This dimwitted knucklehead Democrat mayor of Toledo kicked the Marines out of his city because the training was “scaring people.”

Right. Scaring the ignorant maybe, but people who pay attention to what is going on around them or in their city weren’t scared, I’ll bet:

Toledo police said they knew about the training and had approved the unit’s use of the Madison Building and the Promenade Park area. The training was scheduled to start Friday afternoon and last until Sunday. Police said the unit’s presence would have a minimal impact on the city. Police issued a press release earlier in the week saying the marines would be wearing green camouflage uniforms, operate military vehicles, carry rifles, perform foot patrols, and fire blank ammunitiion during the exercise.

Schwartz said there was a breakdown in communication between police and the Finkbeiner administration that led to the mayor’s action.

“The marines drilled here three times during the Ford administration and once under the Finkbeiner administration. After the last visit, the mayor told then police chief Jack Smith, that he did not want the marines back. Smith failed to inform the current police administration of the mayor’s feelings,” Schwartz said.

The Toledo police had the Marine’s backs. The former Chief of Police in Toledo gets it, and let told the mayor as much last time he kicked them out:

“He told me he did not want them, as he put it, “playing war in Toledo’”, Smith recalled. I told him, as a former marine, “that if one young marine’s life is saved because of training he or she received in Toledo, Ohio, then it was worth the inconvenience.”

Smith said if the mayor objected, then he should have been the one to convey those feelings to police. Smith took his run-in with the mayor as an objection to that last visit, and not future training in Toledo.

As a result, the Toledo police went ahead, granting approval to the 1-24th Marines to conduct the routine exercise. The police notified members of the Finkbeiner administration, who were not aware that the mayor objected to unit’s training in Toledo.

When the mayor found out, he sent a member of his staff to tell marines they could not conduct urban operations in Toledo.

I imagine this horse’s ass will let the Marines come and fight in Toledo though, if there is ever a reason to fight. What it comes down to is you need to support the military, regardless of whether they are fighting in Baghdad or training in Toledo. The mayor needs to understand the importance of training in urban environments and if he is worried about people being scared, then he should prepare the skittish citizens of Toledo. Perhaps the city could provide counselors for those traumatized by seeing a Marine.

But more than likely, he is using that as an excuse to disrespect them.