Brent Larkin:

Sure, Ohio's secretary of state offers up more ideas than his Democratic opponent, Rep. Ted Strickland. What's more, Strickland is hardly an inspiring candidate. No one questions the governor-in-waiting's decency. But if Strickland's got vision, he's not letting voters see it.

Strickland's take-no-risks, tell-the-voters-next-to-nothing campaign is obviously paying off.

Brent Larkin, the PD's answer to the amateurish analyses of Joe Hallet of The Dispatch, apparently copy-and-pasted his Sunday editorial from a bunch of leftist blogs. He does finally admit though (quote above) that despite all of the self-righteous calls by the Media for "debate the issues campaigns", they hypocritically support the uniquely most vacuous and unaccomplished candidate in Ohio gubernatorial history for no other reason than he is not a conservative. Apparently, in Larkin's opinion, having Strickland captain a rudderless ship of state into the rocks is preferable to economic prosperity and reform of dysfunctional health care and education systems if it means giving credibility to Blackwell and his Republican base.

This is the mentality of these legacy media-types in Ohio that are trying sway the opinion of the electorate away from change while shielding the DC Dems's Trojan Horse from scrutiny. Is it any wonder that they have less credibility with the public than even politicians.

BTW, this is Day 7 of the "Strickland Calls Ohio a 'Backwards State'" headline watch. No media outlet has felt it newsworthy to report that TS thinks Ohioans are backwards and blames our economic woes on some fictitious restrictions on abortion and stem cell research. Figures that the one enumerated idea Strickland has for Ohio's economy isn't important enough to be reported on the pages of the PD-- despite it being said on-the-record in their editorial office-- but Larkin's parroting of lefty blogs was essential.

Brent Larkin:

Sure, Ohio's secretary of state offers up more ideas than his Democratic opponent, Rep. Ted Strickland. What's more, Strickland is hardly an inspiring candidate. No one questions the governor-in-waiting's decency. But if Strickland's got vision, he's not letting voters see it.

Strickland's take-no-risks, tell-the-voters-next-to-nothing campaign is obviously paying off.

Brent Larkin, the PD's answer to the trite analyses of The Dispatch's Joe Hallet, apparently cut-and-pasted his Sunday editorial from a bunch of leftist blogs. He does finally admit, though (quote above), that despite all of the self-righteous calls by the Media for "debate-the-issues campaigns", they hypocritically support the uniquely most vacuous and enigmatic candidate in Ohio gubernatorial history for no other reason than he is not a social conservative. Apparently, in Larkin's opinion, having an executive novice backbencher with no real-world business experience like Strickland captain a rudderless ship of state into the rocks is preferable to a tried-and-true plan for economic prosperity and reform of dysfunctional health care and education systems if it means lending credibility to Blackwell and the Republican base.

This is the warped elitist mentality of these legacy media-types in Ohio (and nationally)-- as well as the Republican establishment (i.e. "moderates")-- that are trying to sway the opinion of the electorate away from change in Columbus and toward an accelerated version of the status quo. At the same time, the Media-- in particular, the print media-- provide in-kind campaign contributions to Strickland by producing 9 months of daily hit pieces on Blackwell all the while shielding the DC Dems's Trojan Horse from scrutiny. Is it any wonder that "journalists" have less credibility with the public than even politicians.

BTW, as if we needed more evidence of the above, this is Day 7 of the "Strickland Calls Ohio a 'Backwards State'" headline watch. No media outlet has felt it newsworthy to report that TS thinks Ohioans are backwards and blames our economic woes on some fictitious restrictions on abortion and stem cell research. It figures that the one enumerated idea Strickland has to advance Ohio's economy-- the freakonomic-based plan to increase abortions-- isn't important enough to be reported on the pages of the PD (or anywhere for that matter)-- despite it being floated on-the-record in their editorial office-- but Larkin's parroting of lefty blogs was considered essential reading for the public.

My guess is that this hypocrisy is more indicative of a desire to permanently institutionalize secularism rather than any aversion to tax cuts and privatization. This lawyer-manufactured and media-enabled phobia of religion preys on the political middle's ideological maleability and its arrested adolescent desire to avoid conflict in order to be accepted by the popular clique du jour. I, for one, am not particularly religious, but nor do I ascribe to this phobia of those that are. I do reject, however, the moral relativism that characterizes the Left, and which is at the root of most of the social decay in the last half century.

Despite the blatant Judeo-Christian presence in our government for the better part of the two centuries that preceded this period, the intolerant theocracy of an established state religion against which these modern day "Chicken Littles" now warn never materialized. Basically, because of a respect and strict adherence to the First Amendment as written rather than the bastardized interpretation that has since been codified. Ironically, intolerance of diverse religious expression does fluorished in the "multicultural" secular welfare-states of Europe and the communist utopias destined to reside on the ash heap of history.

To the extent that religious intolerance exists in this country today, it is as a result of coordinated campaigns by those that wish to legitimize it-- the ACLU, People for the American Way, and the Left in general-- in order to combat independence from government. Apparently-- perhaps willfully-- this irony is lost on those that most vocally oppose those that profess a faith that guides their political beliefs. I am more suspicious of those that champion tolerance for the fringes of society yet exhibit none toward anyone that wishes to return a moral foundation to government. I am more comfortable with the restraint historically shown by the latter than the metastatic nature of the former.

Click here to watch their debate on NBC.

(It starts at 8:50 into the video).

PS- Isn't it funny that Buckeye State Blog will post all sorts of clips from this NBC debate, but they will throw a major hissy fit about this anti-Barbara "I'm a liberal Demorat" Sykes web ad? So BSB can't stand someone using taxpayer-funded video of a public official, but gladly steal video from NBC, a private company.