Free Republic

For an editorial promoting fiscal responsibility, The Dispatch overlooked one of the best ways to lower health costs: a public option that competes with private insurers to lower costs and keep the industry honest ("Honest accounting," Oct. 19). The newspaper called the public option "the way for a government takeover of health care," but I ask: A takeover from whom? The two insurance companies that control more than 50 percent of Ohio's health-insurance market? The insurance companies across the nation that deny care based on gender or pre-existing conditions? The insurers that place arbitrary limits on how much medical care...

DAYTON — Sen. Sherrod Brown said Friday, Sept. 18, that he believes President Obama should have a health reform bill — one with a government-run insurance plan and universal coverage — on his desk by late fall. The Ohio Democrat said he would be “hard-pressed” to vote for a bill that does not include a government insurance plan as one of the options available to people. He made his comments following a breakfast speech sponsored by the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. Also Friday, an audience member asked Brown about comments by Nancy Pelosi, the...

"Thank you Cincinnati. Thank you, Ohio. Thank you labor," yelled President Barack Obama over the cheers of roughly 4,000 as he took the stage at the PNC Pavilion next to Coney Island moments ago. This followed fiery speeches by labor organizers at today'a annual AFL-CIO Labor Day picnic in Cincinnati. This is the first time a sitting president has addressed the annual picnic, the largest of its kind in the nation. White House officials estimate roughly 10,000 tickets were distributed to the speech, which was moved to the pavilion from the park grounds because of rain. "This is a unique...

<p>President Barack Obama told thousands of cheering union members and activists gathered at Cincinnati's Coney Island park Monday that his economic recovery plan is working.</p> <p>"We're on the road to recovery, Ohio, don't let anybody tell you otherwise," said Obama, who took the stage as the sky cleared following a morning that threatened rain.</p>

...In "The Graduate"...Dustin Hoffman's Benjamin is given a one-word bit of career counseling by one of those shallow and corrupt grown-ups at a shallow and corrupt grown-up cocktail party: "Plastics." Forty-two years later, the line has picked up a meaning that the makers of "The Graduate" could not possibly have anticipated.. today, the reaction is, "Oh, right: America still made things then." We don't any more...Since 1987, manufacturing as a share of our gross domestic product has declined 30 percent. Once the world's leading net exporter, we have become the world's leading net importer. In 2007, we exported $1.2 trillion...

Verbal sparks flew at U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown’s forum on overhauling the health care system. The forum, lasting nearly two hours, was held on Wednesday, Aug. 12, in Columbus at Ohio State University’s Biomedical Research Tower. Mike NeutzLing, 56, a nurse at the Ohio State University Medical Center, blasted plans by President Barack Obama, Brown, D-Ohio, and others to overhaul the system. He said 80 percent of Americans are satisfied with he health care they have now. Neutzling said “the whole concept of limited government is being tossed out the window.” The nation’s founders “understood that when you have unlimited...

Let's face it, most pundits on the left and right (including an amateur like me) produce columns which are largely interchangeable with the rest of their camp. They rarely introduce new insight or change someone's mind. That's not to say we don't try, but it's often an elusive goal. Recently, a headline over a column in my local paper and raised my hopes that I had stumbled across one of those mind-changing columns. Read the health care bill: It won't kill you - by Connie Schultz Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize winning columnist for The [Cleveland] Plain Dealer and...

Senators who voted for the Obama administration’s $787-billion economic stimulus bill defended its performance, saying that despite a weaker-than-expected economy, the stimulus was not a failure and they were not disappointed in the results so far. Republican supporters of the Obama economic plan said that even though the administration’s economic predictions proved wrong, the stimulus is still on the right track. Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) told CNSNews.com that the stimulus was not a failure and that the real need was for the administration to spend the money faster. “It means they need to speed it up a bit,” he said....

Thank you for sharing your views about energy legislation. Effective clean energy legislation will reduce carbon emissions and promote the production of renewable energy—but most importantly it will also ensure the creation of new clean energy jobs and industries. Clean energy legislation must also ensure the competitiveness of domestic manufacturers and protect consumers by keeping utility rates affordable. We must work to reduce our dependence on foreign oil by making America a global leader in clean energy manufacturing. For this reason, I recently announced legislation called the Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology (IMPACT) Act. This legislation, which was...

Senate Democrats are breaking with President Obama over his plan for sweeping new climate-change laws that he says will rake in billions of dollars to help offset massive budget deficits. The dissenters, mostly Democrats from Rust Belt states likely to be hit hardest by the proposed environmental rules, question the economic impact of the program that would cap carbon-dioxide emissions and then sell to businesses the right to emit that carbon dioxide. The senators also want their states to get a chunk of the windfall from selling the credits - $646 billion over 10 years by Mr. Obama's estimate. "We...

Dear ///////// Thank you for getting in touch with me about legislation to promote economic recovery. I have heard from many Ohioans sharing their ideas for how to best stimulate the economy and which proposals they believe should or should not have been included in this legislation. I appreciate you sharing your thoughts and concerns with me. Last year the economy shed 2.5 million jobs. We now face the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. The federal government has acted to restore confidence in our economy, create jobs, and rebuild our nation’s aging infrastructure. From shrinking retirement funds to...

Senator Sherrod Brown took a private, taxpayer-funded plane from Cleveland to Washington and back so he could vote on the stimulus bill and get back to his mother's funeral the next day. Will he have to appear before Congress and be excoriated for flying on a private jet?

each Rep allowed one minute to speak.

The White House is providing a government plane for Sen. Sherrod Brown to return to the Capitol for the vote tonight and then get back to Mansfield for his mother's funeral in the morning. Today's visitation ends at 8 p.m. There were no commercial flights available that could accommodate the Senate's schedule and Brown's obligations to be with his family and honor his mother, officials said. The trip is considered official business. Assuming that Republicans will vote no differently from last time, it will take every available Democratic senator tonight to win final passage of the $789 billion economic stimulus...

PER CSPAN THE BILL ONLY HAVE 57 VOTES, THESE THREE SENATORS HAVE NOT VOTED YET. TIME 6.36 PM EASTERN TIME http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN2_wm.aspx NEW YORK SENATOR KIRSTEN GILLIBRAND - DEMOCRAT DC PHONE: (202) 224-4451 DC FAX: (202) 228-0282 ALBANY PHONE: ALBANY FAX: (518) 561-3362 INDIANA SENATOR EVAN BAYH - DEMOCRAT DC PHONE: (202) 224-5623 DC FAX: (202) 228-1377 INDIANAPOLIS PHONE: (317) 554-0750 INDIANAPOLIS FAX: (317) 554-0760 OHIO SENATOR SHERROD BROWN - DEMOCRAT DC PHONE: (202) 224-2315 DC FAX: (202) 228-6321 COLUMBUS PHONE: (614) 469-2083 COLUMBUS FAX: (614) 469-2171

Brown lambasted for opposing global-warming vote Friday, June 6, 2008 11:24 PM By Jack Torry THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH WASHINGTON — Sens. Sherrod Brown and George V. Voinovich today helped block a sweeping bill aimed at curbing global warming, ending congressional efforts on climate change until next year. By a 48-36 vote, supporters of the bill failed to muster the necessary 60 votes to end a Republican filibuster and clear the way for final passage. Brown was one of four Democrats and Voinovich was one of 32 Republicans to support the filibuster. While Voinovich's decision to oppose the bill had been...

The Senate is famed for its longwinded debates, but on Friday it took Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown just seconds to stop Republicans in their tracks. With the Senate entering the first day of its Memorial Day recess, the Ohio senator was briefly in the chair, before a near-empty chamber, to gavel in and gavel out what is called a pro forma session. Without that procedural move, the Senate would technically be adjourned and President Bush could install administration officials or judges as "recess appointments" — without Senate confirmation. "That's the fastest I've ever done it," said Brown, who like other...

February 12, 2008 Government-Defined Patriotism An interview in The Nation's blog with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH):I've talked to Barack a lot about his Patriot Corporation Act, which is not trade per se, but it's certainly part of the economic package around globalization. The Patriot Corporation Act has not gotten the attention that I would hope it would. But, basically it says that if you play by the rules, if you pay decent wages, health benefits, pension; do your production here; don't resist unionization on neutral card check, then you will be designated a "Patriot Corporation" and you will get tax...

  Make Comment View Comments Printable Article Font Columbus' Hometown Jihad By Patrick PooleFrontPageMagazine.com | July 11, 2007 Last Monday, Ohio freshman US Senator Sherrod Brown (D) probably had no idea that when he met with a group of Columbus-area Somali leaders that they were being led by one of the most vocal Western supporters of the Somali al-Qaeda-linked terrorist group, the Islamic Courts Union (ICU). That oversight is forgivable, considering that Abukar Arman, one of my Hilliard, Ohio neighbors, regularly operates among the political elite of the state of Ohio, though as I discovered in my extensive investigation,...

This is what Ronald Reagan said and did when, in 1980, the Ku Klux Klan offered him its endorsement. [Picture of Reagan, words denouncing the Ku Klux Klan added] "I said that I have no tolerance for what the Klan represents, and would have nothing to do with any groups of that type. ...I firmly believe that there is no room for partisanship on this question. Democrats and Republicans alike must be resolute in disassociating ourselves from any group or individual whose political philosophy consists only of racial or religious intolerance, whose arguments are supported only by intimidation or threats...

Mike DeWine must have thought in this press release earlier today that Sherrod “Charade” Brown would at least keep his yap shut about John Kerry’s insult to our troops. He overestimated his opponent (HT Hewitt), who said the following just a few hours ago: Rep. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat leading in late polls in his bid to unseat Republican Sen. Mike DeWine, said Republicans are merely trying to change the subject. “The people who should apologize are George Bush and Mike DeWine for sending our troops into battle without body armor and without examining the cooked intelligence,” he said. I...

Anyone who wants to help kick MoveOn.org's backside this election can help by blogging about how MoveOn.org knowingly and willfully welcomed anti-Semitic, racist, and anti-Catholic hate speech at its Action Forum until the widening scandal forced the scandal to shut down on September 24. Please circulate this information as widely as possible, especially in states like Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Connecticut where MoveOn.org is backing candidates. Here is a list of MoveOn.org candidates: Ned Lamont (D-CT) Patrick Murphy for U.S. Congress (D-PA-08) Diane Farrell for U.S. Congress (D-CT-04) Robert Byrd for U.S. Senate (KKK-WV) Bob Casey for U.S. Senate (D-PA) Nick...

For the hard work and tough decisions that lie ahead, the U.S. Senate needs people who can foster consensus to solve problems. That’s why Republican Sen. Mike De-Wine deserves re-election to a third term in the Nov. 7 election. Over 12 years in Washington, DeWine consistently has earned a reputation for integrity and moderation in a climate that too often has been characterized by vicious partisanship. His record in the Senate is a testament to what bipartisanship and cooperation can accomplish. Most notably, he suffered the wrath of his party’s right wing in May 2005 by joining the so-called Gang...

Two new planks in the Democrats' platform Senator Jay Rockefeller is in full propaganda mode again and the mask slipped, “Rockefeller went a step further. He says the world would be better off today if the United States had never invaded Iraq” even if it means Saddam Hussein would still be running Iraq.He said he sees that as a better scenario, and a safer scenario, “because it is called the ‘war on terror

Once again, the challenger in Ohio's highly competitive race for U.S. Senate has edged out the GOP incumbent in the Rasmussen Reports election poll. Democrat Sherrod Brown now leads Republican Senator Mike DeWine 45% to 42% (see crosstabs). The one-point improvement for Brown since July doesn't mean much, except perhaps to political junkies gulping down popcorn in the front row. But the fact that the challenger has a narrow lead in three out of the last four polls is significant. Early in the year, DeWine was consistently ahead. Even though the incumbent had a seven-point advantage in June, our three-poll...

From a 2001 article: When Sherrod and Larke Brown split in 1986, it was a well-known secret in political circles that they parted badly. Statehouse reporters at the time were delivered anonymous brown envelopes containing court documents with claims of neglect and cruelty. Larke had sought a restraining order against her husband. "I am also intimidated by the Defendant," her affidavit said, "and am in fear for the safety and well-being of myself and our children due to the Defendant's physical violence and abusive nature." Brown answered that he had never been abusive toward his wife and daughters. A divorce...

Brown (D) 44%, DeWine (R) 42%

BROWN VS. DeWINE Senate race in national spotlight Monday, May 29, 2006 Joe Hallett THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH WASHINGTON — In the interval between their workaday lives on Capitol Hill and all-out campaign war in Ohio, Sen. Mike DeWine and Rep. Sherrod Brown prepare for their autumn showdown with a resolve fueled by survival. Analysts say their U.S. Senate race is one of the top three in the nation, and Nov. 7 could end the political careers of Republican DeWine or Democrat Brown, each of whom has spent the past three decades in elected offices. That the usually cautious Brown is...

May 18, 2006--Congressman Ted Strickland (D) leads Secretary of State Ken Blackwell (R) by 16-percentage points in the race to become Governor of Ohio. The first Rasmussen Reports election poll conducted following the May 2 Primary Election finds Strickland with 52% of the vote and Blackwell with 36% (see crosstabs). Strickland won the Democratic Primary with 79% of the vote. Blackwell faced stiffer competition and won the GOP nomination with 56% of the vote. The candidates began the year much closer than they are today with Strickland leading just 44% to 40% in our January survey. Since then, his lead...

I have endorsed Bill Pierce for US Senator from Ohio over incumbent Senator Mike DeWine and one other less-qualified challenger. I encourage all Ohioans who read this to vote for Bill in the Republican Primary on May 2, and also ask that everyone spread the word that this man is the best qualified of the three candidates to represent the GOP, and the best qualified person of either party to represent our state. Bill Pierce CAN win in May, and if he wins in May, he WILL win in November.Here's a quick checklist of Bill's strengths and political positions (go...

How the mighty have fallen. Until recently, Paul Hackett, was a HERO to the DUmmies. He was the KEY to their expected victories at the ballot box this November. All that has changed. Paul Hackett is now the LIVING SYMBOL of the impending leftist implosion as you can see in this DUmmie THREAD titled, "Paul Hackett: Thanks For Nothing." Rather than being a PLUS, Paul Hackett is now a NEGATIVE. Not only has he ensured that the Ohio senate seat remains in GOP hands, the demoralizing effect he is having is sure to spread to other races just as...

Congressman and U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown voted to cut intelligence funding more than a dozen times before the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a record that Paul Hackett's campaign advisers called proof that Mr. Brown could not win in November. A consultant hired by Mr. Hackett, Mr. Brown's onetime Democratic opponent for Senate, estimated the funding cuts would have totaled billions of dollars if enacted. None were. The consultant called Mr. Brown's votes on those proposals and a dozen more recent national security issues "toxic in today's political environment," according to campaign research documents obtained by The Blade. Mr....

That liberals have so quickly pounced on Rush Limbaugh over a relatively minor on-air error, could it be a sign his accuracy rate is actually rather high? Otherwise, would the mainstream media's obvious glee be quite so pronounced? After all, opponents are monitoring every broadcast, waiting in hope for moments like this. So what was Limbaugh's Colossal Error Of The Century? He incorrectly believed Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) was black. Stop the presses! Dog bites man, nobody's perfect. Is this really a big story?

by Mark Finkelstein February 20, 2006 In recent days, Rush Limbaugh has focused attention on the sharp-elbowed way in which the Democratic leadership forced former Marine major Paul Hackett out of the race for U.S. senator from Ohio, installing Cong. Sherrod Brown in his place. On tonight's Hardball, Chris Matthews offered an interesting theory: that Hackett's controversial statements, particularly his unsubstantiated allegations of past cocaine use by President Bush, became too hard for the Dem leadership to defend. In a set-up piece, MSNBC's David Shuster reported that "Hackett's style began creating waves. On [a past edition of] Hardball, he stood...

I KNEW the DUmmies would IMPLODE before this year's congressional elections set in but I never realized it would happen so soon. The first shot of this leftwing implosion was Paul Hackett's appearance on "Hardball" today. If you haven't seen it yet, try to catch the rerun or find the video on the Web. It is an amazing piece of video. Paul Hackett accuses his own Democrat party in general of "swiftboating" him and the Sherrod Brown campaign in particular of spreading a smear campaign against him by passing around photos of Hackett supposedly committing War Crimes. Yes, Hackett...

WOW!!! Did anybody out there see "Hard Ball" just now? Paul Hackett just did a HUGE body slam against Sherrod Brown by accusing his campaign of running a smear campaign against him by showing around photos of Hackett supposedly committing war crimes. If you missed it, you can see it on the repeat later this evening. The transcript and (hopefully) video should be online in a couple of days. This was a POWERFUL accusation. Oh, and thank you, Paul Hackett, for just now sinking Sherrod Brown's senatorial campaign. Glad to see you took down a fellow Democrat! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!

February 18, 2006--The story of Paul Hackett's withdrawal from the U.S. Senate race in Ohio was a major event in the blogosphere and among political activists. But, just 18% of Ohio voters followed the story very closely. Another 22% said they followed it somewhat closely while 23% said they didn't follow the news on this topic at all. Overall, 29% of the state's voters agree with Hackett and say he was betrayed by party leaders. Fifteen percent (15%) say he was not, but a majority of voters (55%) have no opinion on the topic. Among Democrats, 31% say he was...

Get the scene. A veteran Marine candidate who is wildly popular among the DUmmies gets ready to launch a senatorial campaign after being given assurances of support from the bigwig Democrats. But then a vicious whispering campaign begins accusing this candidate of committing war crimes in Iraq. So who were the devious perpetrators of this dastardly deed? It must be the the EVIL Republicans, right? Wrong. It turns out that it was the Democrats themselves. Surely this MUST be some sort of rightwing disinformation campaign to DEMORALIZE the supporters of Ohio senatorial candidate Paul Hackett? Wrong again. The SOURCE...

Posted on Fri, Feb. 17, 2006 Limbaugh makes error about Brown's race Associated Press WASHINGTON - Brown is black in the eyes of Rush Limbaugh. When Iraq war veteran Paul Hackett was forced out of the Democratic primary in the U.S. Senate race in Ohio, the conservative commentator criticized The New York Times for not saying that the Democrats' preferred candidate is black. Limbaugh later found out from e-mails to his nationally syndicated radio show that the candidate, Rep. Sherrod Brown, is, in fact, white. "Uh, Sherrod Brown's a white guy? Then I'm confusing him with somebody. OK, I'm sorry,"...

One of the biggest DUmmie political heroes has been Paul Hackett who in his Ohio Congressional race last year went to leftist extremes nationally in his bid nationally. Of course, locally, Hackett pretended that he was practically had the endorsement of George W. Bush. Nevertheless, he earned the proper leftist credentials to earn the support of the DUmmies in his bid for the Senate from Ohio. So what happened? He was FORCED out of the race by the Democrat leaders thus causing gthe DUmmies to go BERSERK as you can see in this THREAD titled, "Democratic Party? F*ck you bastards....

Paul Hackett, an Iraq war veteran and popular Democratic candidate in Ohio's closely watched Senate contest, said yesterday that he was dropping out of the race and leaving politics altogether as a result of pressure from party leaders. Mr. Hackett said Senators Charles E. Schumer of New York and Harry Reid of Nevada, the same party leaders who he said persuaded him last August to enter the Senate race, had pushed him to step aside so that Representative Sherrod Brown, a longtime member of Congress, could take on Senator Mike DeWine, the Republican incumbent. Mr. Hackett staged a surprisingly strong...

Ohio Senator Mike DeWine has eked out a narrow lead over both potential Democratic opponents in his re-election effort, but the race remains hotly competitive. The Republican incumbent enjoys an edge of 43% to 39% over Cincinnati-area lawyer Paul Hackett, and 45% to 40% over Congressman Sherrod Brown.

Sherrod Brown aiming for Senate House Democrat hopes to challenge DeWine after facing Paul Hackett in primary By William Hershey Dayton Daily News COLUMBUS | Fifteen years after a defeat that contributed to the Republican takeover of state government, Democrat Sherrod Brown is ready to make another try for statewide elective office. U.S. Rep. Brown, D-Avon Lake, today released plans to officially kick off his race for the Democratic nomination to run for the U.S. Senate seat held by Republican Mike DeWine. "I've been fighting clearly on the right side of issues ... on bringing down the cost of prescription...

Suppose a Democratic strategist wrote an open letter to colleagues and clients analyzing this week’s election returns. “Republicans have very little to cheer about this election,” he said with some satisfaction. “But off-year elections are rarely harbingers of future performance. Democrats actually did quite well in 2003, to little effect in 2004.” Suppose further that the Democratic strategist signed his name to the letter and distributed it widely.And then suppose one more thing: that the Democratic strategist had not actually written those words but had lifted them wholesale from a liberal blog. (In fact, those words do come from such...

Rep. Sherrod Brown wrote to Sen. Mike DeWine last Friday, voicing concern about Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito's labor record. Brown's language was crisp -- and was plagiarized. Roughly 90 percent of what Brown, an Avon Democrat, wrote in his letter was lifted from an Internet posting by a blogger, as Brown's office acknowledged Monday when The Plain Dealer presented the similarities. Brown had not credited the blogger, Nathan Newman of NathanNewman.org, or any other source. For instance, Newman, an attorney and labor and community activist, posted this on his blog Nov. 1: "What is striking about Alito is that...

Are there any politicians in Ohio (other than Ken Blackwell), either Republican or Democrat, who are not blithering idiots? The latest entry in the field is Democrat Congressman Sherrod Brown, who wrote a letter of concern to GOP Senator (recent Smails Award Winner) Mike DeWine, about Judge Alito. The only problem is that Sherrod Brown is apparently taking lessons from Joe Biden, as the letter he sent to DeWine (who Brown is trying to unseat in 2006) was plagiarized from a loony left blogger. At least Joe Biden lifted his words from Neil Kinnock, a British politician, not some clown...

Congressman Sherrod Brown to speak at a University of Akron breakfast briefing on "What Should be Done to End the Genocide in Darfur?" The Catholic Commission will host an open to the public breakfast briefing by Congressman Sherrod Brown at the University of Akron's Martin University Center on Friday, September 2, 8:30 a.m. http://www.dioceseofcleveland.org/

U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown, viewed as one of Ohio’s most popular Democrats, is expected to announce today that he will not run for governor in 2006. Brown, 52, of Lorain, likely will announce plans to run for re-election to a seventh term in Congress in a conference call with reporters this morning, according to several sources. Brown’s spokeswoman declined to comment. High-ranking Democrats in Ohio and Washington have urged Brown to run for governor or against Republican Sen. Mike DeWine. Ohio Democratic Party Chairman Dennis L. White said last night that he had lunch with Brown several weeks ago. "He...

Stupidity news: One of Kerry's electors in Ohio, Rep. Sherrod Brown, is a congressman. Unfortunately, the constitution forbids federal office holders from being electors. It is possible that if Kerry wins Ohio, Brown's right to cast an electoral vote will be challenged in court. Whoever picked a constitutionally ineligible elector needs to get his or her mental software ungraded to the latest release.

What becomes a legend most? Not this Is Colin Powell melting down?It's hard to come up with another explanation for his jaw-dropping behavior last week before the House International Relations Committee. There he sat, recounting for the umpety-umpth time why, back in February 2003, he believed the pessimistic estimates about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction. "I went and lived at the CIA for about four days," he began, "to make sure that nothing was—" Suddenly, he stopped and glared at a Democratic committee staffer who was smirking and shaking his head. "Are you shaking your head for something, young...