Originally posted at 7:34AM. Promoted to the top for the rest of the day.No one is questioning David Smith's passion for running for office. No one is questioning his patriotism. However, that is exactly what he is saying people are doing when they bring up his residency issues. Yes, he has residency issues. He has lived in 3 states over the last 5 years, and run in three different races in three different states. He felt such a commitment and connection, as he said in his talk at the Brown County GOP, that he ran in one race, lost, then left town for another state. How can you say you are committed to the people of a state, then head for the hills when you are beaten? Now, I know the excuse. My job made me move. Come on now. If you are as passionate about pepole as you say, you could have taken a different job and stayed in one of those states. But no, you have wandered from state to state, adding political races to your resume, and improving your "righteous indignation" along the way. I really hope most people at Brown County didn't buy your act, because that is what it was, an act. You KNEW Bill Pierce was going to bring it up, why? Because he told you he would. Yet, you played the John Kerry "Don't question my desire or patriotism" game. Of course, Brown County's GOP is all about not hurting feelings. But, sir, the question remains: how will you deal with a multi-million dollar attack machine that will focus on your lack of commitment to every state you have ever run in? If you think ol' John Mitchel and Bill Pierce are tough, wait til Mikey DeWine or Sherrod Brown get ahold of you. Now, David, I know, Mike's own people said you have a bright future in politics. Dude, have you ever heard of egostroking? Have you ever heard of baiting you into staying in the race? Any da** fool can see this is what they are doing, except you--the emperor with no clothes. But carpetbagging is not your only issue.
Sandbagging and outright renegeing on promises is another. You met with a mediator, a well intentioned person who realizes one of the two challengers to DeWine needs to go, and who probably knows it should be you, after all--what endorsements from counties do you have? Have you been rated highly qualified by any of them? All we hear is the John Kerry rhetoric of "I've met so many people, and they tell me I am the one to beat, that I should win." Uh, hello! Where is the evidence?!?
But, back to the sandbagging issue. The mediator, you, and Bill Pierce all agreed that if FIFTEEN central committee chairs could be found who believed your carpetbagging issues were a fatal flaw, then you would drop out. The FIFTEEN WERE FOUND, and you....RENEGED!!!! Columbus TownHall has you on tape making promises that you have not kept about getting out of the race, yet you deny this and you also send bots over to smear other candidates and their campaigns, yet claiming you are a victim. Mr. Smith, if I didn't know better, I would say you were a liberal democrat in the mold of John Kerry or John Edwards. That is certainly how you are running a campaign.
Voters, ask yourself this: can a man who decided he would run away from a desire to serve his country merely because he didn't get the plum assignment he wanted. From one of his former adversaries, Col. John Mitchel:
I have serious concerns about his motives, not to mention his sincerity. For example, he says it was "like a knife in the heart" when he was rejected by the Air Force Academy because he was not pilot qualified. Being rejected the first time I applied to the Academy is the one and only thing I have in common with David Smith. You see I enrolled as a non-scholarship Army ROTC student, reapplied for the Academy, and was accepted with the Class of 1970. Had I not won that appointment, I would have probably been a platoon leader in Viet Nam. There are thousands of ways to serve your country in the military, and for David to give up on that path because he couldn't do it as a fighter pilot, to me is dishonest and insincere. Integrity First, Excellence in all we do, and Service Above Self describe our Air Force core values, and I just don't see that in David.
How can we trust a man who lets his desire to serve be dictated by whether he is an academy fighter pilot or not? Bill Pierce didn't get accepted to the academy either, yet he went on to pursue another path in the armed services. How can we trust a man whose commitment to his supporter ends when he is defeated on election day and moves on to the next state? How can we trust someone who determines their values to the race based on what the incumbent says? Based on his having "charisma?"
I would hope the Republican voters of Ohio want more than a loud rant. Oh, and p.s., Mr. Smith, I loved how you decided to talk about cows and hens and sheep because you were in a rural county. And let me guess, you walked uphill both ways to school barefoot, too?
