Message for GOP: Stop groveling

It is an unfortunate observation that four candidates seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate race next year all are gleefully willing to promote the big lie in order to get the ex-president's endorsement. Somebody they will listen to ought to tell each one of them that knowing how to grovel is not a skill voters are looking for in a leader. Being the best groveler is not something to which they should be aspiring. Read more Jane Timken, Josh Mandel, Mike Gibbons and Bernie Moreno each has already proved incontrovertibly they can grovel. They know how to pay great compliments in lavish form onto a man who loves to be lavished by compliments, sincere or otherwise. The groveling four were with the audience at the ex-president's political rally in Lorain County on Saturday that went wild with applause to welcome U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the South Carolina Republican, a conspiracist who openly and regularly promotes racism and antisemitism at social networking sites. She's the congresswoman video recorded taunting a young man who was victimized in a school shooting massacre just a few years ago. What does it say about them that our Senate candidates cheer for MTG? We would have never predicted — or ever expected — the standard could get so low. The longer he delays endorsing somebody in Ohio's Senate race the longer he will be a factor in it, the longer he will maintain relevance as he ponders his own political future. The ex-president will pick a candidate suited to his own self-interests, not one in the interests of Ohioans. Our candidates should stop this fawning; they should stop embarrassing our state this way. They should stop serving his interests and start serving ours. Instead of parading like beauty contestants ready to repeat every lie, we urge Timken, Mandel, Gibbons and Moreno to do this: Tell voters what you stand for, tell them who you are and why you want to be our senator. Tell them how you will blow up the gridlock in Washington and build consensus among us and among lawmakers and other leaders. Tell us how you will respect those with whom you disagree. Tell us how you will fix Obamacare and save Social Security, how you intend to help solve the immigration crisis on our southern border and help humanely relieve the suffering of people so desperate to become part of our beloved country. Tell us how you will vote to protect our state and our planet. Tell us your dreams and your ambitions, for yourself, for your family, for our state and for our nation. Stand for principle. Leave the negativity, the talking points, the anger, the propaganda — and everything else that divides us — behind.