Wanted to alert you to a very interesting column by Joel Mowbray, here. It concerns an Ohio Republican named Josh Mandel. In 2006, Mandel (then 31) ran for the state legislature in a Cleveland-area district. The district is heavily Democratic, but Mandel won, in a real surprise.
A lawyer and ex-Marine, he had already served a tour in Iraq (as an intelligence specialist). But, during his first legislative term, the Corps asked for another one. He agreed. The explanation he gave was, “I didn’t join the Marine Corps to say no when my country called.”
Now Mandel is running for reelection — and in a tough fight with a trial attorney, Bob Belovich. He’s also in a tough fight with Mrs. Belovich. The Democrat’s wife has been going around claiming that, by returning to Iraq, Mandel “went AWOL” on the people. She told Mowbray that Mandel had “put his personal ambitions ahead of his constituents.” When Mowbray suggested that a war zone was a funny place to act out such ambitions, she replied, “Certainly he wasn’t serving our needs.”
And while Mandel was in Iraq for his second tour, Mrs. B. apparently said, “Josh Mandel isn’t serving our country, he’s serving George Bush.” You are wrong, ma’am (and perfectly emblematic of your party). May Representative Mandel defeat not just your husband, but you.