In the 2016 presidential election, the quest for moderate Republicans has been a fruitless effort. With candidates like Marco Rubio promising to repeal the Supreme Court’s decision on gay marriage (somehow) and Donald Trump’s continuous promises to build a great wall like he’s some kind of Biblical emperor, the Republican Party seems to be alienating it’s more levelheaded voters, those that voted for McCain in 2008 and will be essential for a Republican victory. Which is why many have gravitated to Ohio governor John Kasich, the one man who seems to be trying to bail out this sinking ship. On the surface, Kasich seems to be the perfect candidate to run against Clinton or Sanders. He’s a religious man with respect for the law, who now famously went against the grain in the first Republican debate by saying that he would respect the ruling which made gay marriage legal even though he himself disagreed with it. To many, including myself, Kasich is a breath of fresh air in the poisonous gas ball that is the Republican nominees. Kasich seems to be running on the simple fact that in a sea of unelectable extremists, he is the pragmatic moderate.
Except he’s lying. Dig a little deeper, and you will find that John Kasich is just as extremist as the rest of the mixed bag of nuts in the race. So now, without further ado, here are some of the great accomplishments on “moderate” John Kasich’s resume.
1. He opposed gay marriage in his own state.
For anyone who closely followed the Supreme Court’s historic decision to legalize same-sex marriage across the United States, you will remember that one of the cases presented in front of the court was Obergefell v. Hodges, where a same-sex couple were petitioning the State of Ohio to recognize their marriage in order for Obergefell to have the same marriage benefits as heterosexual couples as Obergefell’s partner was dying of ALS. However, what many did not know was that the case was originally called Obergefell v. Kasich, as Kasich attempted to refuse recognition of the out-of-state marriage as same-sex marriage was illegal in Ohio at the time. Kasich has also voted against funding for LGTBQ couples who wished to adopt, and refused birth certificates for adopted children of LGTBQ couples. He also voted against anti-discriminatory laws for LGTBQ peoples. Clearly this is the work of a moderate.
2. He's defunding Planned Parenthood
As any moderate would, Kasich signed a bill Feb. 21 preventing the state government from contracting any health service providers which also provides or advocates for abortion, leaving PP dead in the water in Ohio. Because you know, who needs STD testing, mammograms, family planning advice or condoms? It seems that while Kasich is “moderate” on many an issue, he takes a more extreme stance on ensuring that women are denied basic access to healthcare. Because we know defunding PP works so well.
3. He wrote the book on discriminatory welfare reform.
Imagine: It’s 1996. A young, excited congressman named John Kasich is presented with and cosponsors a bill that will change welfare forever. For the first time, persons who qualify for food stamps would have a time limit on their food stamps. Thanks to Kasich, unemployed qualifiers for food stamps would only be able to collect for three months at most over a period of three years. Congress of course, did not entirely go with this plan, so Kasich improvised by adding a clause where state governments could waive time limits in areas with high unemployment (because bootstraps or something). But Kasich himself would go on to use these waivers in an extremely discriminatory manner, waiving time limits in predominantly white, rural areas and keeping the time limits in urban areas composed primarily of minorities. Thanks to the good work of Kasich and company, 140,000 people have been eliminated from the food stamp program in Ohio since 2013. Like any good moderate, Kasich has turned a blind eye to minorities in Ohio.
So what have we learned? Primarily, we have learned that John Kasich has done a great job of hiding his right wing extremism in actual laws and directives, instead of vague promises like the other candidates. What Kasich loses in his soft-spoken, joking manner, he makes up for in his ability to act on his extremist beliefs. Maybe that should be his pitch rather than being a moderate. John Kasich: The extremist who gets it done.
Not satisfied with your Kasich hate yet? Check out Samantha Bee’s breakout of the Ohio governor from “Full Frontal with Samantha Bee,” my inspiration for this article:
