Former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland, who is now running for Senate, repeatedly referred to his Republican opponent Monday evening as “the enemy.”
Speaking at the Hamilton County Democratic Fall Reception in Cincinnati, Strickland slammed incumbent Sen. Rob Portman over and over again.
“I am running for this office and I am running against Rob Portman. Everywhere I go, I talk about Rob Portman,” Strickland said. “He is our enemy.”
Strickland said he would refuse to take shots at opponents within his party because Portman should be the real target.
“We are Democrats. We ought not to be fighting. I have not said a negative word about my opponent in this race. And I have not said a negative word about him. And won’t say a negative word about him because P.G. Sittenfeld is not my enemy,” he said. “Rob Portman is my enemy and he is the enemy of those of us who hold Democratic values.”
The kind of name calling Strickland employed against his Republican opponent was denounced Wednesday by Vice President Joe Biden when he announced he would not seek the presidency.
“I believe we have to end the divisive partisan politics that is ripping this country apart. And I think we can. It’s mean-spirited. It’s petty. And it’s gone on for much too long,” Biden said. “I don’t believe, like some do, that it’s naïve to talk to Republicans. I don’t think we should look at Republicans as our enemies. They are our opposition; they’re not our enemies. And for the sake of the country, we have to work together.”
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