Shame: Republicans attack police and firefighters!

To paraphrase Ronald Reagan, there they go again. In their relentless war against workers, in their union-busting fanaticism, Republicans are now attacking firefighters and police as well as those who teach Johnny and Susie in our classrooms.

I refer, of course, to the Ohio Republicans. First the Republican governor of Ohio had to apologize to the men and women who protect our communities serving with the police for comments he unwisely made. Now the Ohio Legislature, acting more extreme than the extreme Republican governor of Wisconsin, has added firefighters and police to the list of their demons whose rights to collective bargaining they seek to destroy.

When the heroic police and firefighters were running into burning buildings to save their neighbors after the attacks in September 2001, the nation rallied behind these heroes and we joined together to thank and applaud them for great courage.

I guess Ohio Republicans, and other Republicans who agree with them, either no longer applaud their heroism or simply want to destroy their right to fair pay.

It is time for a national wave of statewide initiatives to defeat this wave of extremism.

I believe this latest attack on our heroes in Ohio will help reelect Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and will help President Obama win Ohio's electoral votes.

I believe these unwise and extreme Republicans who attack our heroes will either be defeated in recall elections or defeated at the polls in the next regular election.

Let’s stand together with our heroes, and applaud them when they risk their lives for our neighbors, and support them when they seek only an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, to protect us!

It is shameful to praise our heroes when they run into burning buildings with great heroism and courage, and then attack them in the name of partisan politics and radical ideology when they seek fair pay.