Mike DeWine as dove

From Toledo Blade: 

John McCain's reputation as a straight talker exposed a timely bit of political irony as the Arizona senator came to Ohio to campaign for the re-election of Sen. Mike DeWine.

Instead of simply extolling the virtues of his Republican colleague, Mr. McCain inadvertently provided Ohioans with a reason not to support Mr. DeWine in his unexpectedly close contest with U.S. Rep. Sherrod Brown.

Coming down hard on President Bush's mishandling of the war in Iraq, Mr. McCain made headlines by casting doubt on the judgment of reliable supporters of the President on the war, Mr. DeWine being a prime example.

Now that chaos reigns and civil war appears imminent, Mr. DeWine recently has been tip-toeing away from the Iraq imbroglio, hoping voters won't recall his down-the-line backing of the administration on the war over the past four years.

But readers of The Blade have only to return to Feb. 12, 2002, when Mr. DeWine, a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, was touring Toledo Children's Hospital on the eve of the investigation into the circumstances of the 9/11 attacks.

Mr. DeWine said then that he was satisfied that the Bush Administration was providing Congress adequate intelligence information on the war against terrorists, and that it seemed appropriate to target Iran, Iraq, and North Korea - countries the President called an "axis of evil" in his State of the Union speech - in efforts to prevent terror attacks on America.

Click here to read the full article. 

08/28/2006 / Permalink / Iraq, (all tags)

DeWine Says If Intel Had Been Accurate, Congress Would Not Have Authorized War In Iraq

Standing next to McCain, DeWine again fails to hold Bush administration accountable on Iraq
 
COLUMBUS, OH - Standing next to Senator John McCain as he criticized the Bush administration's handling of the war in Iraq, Senator Mike DeWine said yesterday at a news conference in Columbus that Congress would not have had the chance to authorize the war had the U.S. intelligence on Iraq been accurate.  "It would never have come up for a vote so it would have been an entirely different situation," said DeWine [Canton Repository 8/23/06]. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Senator DeWine abdicated his responsibility to scrutinize the intelligence that led to the Iraq war.  Instead of echoing McCain's remarks, DeWine yesterday again failed to criticize the administration's handling of the war or to call for an exit strategy.
 
"Instead of rigorously investigating the intelligence that sent Ohio's brave men and women to war in Iraq, Senator DeWine slept through Intelligence Committee hearings," said U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown, who voted against the war in Iraq.  "Mike DeWine rubberstamped the Bush administration's faulty intelligence and repeated claims about biological and chemical weapons that did not materialize."  
 
Senator John McCain said that the Bush administration misled Americans by saying that the war in Iraq would be "some kind of day at the beach," and that issuing statements like the insurgency is in its "last throes" and declaring "Mission Accomplished" in Iraq has helped to build the overwhelming frustration Americans are feeling with the war today.
 
In July 2002, it was reported that "[DeWine] repeated his insistence that Saddam Hussein has chemical and biological weapons and is trying to get nuclear weapons.  He refused to be specific, saying, ‘A lot of this is classified.'" [Toledo Blade 7/10/02].  But after the war, his perspective on the intelligence changed.  DeWine said he was "not sure whether Congress would have voted to approve war in Iraq had lawmakers known intelligence indicating Iraq had weapons of mass destruction was based on second hand and unreliable information . . . We relied on indirect evidence, what turned out to be unreliable evidence"  [Associated Press 7/9/04].
 
"Senator DeWine based his vote to go to war with Iraq on inaccurate and unreliable evidence that he had the opportunity and duty to review.  Ohio needs a new leadership that will ask the tough questions and demand answers and accountability," stated Brown.

08/23/2006 / Permalink / Iraq, (all tags)

McCain: Americans led to believe Iraq ‘day at the beach’

From AP via San Jose Mercury News:

Republican U.S. Sen. John McCain, who has been a staunch defender of the war in Iraq, said Tuesday that the sacrifices required were underestimated and Americans were misled into believing the conflict would be "some kind of day at the beach."

McCain, who has said the U.S. military should have gone into Iraq despite questions raised later about intelligence, said Americans feel frustrated because they had no idea of the toll the war would take.

"I think one of the biggest mistakes we made was underestimating the size of the task and the sacrifices that would be required. Stuff happens, mission accomplished, last throes...," McCain said during a campaign stop on behalf of fellow Republican Sen. Mike DeWine.

"We had not told the American people how tough and difficult this could be. It has contributed enormously to the frustration that Americans feel today because they were led to believe this could be some kind of day at the beach, which many of us fully understood from the beginning would be a very, very difficult undertaking."

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08/22/2006 / Permalink / Iraq, (all tags)

Republicans Losing The ‘Security Moms’

From Washington Post: 

Married women with children, the "security moms" whose concerns about terrorism made them an essential part of Republican victories in 2002 and 2004, are taking flight from GOP politicians this year in ways that appear likely to provide a major boost for Democrats in the midterm elections, according to polls and interviews.

This critical group of swing voters -- who are an especially significant factor in many of the most competitive suburban districts on which control of Congress will hinge -- is more inclined to vote Democratic than at any point since Sept. 11, 2001, according to data compiled for The Washington Post by the Pew Research Center.

...In the Senate race, Sherrod Brown, a longtime Democratic congressman and champion of liberal policies, is running his own version of an antiwar campaign. He voted against the war resolution and the USA Patriot Act, which provided the government new terrorist surveillance tools and authority, at a time when the conventional wisdom in Washington held that both votes were politically disastrous moves.

"I voted against the Iraq war while Mike DeWine slept through the intelligence hearings, asked no real questions about weapons of mass destruction, asked no questions about a plan to win or a plan for reconstruction," Brown said. "If this election comes down to terrorism and war, I still win." If elected to the Senate, Brown said, he will demand the military come up with a plan to have all U.S. troops out in no more than two years.

DeWine has embraced the White House strategy of using terrorism as a wedge, condemning his opponent as a soft-on-security liberal. But his most aggressive attack backfired. A campaign ad that accused Brown of "weakening national security" was found to include a doctored image of the burning World Trade Center towers after Sept. 11. DeWine had to change the ad.

Click here to read the full article. 

08/18/2006 / Permalink / Homeland Security, Iraq, (all tags)

War fatigue could give Democrats an edge

From Cleveland Plain Dealer: 

Kettering -- Bob Cheney feels duped about the Iraq war. "Oh, absolutely," he says. "Absolutely."

The 41-year-old insurance inspector from southwest Ohio had been willing to give President Bush the benefit of the doubt -- that Iraq held weapons of mass destruction and that Saddam Hussein was a menace to the United States -- before Bush launched the 2003 attack on Baghdad.

"I guess the bottom line was that, at that point, I was still willing to trust and willing to believe what the nation was being told."

But here was Cheney (no relation to the vice president) at a Sherrod Brown campaign stop in suburban Dayton the other day, listening to what a Democratic, anti-war U.S. Senate candidate had to say.

And Cheney, who has changed his opinion about the war since its start, was agreeing with Brown -- about the war and about Bush's domestic agenda.

This could spell trouble for Republican incumbent Sen. Mike DeWine. At least, that's what Brown and fellow Democrats hope.

If enough voters in this closely watched Ohio contest agree, Brown, the congressman from Avon, could go to the U.S. Senate and help tip the national balance toward Democrats. Several recent polls suggest he's slightly ahead, although the race remains competitive enough for the advantage to easily change before November.

Click here to read the full article. 

08/14/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Iraq, (all tags)

Brown: Refocus Our Resources on Winning the War on Terror

The war in Iraq has drained military's resources, capacity
 
CINCINNATI, OH -- U.S. Representative Sherrod Brown today said that the terror attacks thwarted in Great Britain highlight the immediate need for the United States to refocus its efforts in fighting the war on terror.
 
"The attempted attacks on the United States remind us that we should be thankful for allies like Great Britain.  British authorities saved countless lives and they deserve our gratitude," said Brown.  "Today's failed attacks underscore the need to refocus our resources on fighting the war on terror.  Iraq has diverted billions of dollars from our defense budget and drained our military's capacity.  Our success in the war on terror depends on having the available manpower and resources to hunt down terrorist networks around the world.  As we continue to follow the Republican's stay-the-course strategy in Iraq, Al Qaeda and Osama bin Laden remain on the loose."
 
The situation on the ground in Afghanistan has deteriorated, with insurgent attacks on the rise and the Taliban regaining strength.  Iran and Syria have bolstered their role in Iraq and across the Middle East, and they continue to funnel money to terrorist groups that threaten our troops and allies in the region.
 
"Winning the war on terror will also require securing our nation," added Brown.  "We must immediately implement and fully fund the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.  We must secure our ports, our plants, our rail, and our airports to make our homeland security fail safe."
 
Mike DeWine and the Bush administration have failed to secure America.  Less than 10% of the cargo at our nation's ports is inspected.  Transit security has been underfunded.  The airport cargo explosive screening procedures recommended by the 9/11 Commission have not been implemented.  Three Ohio cities are considered to be at high risk for terrorist attacks, but DeWine did nothing as the Bush administration cut homeland security grants to the state by $37 million.

08/10/2006 / Permalink / Homeland Security, Iraq, (all tags)

Ohio election unlikely to mimic Connecticut’s

From Cleveland Plain Dealer: 

Columbus -Democratic voters in Connecticut who chose Ned Lamont, a formerly little-known cable television entrepreneur, over longtime Sen. Joe Lieberman sent a message that they are sick of the Iraq war and the politicians who support it.

Ohio Democrats are sick of it, too - and so are some Republicans. But it may be premature to predict that the general election in Ohio in three months, like the Connecticut primary on Tuesday, will be a referendum on the war and that Ohio moderates and conservatives are endangered.

There are big differences between what occurred in Connecticut and what's happening in Ohio.

...Democrats want to make DeWine and House Republicans a proxy for Bush. They note the votes that DeWine and other Republicans cast for Bush's agenda.

And nothing affects that agenda, they say, like Iraq.

"Because if you don't get this thing right - you're spending $8 billion a month in Iraq - you'll never be able to reinvest in the infrastructure of America," Cleland said during an interview at a Brown campaign stop in Mansfield on Tuesday morning.

Said Brown at the afternoon event in Cincinnati: "People see what's happening in our country, whether it's our environment, whether it's this never-ending Iraq war, whether it's the federal budget, whatever it is. The damage long-term to our country, if we don't rescue it and turn the ship of state in a new direction soon, is going to get harder and harder and harder. That's why Ted Strickland's race [for governor] is so important. That's why this race is important. That's why Jennifer Brunner's race [for secretary of state] is so important, all up and down the ticket."

Click here to read the full article. 

08/10/2006 / Permalink / 2006, Iraq, (all tags)

VIDEO: Cleland Veterans Tour

Watch highlights from Sherrod's statewide tour to support our troops. Special guests include former Senator and Vietnam war veteran Max Cleland and Iraq veteran Paul Hackett. Stops include Mansfield, Dayton, and Cincinnati.

08/09/2006 / Permalink / Cleland Tour, Iraq, Veterans, Video, (all tags)