U.S.A. – -(Ammoland.com)- “Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican and frequent Trump critic, has been approached and is expected to speak at the Democratic National Convention on Biden’s behalf next month, according to a person with direct knowledge of the plans who insisted on anonymity to discuss strategy,” the Associated Press reported Monday. “Kasich is among a handful of high-profile Republicans likely to become more active in supporting Biden in the fall.”
“It’s unclear if Kasich will explicitly endorse the presumptive Democratic nominee when he speaks at the convention,” The Hill noted in a follow-up report. “But the expected remarks would amount to a major show of support for Biden by a lifelong Republican who rose to political prominence amid the Tea Party movement a decade ago.”
Biden teaming up with Bernie Sanders to raise taxes ought to please those folks, no?
Kasich is the latest in a string of “Never Trump Republicans” to cast his lot with the Democrats, the very Party his past supporters donated money and labor to defeat at the polls. We’ve noted subversive efforts by groups like the Lincoln Project and watched prominent “neocons” like George Conway, Bill Kristol, and Carly Fiorina jump ship. We’ve seen “Big Tent Republicans” like Larry Hogan making no secret of abandoning what once was a Republican core constituency to move the GOP even further to the left. And just the other day, “conservative” columnist George Will announced he’s voting for Biden.
Since they’re all gun-grabbers, it’s fair to ask: With Republicans like them, who needs Democrats?
Speaking of which, while some in the party are happy to exploit useful idiots before discarding them, not all “progressives” are so “inclusive.”
“Seriously? John Kasich?” The Nation queries incredulously. “What is the Biden camp thinking?”
“Why is the Left angry at Republicans working to elect Joe Biden?” Intelligencer asks, noting “The Lincoln Project has been criticized by leftists like former Bernie Sanders spokesperson David Sirota, Esquire columnist Charles Pierce, The New Republic’s Alex Shephard, and the Nation’s Jeet Heer, who goes so far as to accuse the anti-Trump Republicans of ‘pushing a sinister agenda.’”
Refinery29 offers insight into that worldview:
“Kasich is a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, told Mother Jones in 2015. “He’s going out there trying to sell himself as a moderate, he’s no moderate. He is an extremist…”
Interesting. If Kasich is their benchmark for extremism, there’s no way these people are ever going to tolerate the existence of anyone to the “right” of him. But it is telling that the doctrinaire “left” knows better than to trust phony “conservatives.” The mystery is why any Republicans would be dumb enough to.
Especially when Kasich gives us a textbook example of a backstabbing liar who will say anything to get elected and then betray everyone who voted for him based on what he promised.
We’re talking about a politician who, when it served his purposes, bragged about his “A” grade and endorsement from NRA. Now he’s promoting a candidate who has made evisceration of the Second Amendment a campaign priority.
Not that Kasich meant anything he promised to swindle gun owners into voting for him. Except he called infringements “reforms.” He came out against “Stand Your Ground” and even vetoed a gun bill that didn’t have it because it didn’t include “guilty until proven innocent” Red Flag seizures.
That should have surprised no one. As a congressman, he was one of 46 Republican members who helped pass the 1994 semi-auto ban by a narrow 216-214 vote margin, putting him on a first-name basis with Bill Clinton. Then, when running for governor and needing the votes, he “convinced” (a more than willing) NRA to change his “F” to an “A,” paying them back with occasional “good” gun actions as long as he perceived pandering to Ohio gun owners was in his political interests.
Well, we know what those “A’s” are worth, and you’d think somebody at Fairfax would grok if you cheapen them anymore, true “pro-gun” politicians may start to see them as a liability. One national gun group that wasn’t “fooled” was Gun Owners of America, which fleshed out the details of Kasich’s serial betrayals and noted in 2016 that “Leftist billionaire George Soros, through his Soros Fund Management, is one of John Kasich’s top financial contributors.”
So it should also have been no surprise when Kasich, in a rare moment of candor, showed us how he really felt:
“Would you feel as though your Second Amendment rights would be eroded because you couldn’t buy a God-darn AR-15?”
What’s the core purpose of the Second Amendment, again? Anyone who would ask such a question is a liar or an idiot. Or both.
In Kasich’s case, which do you think it is?
About David Codrea:
David Codrea is the winner of multiple journalist awards for investigating/defending the RKBA and a long-time gun owner rights advocate who defiantly challenges the folly of citizen disarmament. He blogs at “The War on Guns: Notes from the Resistance,” is a regularly featured contributor to Firearms News, and posts on Twitter: @dcodrea and Facebook.