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Ellen Belcher is the Dayton Daily News opinion pages editor. She writes about state government, education, the environment, higher education and all things Dayton.
Martin Gottlieb is an editorial writer and columnist for the Dayton Daily News opinion pages. He focuses on the political process itself and does such national issues as war, the economy, taxes and Social Security, as well as a hodge-podge of local and state issues.Home > Blogs > A Matter of Opinion > Archives > 2009 > October > 21 > Entry
Martin Gottlieb: Leitzell cites Reagan, Thatcher; what’s it mean
Two columns for the price of one:
In this business, one meets new candidates for political office all the time. One ponders how to get a fix on them. You can — you do — ask them a bunch of questions about specific issues in their races. But you sometimes come out of a session like that with the feeling that you haven’t really gotten to what makes them tick.
You can ask them to place themselves along the liberal-conservative spectrum. But you’re likely to get a lecture about the dangers of labels, especially in local races, where ideology doesn’t really count for much.
I’ve found that asking people whom they admire in public office often yields a lot. Name someone whom we are likely to have heard of whom you think does the job right.
So last month, Dayton mayoral candidate Gary Leitzell was at the paper. He’s a first-time candidate.
At one point, I asked him about money or other help coming from the Republican Party. He said that people shouldn’t read too much into the fact that he has the Republican endorsement. He emphasized that, while he appreciates the endorsement, he is all about the independent label.
Well, sometimes the word independent signifies somebody who finds the two major parties equally offensive; but sometimes it means somebody who is to the left of the Democrats or the right of the Republicans. It can mean just about anything.
So I went to my question: Tell me somebody in political life whom you really admire. He thought for a while, and said, “Ronald Reagan.”
Hmmm, I started to say, you’re kind of throwing me a curveball.
“OK, Margaret Thatcher,” he said. (Remember, Leitzell grew up in Britain.)
Like I say, hmmm. Two conservative icons.
The discussion quickly found its way back to local issues and the candidate’s biography, partly because it was clear he wasn’t there to sell Reagan or Thatcher.
Now, I don’t believe that Leitzell’s answers suggest that he has a hidden agenda of tax cuts, privatization and union busting, or that he necessarily plans to join the Republicans upon election.
My interpretation is that he mentioned two people he sees as having come into bad situations and made them better.
Certain kinds of political advisers would have warned him against naming two icons of the conservative Republicans when he’s seeking election in an overwhelmingly Democratic city. I’m not really sure there’s much danger. But it generally doesn’t take much danger to instill political caution.
My sense was that Leitzell just isn’t enough of a political junkie to have thought in those terms. Which can be either a good or bad thing.
LIMBAUGH AND THE NFL
OK, let’s talk about this Rush Limbaugh football stuff. Everybody else is, or was, last week.
I have no opinion on whether he should be an owner of a National Football League team. Just this observation:
Though something he said about a black quarterback is often mentioned as the heart of his problem in getting approved, clearly there’s more to it.
Here we have a guy who goes out of his way to make himself hated by an awful lot of people, over politics. In his business — the polarization business — being hated by many is the other side of being loved by many.
He has taken up the role of the enemy, not just of a school of thought, but of the people who adhere to it. He paints them as all things ugly, as people who hold ordinary people and their values in contempt, who hate the country, who are peculiarly mendacious in the way they conduct politics, habitually dishonest and hypocritical, not to mention dangerous because they are dripping in money and in control of institutions.
He foments hatred, then asks, Why do people hate me?
Permalink | Comments (21) | Post your comment | Categories: City of Dayton, Columns, Elections, Martin Gottlieb, Miami Valley Politics
Comments
By THTYGR
October 21, 2009 2:52 PM | Link to this
“To the left of the Democrats or the right of the Republicans” ?????? To the left of the Democrats is Obama-ism and socialism……to the right of Republicans are the Amish. They don’t use electronic means, so it’s not like they’ll be reading this. Seriously, this paper leans so far left it’s pratically coming back around to the right.
By gig young
October 21, 2009 2:55 PM | Link to this
They shoot horses,don’t they?
By joe_mamma
October 21, 2009 3:57 PM | Link to this
Martin, I’ve listened to Rush Limbaugh for years. I’ve never heard him ask why liberals hate him. He knows the answer to that and speaks about it regularly. Liberals hate him because he’s an unabashed conservative. That’s it.
By David Esrati
October 21, 2009 4:59 PM | Link to this
I read this piece on Gary Leitzell today- and still can’t figure out what the point was? Why does the DDN pay Gottlieb for this drivel?
By Raoul
October 21, 2009 5:34 PM | Link to this
First article: Anyone who invokes Reagan and Thatcher as political role models is ok in my book. If only we had national leadership that supported ‘tax cuts, union busting, and privatization’ we might actually have a growing economy, and the rising tide would lift all boats, as in the Reagan era. 2nd article: Once again, Gottlieb demonstrates a strangely confused idea of what Rush Limbaugh represents in our society. Gottlieb always manages to equate Limbaugh with hate. It’s obvious he has never listened to him, nor understands the true nature of ‘hate’. It’s the Gottliebs and liberal media types of the world that do most of the hating. They simply cannot tolerate or understand why roughly half of the country has not bought into thier elitist world of liberalism. Martin, hate speak is when the media reports alleged (and untrue)racist comments to demonize someone they don’t like without bothering to check the facts. Are we clear now on what ‘hate’ means?
By Sam Adams
October 21, 2009 10:14 PM | Link to this
Did you ever notice that when liberals start criticizing conservatives, they start out by telling us how intellectually inferior we are? They know what’s good for us lesser beings and that if we weren’t such a bunch of uncultured rednecks, we would see the error of our ways, we would just drive our pickup trucks, drink our beer, clean our guns and leave the weightier things like governing to them. It’s called arrogance folks.
By Will Brooks
October 21, 2009 10:28 PM | Link to this
What exactly is your point. Seriously, if you are going to write you could follow a simple guideline. Tell folks what you are going to write about, write about it, tell em what you wrote about. At least this way you would have a point and drive it home.
By Ice Bandit
October 21, 2009 11:10 PM | Link to this
Rush Limbaugh doesn’t forment hatred, that’s Marty Gottleib’s job. Limbaugh merely gives his worldview to a daily audience of 20 million and because it isn’t in the tank, Obama personality cult drivel the Marty’s of the world hate him for it……
By SorryIMovedBack2Ohio
October 22, 2009 8:40 AM | Link to this
I agree with other posters..your point is lost beyond the realm of ever finding it. Gary Leitzell is a good man, look what our current Mayor has done for Dayton. Brought it to ruin.
By Cam
October 22, 2009 9:23 AM | Link to this
The point of this was to shed some light on why McLin was endorsed over Leitzell it seems. And what we have is that the editorial board just couldn’t “get” Gary. Maybe this isn’t just about “getting” Gary in so much as it is about really looking at where McLin has led us and giving an honest portrait. The DDN is so clearly politically biased, it gets in the way of good sense. I am a Democrat and I tend to fall on the side of the liberal perspective, but the endorsement of McLin is just nonsensical.
By rotroost
October 22, 2009 9:26 AM | Link to this
McClin cites Obama, Clinton, what’s it mean? Obama’s staff cites Mao, Allinsky, what’s it mean?
By rotroost
October 22, 2009 9:28 AM | Link to this
McClin cites Obama, Clinton, what’s it mean? Obama’s staff cites Mao, Allinsky, what’s it mean?
By Bill
October 22, 2009 10:04 AM | Link to this
From reading the comment section of today’s Opinions it would seem the DDN has more Right wing readers than Left. No wonder it’s going broke
By Rick Rocky
October 22, 2009 5:49 PM | Link to this
youtube.com/McLinforMayor
By Rick Rocky
October 22, 2009 5:51 PM | Link to this
This pretty much says it all: youtube.com/McLinforMayor
By Kurt
October 23, 2009 6:41 AM | Link to this
Marty, who just doesn,t have the guts to admit,that he is a socialist,should look to what his buddies on the left did to Sarah Palin, to know the real meaning of hate.
By null
October 23, 2009 10:39 AM | Link to this
This is a very bad attempt to justify a terrible endorsement. There is no way that the DDN can actually justify Rhine’s record at all. It’s not possible and it’s very telling that no one has even tried. Instead it’s about not “getting” the other candidate. If the DDN editorial board isn’t happy with Mr. Leitzell, there was another option. No endorsement of either candidate. This would allow the DDN to maintain some semblance of integrity by not having to gloss over the clear deficits of the incumbent. But again, the DDN sacrificed respectability by endorsing a candidate who has a record that even they can’t defend outside of the idea that she has the right instincts to shepherd Dayton the rest of the way into oblivion.
By Jim
October 23, 2009 1:03 PM | Link to this
People forget what a mess Turner left for McLin to deal with. The city was basically broke back then and has only gotten worse due to bad labor contracts that Turner negotiated and unrealistic expectations about what Dayton can be. McLin isn’t responsible for the economic downturn, NCR, GM, or any of the other blows that have been inflicted on Dayton. You may not like her style but she has kept the city on stable financial footing. This new guy will be in over his head from day one and the city will be much worse off.
By Jess
October 23, 2009 2:16 PM | Link to this
Yes, Turner left McLin a terrible mess. Baseball, new housing, Wright Dunbar, the idea for Tech Town (which she constantly talks about), new businesses coming to the area, successful Rehabaramas, Riverscape, balanced budgets, Schuster Center, brownfield revitalization, closed adult theaters in family neighborhoods and increased police response time by 50%. Yeah, I don’t know how she’s managed with the state of affairs he left.
By Jess
October 23, 2009 2:25 PM | Link to this
One more thing, if Turner left the City in such dire financial straits, why did McLin push to hire back Rashad Young, who was the assistant City Manager under Turner. Clearly if the City was in such bad shape, it would have been partially his fault. You can’t have it both ways here. She either hired Rashad when she knew the City struggled under his management and that drove the City into a deeper hole, or she’s really quite inept in her job in terms of leadership. I vote for number two.
By Ken
November 4, 2009 11:06 PM | Link to this
Good thing we have great thinkers who will tell us newspapers are liberal. It is hard to imagine Mr. Leitzel will do much better than Ms. Mc Lin