John Kasich's rank simplicity on parade

I thought you needed to see — despite your perfectly understandable efforts to neglect the whole thing — John Kasich's performance, at least, at the "Voters First" forum last night. It's a study in rank simplicity as a political program, and therefore has the best shot at upending Jeb Bush's "moderately" simple-minded vote.

Kasich tosses demagogic clichés like rose petals, as you'll see in the clip below. He's OK with "hard-working, God-fearing" undocumented workers, he's a "free-trader but fair-trader," and he genuinely believes (or so he would have us believe) that the federal government's budget — which he asserts "is not that complicated" to balance — is pretty much the same as your family budget. It's impossible to say, with certainty, that he's really that ignorant; he may just be an exceptional bamboozler.

The clip is only four minutes long. You can do this. It's a hard but necessary viewing.

 

 

Comments

[Peter G]

Watching the video wasn't nearly as hard as it should have been. That is both puzzling and frightening. Am I losing my sensitivity to bullshit? Or just the reaction it used to produce? Or is it just the relatively mild degree of bullshit offered by Kasich is being successfully camouflaged by Perry et al?

[Frank Moraes]

No! I'm having flashbacks! I noted at the time that Kasich was for good free trade and against bad free trade. I figure that in the second round, he must have gone on record about motherhood too.

[Neon Vincent]

Let's see how he did against the General and Kasich-specific cues for the drinking game at You Might Notice A Trend.

http://noticeatrend.blogspot.com/2015/07/it-has-to-be-done-gop-debate-drinking.html

•If any candidate talks about meeting Ronald Reagan in person, take a drink.
•If any candidate talks about kneeling before St. Ronnie and asking for his blessing to serve the cause as THE CHOSEN ONE, take two drinks.
•If any candidate shares a passage from his erotic Reagan fanfiction involving light bondage and tax cuts (we live in a Fifty Shades world now), throw bottle at screen.
•If any candidate praises Fox Not-News for "honesty and credibility", throw bottle at screen.
•If any candidate tries to out-pander Trump, take a drink. This also applies to Trump, who is allowed within the rules to pander as much as inhumanly possible.

(One drink--eliminating "Sanctuary Cities")

•If any candidate says nice things about Jon Stewart and suggests Jon shouldn't retire this year from the Daily Show, quit drinking and stay sober because you've just witnessed the impossible.
•(Update: from @word_34 aka SkarkWeekSneak) "Hillary" "email" or "server", you have to do double shots. Throw in "Benghazi" here too.
•(Update) If any candidate accuses Obama of being the Worst President Ever, throw a dart at a photo of Dubya taped to the wall and take two drinks.
•(Update) If any candidate calls for the defunding of Planned Parenthood, take a drink. If the candidate calls for the arrest of Planned Parenthood staffers, take two drinks. If the candidate calls for the arrest of women who go to Planned Parenthood even for basic women's health care needs, turn off the TV and get stinking drunk because the Republicans are pretty much writing off the women's vote even in Red States.

•If Kasich is even on the stage, take two drinks right off the bat because it probably means Christie got arrested beforehand and there was an opening.

(N/A, as it's for the Fox News debate; besides, it's Perry who won't be on stage, not Christie)

•If Kasich talks about immigration reform, take a drink.

(Yes, one drink)

•If Kasich defends his time working for Lehman Brothers, throw bottle at screen.
•If Kasich mentions how he was with the bipartisan team that got a balanced budget going in Congress back in the 1990s, take a drink and pity the poor guy because he just used the word 'bipartisan' in front of a GOP primary crowd that considers it a trigger word.

(Two drinks, as he mentioned it twice)

That's four drinks in four minutes. Good thing my glass was full of Crystal Lite.

[Bob]

Kasich is a bamboozler able to effortlessly regurgitate Republican boilerplate. Jeb seems uncomfortable while vomiting, and John the Stoic, with his exceptional gag reflex control, has a shot at taking the establishment trophy if only some spirited billionaire will plunk down $100M or so on his candidacy. I excitedly await his elaboration on how he'll determine whether people fear God. Jack Heath also deserves mention for emotive questions.

[shsavage]

Simple, really Bob. All God-fearing Repuglicans will obviously vote for John Kasich. The rest are damnable heretics, or worse, RINOs.

[Anne J]

So if you're here illegally and are hard working, you can still get thrown out of the country for not being properly god-fearing? As for household budget vs. the government, yes, I hate when I have to balance the grocery money with the cost of drone strikes in the middle east. Some months I can't even splurge and get a pedicure anymore thanks to ISIS. Are these guys naturally dumb or do they just have to play down to the level of the people that would vote for them? Does anyone have any predictions as to who the republican nominee will be?

[Bob]

I was anticipating something more along the line of thumbscrews, but you're probably on to something, Stephen.

[Peter G]

My liver would surrender before the updates.

[Bob]

Failing the betting billionaire mentioned above I'm still predicting Bush. Whether they like it or not the Republicans nearly always go with the establishment pick. It's part of their reason for being. Jeb's a stiff but so was Mitt. I'm not giving up hope for a protest candidate, but once the New Age Barry Goldwaters are really under the microscope they'll probably implode.

[Peter G]

I'm still thinking Jeb for he has the establishment wind at his back still. Walker might be a threat until his lips move in public someplace somebody might see them. None of them are going to be Hillary though so the matter is largely academic.

[Jon Ponder]

That said, he's the only Republican in the race who could beat Clinton.

[Max]

Here's hoping. I think she will. But underestimate (or should we say "misunderestimate"?) a Bush at our own peril: their record in national elections stands at five of six.