Think candidates hate each other? Not really, I found

Kevin Aldridge Columnist Cincinnati

If you can’t say something nice, then take out a political ad.

That’s the vibe most voters get during election season as their televisions, radios, newspapers, social media and mailboxes are overrun with campaign commercials and other advertisements from politicians vilifying their opponents. Many of these negative ads are misleading, and often distort or take out of context comments, actions or positions taken by a particular candidate. Worst of all, they leave voters exhausted and disillusioned with their choices, which, as politics columnist Dan Sewell said, can leave them “holding their noses when they cast their ballots.”

In these polarizing times, it’s important to take a step back and clear the negativity from the air. To remind our- selves that just because candidates might be on opposite sides of an issue and of a different party, they are still human beings and not the embodiment of everythingevilinworld,asourtribalpolitics would sometimes have us believe. Tome,oneofthegreatestmomentsof statesmanship in the past 20 years came in 2008 when Republican presidential candidate and Arizona Sen. John McCain defended his Democratic oppo- nent and then-Sen. Barack Obama from an untruth during a town hall event in Lakeville, Minnesota. A constituent stood up and told McCain that she couldn’t trust Obama and called him “an Arab,”playing into the conspiracy movement of the time which claimed Obama wasnotanatural-bornAmericancitizen. But McCain rejected the woman’s attack on his opponent outright.

No ma’am, he’s a decent family man, citizen, that I just happen to have disagreementswithonfundamentalissues, and that’s what this campaign is all about,” McCain said to applause.

I wanted to find out if Greater Cincinnati politicians could play nice in the sandbox, as McCain did, in our current polarized environment. If I asked those running for federal, state and local offices to say something nice or positive about their opponents, what might they say? Would they say anything at all?

So I called as many candidates as I could, especially those in heated and

“I admire Tim Ryan’s commitment to his family. It’s clear that he always puts his wife and kids first.”

J.D. Vance Republican candidate for U.S. Senate

Don’t lump FC Cincinnati in with the sad sack Reds

Jason Williams’ article about the current sad state of affairs with the Reds was an accurate one, but why did he feel so compelled to talk about FC Cincinnati when the story was all about the plummeting attendance at Great American Ball Par

Suggesting no one cares or knows about FCC’s chances to make the playoffs (or about the team as a whole) is absolutely ridiculous. The team is in its third year in the “majors” and is pulling in a huge number of fans − young and old.

I went to my first baseball game in two years the other day. Didn’t see many families or many kids. Not the case at FCC games.

I’ve been an FCC season ticket holder since the early days at UC’s stadium. I was reminded during the Reds game I attended why I love soccer and why its popularity is growing in the states.

Next time Williams wants to write about the sad state of the Reds, he should keep it all about the Reds and keep his opinion about FCC out of it.

Mark Sneider, Indian Hill