Super Tuesday in Ohio

Unsuccessfully, I have attempted to avoid the bombardment of political rhetoric blanketing the Ohio airwaves over the last few days. If one watches television, listens to radio, answers the telephone or surfs the Internet, it's virtually impossible to not be subjected to repeated solicitations of various Republican candidates.

Being primary day, the ads are now rapidly dwindling, thankfully. In any event, I was particularly tickled by one ad and think it's worthy of comment.

Republican George Voinovich, former U.S. Senator, former Ohio Governor and former Cleveland Mayor, was featured in a somewhat lengthy campaign ad supporting 'conservative' Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination. The primary message in the ad is strong emphasis on Romney's conservative beliefs.


 
Pardon my choppy and arguably inaccurate paraphrasing of Voinovich's words,

"Mitt Romney was conservative as Governor of Massachusetts, … used his conservative business skills to save the Winter Olympics … is conservative in his personal life … comes from a conservative family … blah-blah-blah … conservative-conservative-conservative …."

Okay, so Voinovich trumpets Romney's conservatism in a campaign ad which, by the way, could easily be disputed based on empirical evidence. However, the truth is stretched in political campaigns so the Voinovich ad, per se, is hardly worth comment.

However, the simple fact that the Honorable George Voinovich is heralding conservatism in the arguably ersatz conservative Mitt Romney is perplexing.

I've resided in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio for about 30 years during which Voinovich was in office as mayor, state governor and U.S. Senator and my suggestion is that the former senator can only declare having a telescopic, beyond the Kuiper Belt, familiarity with anything conservative. I recall having to regularly remind myself that Voinovich is a Republican which I don't directly equate with conservatism. It's just the best available alternative.

Both Voinovich and Romney are distinguished public servants with noteworthy careers and I won't disparage them. Nevertheless, I don't buy that either is a conservative and it borders on comical that one non-conservative has trumpeted that another non-conservative is a conservative.