Ohio's Crooked Dem Jim Traficant: Racist Anti-Semite David Duke High-Beams His Cause

YOUNGSTOWN (TDB) -- Sleaze supporting sleaze is how it looks with David Duke -- the Jew-hating Louisiana race-baiter -- sticking up for imprisoned former U.S. Rep. James Traficant. Material was distributed last week on Duke's official Website that portrayed the corrupt former Ohio congressman as victim of a massive government conspiracy. The material includes a letter from prison by Traficant, who said he was placed behind bars because he knows too much, including what happened to former Teamsters Union leader Jimmy Hoffa and who really was behind the murder of John F. Kennedy in 1963.

Duke's official site urged visitors "To Write Jim Traficant A Letter."

Traficant's own missive from a federal pen seems to date from December 2003, but appeared on Duke's site only six days ago. The letter contends things began to disintegrate for Traficant after he defended John Demjanjuk, the Cleveland autoworker who was cleared of running the gas chamber at Treblinka during World War II. According to the letter, the Jewish community had it in for Traficant, who is an innocent political prisoner.

"The government agents that destroyed Demjanjuk's life should be in jail! That was just the tip of the iceberg. When people saw what I had done for the Demjanjuk family they came to me with unbelievable information. The information is so powerful that it is hard to believe, and the government knew I was getting sensitive information that could damage the American people's confidence in the government. People came to me with facts about Waco, Ruby Ridge, Pan Am Flight 103, Jimmy Hoffa and the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. It may all sound far-fetched, but I do know what happened to Hoffa and JFK. The government knows that I know -- and so they had to ruin my voice by destroying my credibility. I may yet divulge this information if I can get the proper forum."

Duke's Website may be the perfect forum for Traficant. Or a new episode of the Twilight Zone. As Traficant often used to say from the floor of the U.S. House when he ended his speeches: Beam me up, Scotty.

OH-02's Jean Schmidt: Admits Predecessor Rob Portman Did A Better Job

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- If U.S. Rep. Jean Schmidt has a ghostwriter, she needs to fire that person. Her paean to Rob Portman contains a paragraph that says Schmidt ain't quite on a par with the Republican officeholder she succeeded. And if she wrote it herself -- then she needs to quickly hire a ghost.

Schmidt's praise of the former White House budget director who held Ohio's 2nd Congressional until 2005 was effusive. So effusive she admitted she would never measure up.

"Rob left some truly huge shoes to fill here in the Second District. I will never be able to fill them entirely. But Rob is a role model for far more than I."

Schmidt did not mean that Portman has big feet. So far, her homage to Portman has not shown up on her Website. However, it has been in several newspapers across the district.