Strickland’s deceiving political ads targeting one issue voters
Posted By RichC on October 13, 2010
As a lifelong advocate for a citizen’s right to own firearms, even I, a John Kasich supporter, was taken back by the recent political ads from the Ted Strickland (D) reelection campaign which targeted challenger John Kasich (R) and painted him as anti-gun. 
I thought, “and I’m supporting Kasich?”
As is the case with many last month negative political ads, they mislead more than they tell the truth. Come to find out, John Kasich is right where I thought he was in support of the Second Amendment and an individuals’ rights when it comes to hunting and a citizen owning firearms. (PDF statement)
As a member of Congress John Kasich
received three “A” level ratings, was
endorsed by the NRA three times,
and received campaign contributions
from the NRA six times.
“I am strongly for the Second Amendment. People have the right to keep and bear arms. I’m a weapons owner myself. I own a hand gun and the bottom line is everyone should be relaxed on the second amendment – I am not interested in eroding it. I think the vote I cast in 1994 did not make things better at all and I don’t want to be passing laws that clutter up the books and get in the way of people’s having their rights.”
– John Kasich on the Mike Trivisonno Show, WTAM 1100, 9/30/2010
In looking at the ads running on TV, radio, print and the web today, the pro-Strickland campaign, endorsed by Democrats and big government liberals including President Obama, are decidedly anti-gun. They hammered away this week that John Kasich “earned an ‘F’ from the NRA” … yet fail to remark that Kasich generally received much higher NRA “grades” and in fact received a “B” rating this year – 
they only highlighted the 1994 rating reflecting votes on the AWB. What is even more telling, besides a voter’s judgment as to where left wing leaders stand on gun ownership, is to look at Strickland’s own Lt. Governor Yvette McGee Brown who actually did receive and “F” rating this past year (Notice, John Kasich’s running mate Mary Taylor has an “A” rating).
As a campaign issue only time will tell if Kasich can combat the effective negative ads diverting attention from Ohio’s (and the nation’s) lousy economy … and string of failed policies when it comes to creating jobs and controlling spending – all I see is more debt and more government. To be fair, I don’t dislike Gov. Strickland or see him as an extremist in the sense of some on the far left or right. He has been dealt a tough hand and no matter who is calling the shots in Columbus the challenge is large. At this point I can’t discredit or credit our Governor on his leadership … but then again, there really hasn’t been any.
My conclusion is that voters need to avoid the single issues that ‘yank a chain’ with misleading negative ads … but we need to elect governors (and representatives) who want to apply proven pro-growth and job creation policies …
- Focus on smaller government,
- Lower or at least more certain tax rates (previous posts a & b),
- Work to attract companies to Ohio
- Responsibly manage the fiscal policies of our state … and dysfunctional schools, but then that’s a post for another day …
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