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Jul

17

The Man, the Myth and the Making of Josh Mandel


Just keep watching the myths spread.  Now, it’s come to Ohio in the form of an opinion column that’s already been published, in part or in whole, at The American Thinker, Townhall.com and Powerline as I note here nearly two weeks ago, among other places by a person who I don’t believe lives in Ohio but does have a very nice bio.

From the Xenia Gazette opinion section:

Given that [State Rep. Josh Mandel is] a Republican in a two-to-one Democrat district in the Cleveland area, Mandel will need to give a lot more sterling speeches and raise another $400,000 to stay in his current job.

…Mandel will be facing a tidal wave of cash from his opponent, the state Democratic party, and independent political groups, including so-called 527s. One estimate from a longtime Ohio political insider is that upwards of $1 million could be spent to defeat the former Marine.

If Mandel survives this November, expect to hear a lot more about him. Not only does he give a world-class speech, but he already has an impressive legislative track record. In his first (and only) term, he introduced Iran divestment legislation, and he successfully led the effort to force Ohio’s massive pension funds to stop investing in companies that do business in Iran.

Anyone want to put their name on that “longtime Ohio political insider” who says that “upwards of $1 million could be spent to defeat the former Marine” in Ohio’s 17th house district?

Joyce Beatty, Armond Budish, Chris Redfern – someone, anyone – where’s that million? You all running some stealth campaign up here that every single outlet – on and offline – is missing?

Oh, okay – I’ll settle for someone helping me see how a district with nearly more independents than Dems or Republicans combined, which has voted for a Republican state rep since 2000, makes for saying, “if he survives.”

The language about the divestment bill is a bit better but the pension funds haven’t been forced – the deal is not legally binding and the legislation was tabled.  Likewise, “massive” pension funds?  Compared to what?

I guess that in exchange for Speaker Jon Husted getting the money for the Republican house candidates from Mandel, he must support the suggestion that Mandel is the one who got the pension deal going, though the media portrayed it as an effort of Husted and Larry Flowers.

Whatever.  It’s an opinion piece.  Delusional or otherwise re: the 17th being a tough race, Mandel forcing the pensions to stop investing in companies that do business with Iran (why no mention of Sudan? Isn’t the genocide there worthy of pushing for a tactic you think makes a difference?) and anyone sinking the equivalent of $1 million into competition for the seat.

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By Jill Miller Zimon at 7:38 am July 17th, 2008 in Campaigning, Cleveland+, Marketing, Media, OH17, Ohio, Politics, Statehouse, Voting 

Comments

14 Responses to “The Man, the Myth and the Making of Josh Mandel”

  1. 1 Greg Helms on July 17th, 2008 8:24 am

    Jill,

    I’ve been saying all along that Mandel will win this race easily, and I still believe that (and yes, there’s no way, the Dems will pour that kind of money into this race). However, I’m wondering what caused your change of heart on the matter?

    The only reason I ask is because when Belovich crowed about the number of votes he received in the primary, and several of us pointed out that it meant nothing, it almost seemed as if you scoffed at us. For example, you said, “just out of curiosity, he will win in a rout because…why, exactly?…You fellas realize how many unaffiliated there are in this district, right? And how they are trending this year, right?”

    http://www.writeslikeshetalks.com/2008/03/08/bob-belovichs-website-for-run-at-ohio-house-17th-live-joshmandelcom-under-construction/#comments

    Based on those comments, it seemed as if you were forecasting a tougher road to hoe for Mandel. What’s changed in the interim?

    Thanks in advance for your response.

  2. 2 Jill Miller Zimon on July 17th, 2008 8:30 am

    Greg – I am so flattered (I mean this seriously) that you read this blog so closely! lol as regular blog readers both, I’m sure you’d agree that a LOT of commenters don’t! So seriously, thank you

    Nothing changed at all – these are the flip sides of the same coin regarding the Independends: Josh or others on his behalf (who don’t know the district), assert that he has a tough time coming up and they discount the Independents.

    I say, hello? Um – that’s not the record of this seat.

    But by the same token, those Independents hold the key for Belovich as well and so, esp. because that was nearly five mos. ago now, it’s also reasonable to say, Show me the voters re: you call his winning a likely rout – you may be right – but don’t write off the Independents, esp. in a pres. election year that could see Ohio go blue.

    That’s all. I reserve the right to use the same group of voters in a variety of ways. ;)

    I also just want Josh to stop the proxies from spreading such nonsense – it is really, really annoying.

  3. 3 Greg Helms on July 17th, 2008 8:48 am

    Gotcha. Thanks again for your thoughts on the topic; I appreciate them.

  4. 4 joe on July 17th, 2008 9:41 am

    i was wondering why it is that you readily dismiss the opinions of others because they didn’t “source” what they’ve added to your blog while you can “guess” as in “I guess in exchange for getting the money….” i guess you can do that because it’s your blog. i still enjoy reading it though. just curious.

  5. 5 tim russo on July 17th, 2008 11:35 am

    Josh Mandel’s legend is carefully crafted….by Josh Mandel. posted on it just now.

    http://bloggerinterrupted.com/2008/07/did-josh-mandel-tell-anyone-else-he-joined-the-marines-because-it-would-help-him-politically

  6. 6 joe on July 17th, 2008 11:47 am

    hey tim, the only reason you want to accuse him of doing that is because you know it is exactly what you would do. you can’t think like a snake unless you happen to be a snake yourself. you’ll learn that lesson as you get older and gain wisdom.

  7. 7 tim russo on July 17th, 2008 11:52 am

    hey “joe” or “josh” or whoever you are. were you there in those conversations? not accusing anyone of anything…..reporting my conversation with the kid.

  8. 8 joe on July 17th, 2008 6:29 pm

    once again, this isn’t josh, but it’s what you’d do if you were josh. slither on, dude! there are millions of people with reptilian tendencies who’d do the same thing as you (insinuate it is mandel responding on this blog using an alias). i know of many of them. they use good people to their own advantave all the time. while you’re actions aren’t necessarily in the minority of the worldview, they do seem to lack a certain ethical element. i don’t even know josh mandel. time for your next distortion or half-truth. go ahead, make my day.

  9. 9 joe on July 17th, 2008 9:10 pm

    i was just doing some surfing on the internet. it appears that the man, the myth, and the making of barack obama would be a more appropriate title and article since the chicago papers, drudge and the associated press are reporting that the governor of illinois has offered to send in the national guard and the state highway patrol into the city of chicago in order to restore order to the community that barack obama “organized.” wow! and this guy will bring hope and needed change? amazing!

  10. 10 Joe Ritchey on July 18th, 2008 12:12 am

    Groans, why did he have to pick the name joe for his alias.

  11. 11 joe on July 18th, 2008 8:44 am

    why the groan. is something i said factually inaccurate? oh yeah, maybe it’s that truth thing that is so hard to swallow. groan on.

  12. 12 Joe Amschlinger on July 19th, 2008 12:07 am

    Politics on both sides of the aisle is ultimately the craft of story telling. We hear these stories about the candidates or policy because that is what sells. You remember a story more than you ever would remember some policy position even if you are a hard core wonk.

    If you want to win in this game you better have a story and make that story embody the ideology and policies you believe in.

    I would certainly take Mr. Russo’s first- hand account with a barrel of salt though. Because Josh has such a good story, it is easy for a cynic to dismiss it as fluff.

    It says a lot that Mr. Russo injects himself into the tale he entitles the “Mandel Myth.” Mr. Russo romanticizes himself as the wise sage giving advice that falls on deaf ears of the young upstart who will do and say whatever it takes to succeed in politics. Russo’s story implies quit a connection between him and Mandel. A connection that leads one to believe that there is a relationship enough that such intimate information is passed between the two. Begs the question, how many times have Mandel and Russo actually met or spoken and what Mr. Mandel’s take would be. Ahhh, but that is the beauty of Russo’s myth- paint Mandel as a scheming politician who will lie to get ahead and we must in turn assume Mandel will deny these things because he is the lying politician.

    As Russo linked to Jill’s post, I assume he posted after she had already posted. Tough enough being a blogger, using other people’s research/gathered news, but it must really be degrading to be the follow up act for another blogger.

  13. 13 Jim B. on July 19th, 2008 12:09 am

    Tim,
    When Rep. Mandel came to my house on one of his walks, he said that he enlisted in 2000, spent 8 years in the Marines, and recently left the military. You say that in one of your conversations, you told him not to enlist because he would end up in Iraq. Did you have a crystal ball in 2000? I don’t remember anyone talking about entering Iraq that early on.

  14. 14 joe on July 20th, 2008 11:18 am

    yeah tim, it appears that others can detect the rattles on your tail also. slither along now, tim.

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