· January 22, 2013

IO: Terhar Should Resign

Innovation Ohio Calls on Kasich to Weigh In On Board President’s Facebook Posting – and to Denounce Comparisons of Obama to Hitler and Other Dictators and Tyrants Columbus: Innovation Ohio, a progressive think tank headquartered in Columbus, today called on Ohio State Board of Education President Debe Terhar to resign in the wake of her Facebook posting of an alleged quote from Adolf Hitler lifted from an extremist website. The Hitler “quote” –which Terhar has defended posting –is bogus, according to the fact-checking website, www.snopes.com. According to the Columbus Dispatch, the website from which Ms. Terhar took the quote, “Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children,” is rife with racism (polar bears saying ‘Holy ***, I’m glad I’m White’) and suggestions that President Obama should be assassinated (‘Where’s Lee Harvey Oswald when you need him?’). According to Snopes, Hitler never uttered the quote Ms. Terhar attributed to him. In fact, he favored disarmament only of non-Aryans, and in 1938, supported the German Weapons Act, which actually loosened gun ownership laws for non-Jewish Germans. Said IO Communications Director Dale Butland: “It’s bad enough that Ms. Terhar would post something that could easily be interpreted as comparing Adolf Hitler to the President of the United States. But for the head of the State Board of Education to post a fraudulent and bogus quote is mind-boggling. What kind of message is sent to Ohio’s school children when the state’s top education official doesn’t even take the time to research the citations she uses in her own social media? “Beyond that, why is the State Board of Education President trolling racist, right-wing websites and using material from those sites to make a political point? What message does that send to Ohio students? “Debe Terhar should resign immediately. And as Governor of Ohio, John Kasich has a responsibility to speak out, especially since it appears that he and his Administration lobbied for Ms. Terhar’s election as Board President. Does the Governor support her outrageous behavior? Does he think it’s acceptable conduct for one of the state’s top education officials? “Last week, Governor Kasich said that in the interest of restoring civil discourse, we need to show more respect for the President and his office. This week, the Governor has a golden opportunity to prove that he means it. Let him start by calling on his fellow Republicans to stop making these invidious comparisons of the President of the United States to Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and assorted other dictators and tyrants. Obama is one of only four Presidents in the past 100 years to win over 50% of the vote twice. Governor Kasich should point out that dictators don’t do elections. And he should remind his fellow Republicans that there’s a big difference between losing an election and living under tyranny.”