After Ohio Gov. Strickland's Unhinged Rant, Columbus Dispatch's Hallett Begs, Fails to Get Help Watering It Down

Could not believe in 2006 when Ohio voted for Strickland, but then Taft was a horrible Governor which gave the Democrats the opening, and Strickland took advantage.   What a horrible four years of rising unemployment and losing jobs to other states or overseas. 
When we grew up in Ohio, it was heavy union but gradually the GM hold on Dayton and other towns has diminished. The State of Ohio has lost so many jobs out of state due to high taxes and not a friendly environment for employers thanks to the unions. Growing up, you would see strikes at the start of hunting season just so the union members would have time off to go hunting. There was a long list of union abuses against various business entities in Dayton and other towns that led to the flight of business from Ohio to the South.  There is not better example of a state that needs 'Right to Work' than Ohio. 

Ohio has had some Governors who were not the best including Republican Bob Taft who was unethical,  Bob Celeste, Democrat, in the 1980's was a union puppet and Senator Voinivich, Republican, who came from Cleveland which is far different than Cincinnati and other parts of southwestern Ohio -- like day and night. He left to run for the US Senate and now his retiring. Not sorry to see him retire and will be glad to see Rob Portman as the next US Senator.

None of the those Governors mentioned, however, have ever come close to sinking to the low that current Governor Strickland did at a Union Rally on Labor Day with his hatred of Republicans.  Even when his good buddy from the Dispatch, Joe Hallet, tried to help him out later in the week, it didn't work. Strickland just kept talking and digging the hole deeper. Pretty bad when a reporter considered it his duty to make Strickland look better but it failed.

There is a clear choice for Ohio -- Strickland who is unhinged or John Kasich who wants to grow the economy in Ohio by taking the tough steps. It is going to take a lot of work to get Ohio back on track after years of jobs leaving Ohio but we believe Kasich is up to the job. Strickland and his rants need retired to the unemployment line. Tells us that the internal polling is not looking good for Strickland with his rants.

Strickland is so far out of it, that we had chuckle as we watched the video and read the story especially the last sentence pertaining to Strickland now having a poor record to run on -- "Too bad, so sad."

After Ohio Gov. Strickland's Unhinged Rant, Columbus Dispatch's Hallett Begs, Fails to Get Help Watering It Down
By Tom Blumer (Bio | Archive)
Sun, 09/12/2010 - 09:00 ET

Though its true nature was largely ignored by the local media at the event (noted on Tuesday at Newsbusters), Ted Strickland's unhinged Labor Day speech at the AFL-CIO's annual picnic at Cincinnat's Coney Island has, with the help of the Republican Governors Association (RGA), garnered quite a bit of statewide attention.

During his rant, Strickland denounced the Republican Party as "overtaken by the zealots, by the extremists, by the radicals"; claimed that "they don’t seem to like Ohio very much, and quite frankly, they act as if they don’t like America very much," in essence questioning their patriotism; and asked the audience to help him fight "the Tea Party radicals."

The fallout has apparently been so severe that ever-helpful veteran Columbus Dispatch reporter, senior editor, and columnist Joe Hallett felt compelled on Thursday to try to help the Governor walk it all back. In an exchange that can only be seen as Hallett begging for Strickland to give him something, anything to work with, Strickland wasn't very helpful, bogusly played the "out of context" card, and in a very real sense doubled down on his disrespect for those who oppose him. He even went into a riff on how opponents (in context, "Republicans," not just "some Republicans") want to repeal the 14th amendment (huh?).

(snip)

As to liking and loving Ohio and America -- to specifically describe just one problem, "Ohio the way it is" has 10.3% unemployment. "America the way it is" is at 9.6%. Unless I'm missing something, nobody "likes" that (Ted, if you do, which could fairly be inferred from what you said -- and would be if a Republican or conservative had said it -- please let us know). One can love their state and their country and still not like high unemployment, out of control debt, a bloated public sector, high taxes, and a lousy business climate.

Strickland campaigned in 2006 as the guy who would "Turnaround Ohio." Obviously, he has done no such thing. The clear majority of loyal, loving Buckeye Staters don't like that, and at this point appear to want something different.

The pathetically pleading Joe Hallett, who infamously wrote in May that Ted Strickland couldn't possibly bear any responsibility for Ohio's lost jobs (just as, Hallett noted, GOP gubernatorial candidate John Kasich can't be blamed for the collapse of the economy, which happens to be true), had to come away from his rescue attempt disappointed. Sorry, Joe. This is who Ted Strickland is. You and the rest of Ohio's establishment press mostly provided cover for him in 2006. Now that he has a record trying to actually run something bigger than his former congressional staff (which, by the way, he didn't do very well either), your job has become a lot tougher. Too bad, so sad.

Excerpt: Read More at Newsbusters