Criticism of Democrat Dr. Amy Acton for refusing to share a debate stage with Vivek Ramasway was retracted by a Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist after the Republican’s controversial attack ad roiled the state.
During an appearance on “Today in Ohio” podcast, editor and columnist Leila Atassi, who has been critical of Acton before, admitted she was wrong to criticize the Democratic nominee for the governor's seat for ducking a debate with Ramaswamy.
According to the Plain Dealer’s report, “The discussion went beyond the usual criticism of a nasty political commercial. [Editor] Chris Quinn predicted the attack would doom Ramaswamy’s campaign. Leila Atassi withdrew her criticism of Acton for refusing to debate him. And the hosts questioned why a candidate who would not answer their newsroom’s policy questions was instead asking voters to judge his opponent through the woman who abandoned her as a child.”
At the beginning of the podcast, Quinn prompted Atassi with, “Leila, this is the worst of the worst. I cannot believe the spotlight is on Ohio for easily the most vile political add we have ever seen. Lowest, basest cruel move we’ve seen in an Ohio election.”
“The Republicans have pushed out a video, Vivek Ramaswamy has pushed out a video of Amy Acton’s mother denouncing her campaign. What makes this as vile as I'm saying,” he asked.
“It’s that we’re talking about a woman who's survived an extraordinary traumatic childhood. She accused her stepfather of sexually abusing her when she was just 12 years old,” Atassi explained.
Turning to candidate Ramaswamy she pointed out, “This is a man asking Ohioans to trust him with the enormous responsibilities of being governor.”
With Quinn offering, “You don’t do this as a human being. You don’t do this to a fellow human being and I cannot believe the monstrosity of what he has done."
Atassi agreed and admitted, “And Chris, you are right. I have been critical of Amy Acton for refusing to debate him and I retract that. This guy does not deserve to share a stage with [her].”