Has John Kasich’s moment finally arrived?
Thinking the unthinkable.
I once commented that I can’t stand the sound of John Kasich’s voice.
It’s not that it is grating on the nerves, like Hillary’s screeching chalkboard-scraping cackle.
It’s just that he reminds me and a lot of people of the relative at the dinner table who JUST WON’T STOP TALKING. And who doesn’t pick up on social cues, like people looking sideways at each other out of the corners of their eyes; gently trying to change the subject; excusing themselves because it’s getting late and they have to get up early for something or another.
When I hear him speak, I get flashbacks of childhood when an elderly relative-in-law would corral me into sitting with him for the post-meal Passover seder service. For most non-orthodox Jews, the seder meal means we’re done. But no, he’d put me on the spot because no one else would stay, and there we’d be for what seemed like eternity. John Kasich could be that guy.
John Kasich has been that guy throughout the primary season. Always hanging around, willing to talk to anyone, but never really taken seriously as a likely nominee. He never polled near the top, but unlike others who took a hint (read, Scott Walker), Kasich just kept hugging us in his warm embrace (against our will, I might add).
Quick, someone remind me what his father did.
But here he is. Teaming up with Ted Cruz to try to stop Mr. Donald J. Trump from winning the nomination with a plurality of votes but a potential majority of delegates because the delegate allocation system has worked to Trump’s YUGE advantage. What Trump calls “stealing” delegates when the system works to Ted Cruz’s advantage all of the sudden is an entitlement for Trump. But I digress.
Last night’s announcement that Cruz and Kasich were teaming up may have been the moment John Kasich became a serious potential nominee. Not because he’s going to win any more states, or because he will get anywhere near the majority of delegates on the first ballot.
Rather, HE WHO WILL NOT STOP TALKING always has had a convention strategy. Be the guy #NEVERTRUMP and #NEVERCRUZ and the establishment turn to when all else fails. The candidate of last resort.
A key part of that strategy was stealing Mr. Donald J. Trump’s theme of WINNING. According to the polls, as early as they may be, Kasich is the only one of the remaining candidates who will WIN WIN WIN versus Hillary.
It always seemed like a fantasy. After last night, I’m not so sure.
Appropos to this line of reasoning, I saw this video linked at Instapundit (via Kathy Shaidle) this morning:
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Comments
If Kasich drops out, don’t his Ohio delegates go to Trump? If so, that would clinch the path to 1237. However someone would have to check that.
Why on earth would they go to Trump?
Rules are rules, Milhouse. Isn’t that what the Cruzbots keep slamming down our throats?
According to Ohio primary rules, if the winner of the primary drops out, the delegates go to the person who came in second (Trump).
Cite, or it isn’t true.
It depends on the State, but my understanding is that they are bound to him (Kasich) on the first ballot. If that’s the rules, then refusal to unbind them means that they’re not playing nice, conspiring and colluding against The Donald®, which is grounds for a trumper tantrum.
It isn’t true. Kasich delegates don’t go to Trump on first ballot.
https://www.conservativereview.com/commentary/2016/03/upon-exiting-race-kasichs-ohio-delegates-are-not-bound-to-trump
You mean a Trump support LIED about something ??
this is my shocked face … no really …
If Kasich drops out, don’t his Ohio delegates go to Trump?
From what I understand, there may be some dispute about whether the delegates would become unbound on the first ballot, or still required to cast their initial votes for Kasich, but I don’t know why anyone would think they should go to Trump unless they’re rooting for Hillary.
The race must be rigged…even though we can see it with our own eyes!
Speaking of voice-over and over…
Wouldn’t it be great if Men in Blazers did the commentary on the POTUS race instead of Fox News?
You have to realize what kind of a candidate Kasich is. He is a moderate [either a liberal moderate , a moderate moderate or a conservative moderate, depending upon what day of the week it is and who you ask]. He will poll well with the same constituency that Hillary Clinton will poll well with, because there is little difference between their political positions on most issues. But, look what has happened with moderate Republican Presidential candidates over the last few years. G.H.W. Bush was creamed by Bill Clinton. Bob Dole was creamed by Bill Clinton. G.W. Bush barely beat Al Gore in spite of the fact that Gore was a demonstrable moonbat [Gore won the popular vote, by the way]. He barely beat John Kerry, even though Kerry was a big-time anti-war protestor and we were in the middle of a war. John McCain was obliterated by Barack Obama when conservative Republicans stayed home. Mitt Romney was also obliterated by Obama even though there was widespread concerns about the economy, Obamacare and border security; all of which Obama supported or failed to correct.
The point is that when the Republicans run a candidate who is not far removed from the Democrat candidate, in terms of political position, they lose. If they run a moderate they might barely win, if the Democrat candidate is either so far out in the liberal outfield that you need binoculars to see him. Clinton is a solid moderate candidate.
So, how do you think Kasich would do against Hillary Clinton without both widespread Republican support and the lowest incidence of Democrat voter fraud in 50 years?
“So, how do you think Kasich would do against Hillary Clinton without both widespread Republican support and the lowest incidence of Democrat voter fraud in 50 years?”
Frankly, I don’t think the R’s that would be for this move would care. They simply prefer shrillary to trump in order to keep the gravy train rolling. They know he would lose.
I think the saner heads will not go for this, but hey, it is the stupid party.
There’s nothing — aside from the feverish imagination of his fans — to suggest that Trump would not keep the gravy train rolling.
For decades he’s been proudly playing the system of buying political favors for himself, and helping elect and re-elect the biggest-spenders insiders in Congress. He boasted about he well he gets along with Democrats.
He has no serious reform plans, no serious budget ideas.
Trump said he could “get rid of” the entire $19 trillion debt in eight years by renegotiating trade deals. Then he denied saying it could be done that fast, but said it could all be done by “refinancings.”
Those are not the proposals of a serious man.
Trump doesn’t want to stop the gravy train. He just wants to be in charge of sloshing out the gravy.
In other words, Trump is a clown.
Trump’s entire real estate career was built upon the crony-capitalism gravy-train. Why in the hell would any sane person expect him to stop it now?
It’s not true that Bush barely beat Kerry. He won a handsome victory.
He’s not a moderate, he’s just weak. It’s obvious to everybody and that’s why nobody ever took him seriously.
Trump is running to the same ground as Hillary and Kasich. He isn’t any more viable based on your reasoning either. The only candidate that is different is Cruz.
“It always seemed like a fantasy. After last night, I’m not so sure.”
Yep, still a fantasy. But it would work well to put the last nail in the coffin of a party that has selected dole, McCain, Romney, and two bush’s.
In that case your new hashtag will be #neverRecover
So you’d rather see Democrats win, or put a Democrat-in-drag in the White House, than vote for the only actual conservative who’s still in the race, because you’re so mad at the millions of Republican voters who nominated candidates you didn’t like (because they were RINO squishes).
That’s the core idiocy of Trumpism. But the idiocies of Trumpism are legion.
Amain…
Millions of voters have put Trump well into the lead. Are you sure going against the will of millions of voters is a good thing in this election? You would need those voters in the future if the GOP is going to survive. My advice would be to tread carefully. If all this delegate manipulation angers the Trump voters, then this will be the end of the GOP, and it will be a cake walk for Hillary.
Trumpkins like to pretend that there’s some mandate for Trump. If that’s so, why does he still have 38% of the GOP popular vote?
38% of the popular vote is still higher that the % that have voted for either Cruz or Kasich. Why do you think either one of them have a mandate?
TDS sufferers like to pretend that there’s some mandate for Cruz, who has 1/3 less popular votes and soon to be half the delegates. Why
Who is saying Cruz has a “mandate”?
I know you Trump supporters have a tenuous grip on reality due to your zeal to get Hillary elected, but please try to focus…
One of the key beliefs of the Cruz supporters is that they neither want nor need that 38%+ [the ‘+’ being after the primaries tomorrow if polling is to be believed] of the Republican voter base in the general election. Their contempt for them is more than palpable. And somehow his less than 38% of vote of the Republican base is both a mandate and a divine commandment.
That is one reason I believe that the Republican party is irreparably broken. If Trump wins, the #NeverTrump-ers will keep their word. There is nothing that can convince them to support Trump. They say that it is a matter of principle, and I believe them. Their activism this primary campaign has been focused on attacking Trump and his supporters. They cannot be convinced otherwise, nor can they be made to just sit out the election. Trying to reach out to them will be a waste of effort. They will continue doing the same things in the general.
And if Cruz wins, they will not change their not wanting or needing Trump supporters. They will not bother reaching out to them [other than demanding support as a form of penance for supporting Trump, a penance that will clearly never be sufficient to return to their good graces], and that will not be sufficient to overcome the mutual bitterness of the primary season. I have encountered a new meme around various sites where Cruz supporters are promising to “expel” Trump supporters immediately after the convention. That will make it an interesting general election campaign.
I do wonder [purely out of a sense of morbid curiosity] what the reaction of the Cruz supporters will be if a) they and the GOPe succeed in knocking Trump out in a brokered convention, and b) the GOPe then takes out Cruz [who is even farther from having a majority of delegates] and inserts their own candidate?
you can add #never Cruzers that will sit out the election if Trump
is on the Ticket
and to answer (B) most Cruzers will stay home if the GOPe
inserts their own candidate in the Ticket, just as I believe most
Trump supporters would do the same …
Um, hello? It is a cake walk for Hillary NOW if Trump is the nominee. Don’t try to threaten those of us who will always be #NeverTrump. We have seen the polls. ANYONE but Trump!
Why don’t the Trump supporters think that they need Cruz’s and Kasich’s voters? Trump and his supporters have insulted their rivals and their supporters so badly that I think the rift might be permanent. So izzy it goes both ways doesn’t it?
I don’t see a big deal if the Trump supporters didn’t vote in November. From what I have gathered many of his supporters are people that are frustrated with what has been happening but haven’t voted in years. Selecting a candidate that can bring the conservative base out in November is the only real choice to win. Trump is not that candidate.
When you eliminate the Trump “supporters” who usually remain under their rock and the ‘rats who crossed over to vote for a sure-loser, we’re pretty much back to the numbers we started with.
“So you’d rather see Democrats win”
LaLa land of the lefties.
Seeing democrats win is the province of you #nevertrumpers.
Seeing democrats win is the province of you R party elites that nominate piss poor candidates. Dole, McCain, Romney for example.
The last time around you engineered a nomination for Romney. Romney, the father of Obamacare. Romney, that SIGNED the planned parenthood pledge for abortion. Romney, that was for making illegals legal.
And you and almost all the #nevertrumpers voted for him. Some of us have the idea you new Romney was a loser all along, preferring Obama all along.
If the R party had spent 1/10 the effort of going after Obama as they have trump, perhaps they could have changed the course of this country. of course, it doesn’t go unnoticed that maybe the R party like the course of this country under the commie.
Most of us will never listen to the republican elites ever again. We know you for exactly what you are.
Take off the tin foil hat barry. The reason we lost with Romney was because a lot of Republicans decided to sit it out. obama got less votes than his first election and Romney got less than McCain. That tells me that if only the Never Romney crowd had voted we would have had a one term obama. I do not know why they sat it out but that is why we lost. Trump is on course to insult and disaffect so many other candidate’s voters that he may end up like Romney. If he could only tone it down a little but he can’t! He has both feet in his big mouth now but still seems to no get it.
Tin foil.
You think so. Now, I’m well aware that Obama received fewer votes than his first round, and still beat Romney. Why on earth you think that refutes what I said is beyond any normal person. Nor does it equate to tin foil.
I spelled out the reason all those votes didn’t show up for Romney.
McCain was the last crap sandwich foisted by the republicans I will ever vote for. I did not vote for Romney, but voted for every other r on the ballot, even some that are weak. I’ll not do it again. Until the r party is either reformed (preferable) or destroyed and replaced you cannot defeat the leftists in this country. thus trump.
Now, take off your tinfoil and shove it.
This is a heartbreaker for me. I had hoped that Kasich would just drop out and let it become a two-man race like it should be. I was also dejected after I read this morning that if Cruz is the nominee he will focus on substance and not on personal attacks. Has he not been paying attention lately? The public has no interest in substance! They want a reality show! Trump hasn’t uttered a word of substance since he started his campaign and has no plans to do so. Romney went the same route, substance and solutions, while obama went BS and his team went personal on a level that was outright lying. If Cruz were to become the nominee and stick to facts and non-personal attacks he would lose like Romney and the odious McCain.
Cruz has an impossible dilemma:
On the one hand, in order to fix the country you need to have serious ideas.
On the other hand, in order to get the nomination you need to be a shallow douchebag.
Cruz chose the path he is most comfortable with —- be an insufferable douchebag. That way he doesn’t have to act.
Projection.
Vomit
Yet, today, Kasich responded to a question asking who his supporters in Indiana should vote for… and he stated that his supporters should vote for him, obviously. His reasoning was that he still wanted their support, but that he wasn’t campaigning there anymore.
So is Kasich really part of this “stop Trump team”? I don’t see how this is suddenly his moment. He would never be selected at the convention anyway. His campaign is dead, he just hasn’t admitted it yet.
Kasich will be nothing more than another GOP loser if he’s on the ticket. In order for him to win, Hillary would have to be in jail. We have the party which will cheat to win and another which will do its best to lose. God help the country because the politicians won’t.
The Cruz-Kasich relay-race stratagem to defeat Trump in the final leg of the race: Trump runs his race and they will run theirs.
Trump: “How awful. How desperate! No fair! I have book sales and TV appearances! I’m Yuge! You little people are killing me here!”
“The way Kasich eats is totally disgusting” and “mathematically dead and totally desperate” – the New Improved Trump campaign stratagem ( shhhh, while Cruz works to add delegates).
FIFY
( shhhh, while Cruz works smoke filled backroom deals to add delegates).
He’s such an outsider, that teddy, workin’ all those backroom republican insider deals.
I’m curious…since you know all there is to know about Cruz, just how much did he contribute to the pig in a pants suit and upchuck Schumer; was it more or less than was contributed to them by The Donald®?
“Enquiring” minds want to know!
How much did trump contribute to cruz?
TWOT.
TWIT
At least “Cruz works…to add delegates.” Trump hasn’t worked since who knows when.
Little or No Policy Trump only is a big talker. Trump is not a doer.
“At least “Cruz works…to add delegates.” Trump hasn’t worked since who knows when.”
Cruz is a poor worker then, as he is getting beaten, badly. And the downpour is just beginning.
You’re blinded by your faith.
At least “Cruz is a poor worker”. Trump hasn’t worked since who knows when.
My “belief” is grounded in fact, history and reason.
Your belief is clinging to a Ruling Class wannabe who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth and who expects to be given whatever he wants by the sheer gall of his flamboyance.
Kasich is the second coming of Ronald Reagan! Get out there and vote!