ENDORSEMENT: Sherrod Brown for Senate
In a race that has set an all-time low in campaigning and outright lying, the ridiculous campaign between incumbent Senator Sherrod Brown and Treasurer Josh Mandel has become almost unbearable. But, as Barack Obama himself said in 2004: “Everybody knows politics is a contact sport.”
So while we disdain the dirty politics, we applaud Sherrod Brown for not being afraid to run his campaign like he wants to win. We were dismayed to see decent politicians like Lee Fisher and Ted Strickland shy from the nasty business of answering their critics in kind. Because even in an age of instant fact-checking and simultaneous Twitter commentary, the big lie has never been more popular. Many of these lies are perpetuated by Super-PACs that don’t have to disclose their donors.
Fortunately, the intelligent voter can turn off the TV and do some research on their own. The unbiased PolitiFact Ohio has done some fact-checking of their own, and found that 68% of the time, Josh Mandel’s statements were rated half-true, mostly false, false, or Pants-On-Fire false. Sherrod Brown’s statements fell in those categories 39% of the time.
The super-negative campaigning, mainly by Josh Mandel, is one of the reasons we’re supporting Sherrod Brown. We also agree with Sherrod Brown’s stands on most of the issues, which were obvious in the debates. We believe in the Affordable Care Act, as does Brown. Mandel wants to repeal it. We believe in the auto bailout, as does Brown. Mandel disagrees. We oppose Paul Ryan’s radial budget plan, as does Brown. Mandel does not endorse it, but likes parts of it, such as Medicare block grants. We support federal financing for Planned Parenthood, as does Brown. Mandel thinks it should be privately funded. We support a measured approach to balancing the budget, such as the Simpson-Bowles amendment, as does Brown. Mandel wants an amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Brown believes, as we do, in removing the cap to allow the wealthy to pay their fair share for Social Security, while Mandel blames “partisanship” (which he represents) and promises no change in Social Security for his parents and grandparents’ generations, which doesn’t really solve the problem.
If this race doesn’t convince us to reform our election and campaign finance systems, then we deserve what we get. Remember, part of the strategy of negative campaigning is to discourage good people from voting. Regardless of your position on the issues or opinions of the candidates or their campaigns, we urge you to vote, either by early voting, or at the polls on Tue 11/6.
Cool Cleveland endorses Sherrod Brown for Senate
Photo of Sherrod Brown and wife Connie Schultz by Thomas Mulready (2006).