Waylon, Johnny, and George, you're spoilin' for a fight.
So I started scaning thier website (I won't give it the traffic that it would get from a link here, you can look it up yourself), looking for what fact's they were basing these assertions on. They nicely had a link that said "What is the sourse of Common Sense Ohio's information?" I almost half expected to find real sources and facts (I keep hoping that people will be honest, but you know what they say, "there's nothing the world loves more than crushing sweet hopes and dreams"). Instead I was greated by:
Common Sense Ohio relies on publically available information from polls, candidates' positions and voting records.
Riiiiiggght.
So of course I was, shocked, just shocked, when I found out that Ohio Common Sense made the whole tax thing up. Despite the claims that Ted has voted for ever tax increase he could find, acording to On the Issues, Ted actually voted for "the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004" and perminantly ending the so-called "Marriage Penalty." That's right, Ohio Republicans are lying and distorting the truth. I know, stop the presses right?
But why even bother with this post? What's the point here? We all know that the Republicans have no problem lying and distorting the truth, and that they make no bones about using 501c3s and 4s to do thier dirty work (see entry under: Sen. Kerry, swiftboating of). This is not new or note worthy. What is new is that this seems to have slipped completely under the radar and the Democrats seem content to let it slide.
I've heard Ted numerous times say he's going to strike back fast and hard, and not let them define the debate. He's directly said, he won't let attacks go unanswered and will not let the Republican lie about his record. But that seems to be exactly what's happening.
So here's my note to Congressman Strickland; Ted, Ohio needs you to win this thing, and we can't just coast to through this thing. So come on Ted, strike back. Be the fighter we know you are, and don't let these groups smear your good name.