Here’s a tip for politicians seeking major public offices: don’t consider “grunt work” to be synonymous with “getting the facts straight.”
In Ohio, state Treasurer Josh Mandel (R) is running against incumbent Sen. Sherrod Brown (D) in one of the year’s most closely-watched U.S. Senate races, and the conservative Republican candidate is pushing the claim that Brown is responsible for a policy agenda that moves Ohio jobs to China.
The Cleveland Plain Dealer has asked Mandel to back up the claim, and the Republican has so far struggled to provide any evidence. But as Greg Sargent noted today, the problem in this case is not just that the politician can’t support one of his own claims, it’s that Mandel doesn’t even see the need to bother.
Consider his response in an interview last week when asked again to identify a single Ohio job that went to China because of a decisive vote by Brown.
“If that’s the level of specificity you’re looking for, you’re the reporters — you go do the grunt work,” said Mandel.
The Republican added that he considers the claim to be true — even if he can’t offer evidence, and even if reality points in another direction — and vowed to repeat the attack “again and again” as the Senate race continues.









