The Plain Dealer reported some recent endorsements for Mandel:
When South Carolina U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint announced his support for Josh Mandel in next year's Ohio U.S. Senate race, you might have assumed fine, another day, another endorsement......
.....A Plain Dealer review of the donations -- made through DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund with instructions that they be forwarded to Mandel's Senate campaign -- shows that DeMint's endorsement was worth $123,069 to Mandel by Sept. 30, the last day of the most recent quarter......
......The Club for Growth, a group that promotes conservative economic and political principles, endorsed Mandel on June 28. That served as a signal for 484 people who support the club's PAC to write checks to help Mandel. The total of these Club for Growth-to-Mandel earmarked donations: $124,282......
The Republican-leaning Columbus Dispatch had this opinion piece on Mandel:
....That is the way Mandel has been campaigning for next year’s U.S. Senate race. He can raise gobs of money. He campaigns with energy. But ask for a comment on a particular bill before Congress and all you get is another attack on Sherrod Brown....
What can we gather from all this? Can we can make some assumptions about Josh Mandel since he is unwilling and unable to discuss his views?
Does Josh Mandel support Sen. Jim DeMint's amendment to stop people from even discussing abortion on the internet? (see ThinkProgress) Should we assume that Mandel doesn't want people to exercise their right to free speech on the internet? Does DeMint's endorsement of Mandel mean that Mandel supports this (ThinkProgress):
....Now Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), one of the most die-hard anti-choice lawmakers, has jumped on the bandwagon by sneaking a radical anti-abortion amendment onto a completely unrelated piece of legislation. DeMint’s amendment would ban women and their doctors from discussing abortion over the Internet:
Anti-choice Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) just filed an anti-choice amendment to a bill related to agriculture, transportation, housing, and other programs. The DeMint amendment could bar discussion of abortion over the Internet and through videoconferencing, even if a woman’s health is at risk and if this kind of communication with her doctor is her best option to receive care.
Under this amendment, women would need a separate, segregated Internet just for talking about abortion care with their doctors....
Does Mandel believe the same way? Oh, I forgot. He won't answer questions.
What about the fact that the Club for Growth has contributed to Josh Mandel's campaign? Does that mean that Mandel supports the same agenda as the Club for Growth, as stated at their website:
Fiscally Conservative Spending
Federal Death Tax Repeal
Expanding Trade Freedom
Reform Social Security with Personal Retirement Accounts
Medical Malpractice and Tort Reform
Regulatory Reform and Deregulation
Education Choice
Can we assume, since Mandel won't answer any questions, that he supports the Club for Growth philosophy and wants to eliminate Social Security, eliminate public schools and give money to failing charter schools, have free trade and outsource American jobs, allow businesses to behave as they please so that can pollute the environment, get rid of regulations so that poison and fecal matter would be allowed in our food, cut worker safety protections, etc.?
Mandel has to man up and answer some questions or we'll make up his answers.
