Wednesday, May 04, 2016

John Kasich to finally accept reality and suspend his campaign.

Courtesy of Politico:  

John Kasich is dropping his presidential bid, according to a senior campaign adviser, one day after Donald Trump became the presumptive nominee and Ted Cruz bowed out of the race. 

The Ohio governor had long ago been mathematically eliminated from clinching the GOP nomination outright but had hoped to emerge as a consensus candidate at a contested convention.

Ultimately, Kasich outlasted nearly all of his rivals but can claim to have beaten few of them. He won only one contest — his home state of Ohio — during the primary season, and his final tally of 153 delegates puts him fourth in the race behind Marco Rubio, who dropped out in mid-March. 

I would put this in the "least surprising news of the day" category.

33 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:08 AM

    I'm truly puzzled by this. Why wouldn't he hold out at least until next week? Without Ted Cruz, Kasich is the only anti-Trump option, and arguably the best shot the GOP has. If he had won even a few more states, he could legitimately have claimed the nomination at a contested convention. Kasich is also known to be stubborn as a mule.

    I think he's either been paid off by Trump to drop out(i.e., will be his running mate), or some back-room dealing has happnened elsewhere.

    Very weird.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:12 AM

      What was he going to win? No one likes him.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous12:51 PM

      Like Cruz, I think he was told by Priebus (who has now jumped aboard the tRump train) to back off.

      Delete
    3. Anonymous1:42 PM

      It is funny you think Priebus has any say or sway in the campaigns of these people. You people buy in to things too easy.

      Delete
    4. True.

      Maybe Drumpf called him and offered him the VP spot.

      I think Drumpf is another Leo Bloom. He's selling that VP spot over and over to eliminate the competition. He's going to be in trouble after the convention when he has to announce his running mate and all those he's promised the spot are standing there expecting their names to be called.

      Delete
    5. Anonymous3:59 PM

      1:42 PM I am not buying into anything. Maybe it's just too many years on the planet and knowing just how nasty politicians are.

      Priebus was all over tRump and now he changes his mind saying (paraphrasing) "the people have spoken?" Hogwash. They have never been about anyone but themselves, power, and money. I smell a rat.

      Delete
  2. How readily my imagination conjures Jeb! voluntarily barricaded in his bedroom with a three gallon tub of Cheese Doodles and a 3-liter Pepsi. You knock, and he bellows, "Get the hell away from the door! I'm not coming out!"

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  3. 66gardeners11:10 AM

    The takeaway here is that Trump did not win Ohio. No coincidence Hillary campaigned there yesterday.

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:23 AM

      Oooo, good point. Kasich could endorse Hillary in order to secure a cabinet position. That would be a smart move on his part.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous11:39 AM

      Kasich is GOP through and through. Have you seen what he's done, as OH governor, against a woman's right to abortion access? He'll never endorse HRC. (Are you just not paying attention, or what?)

      Delete
    3. Anonymous12:21 PM

      Clinton plots swing-state ambush for Trump

      She's already organizing a shadow general election campaign.

      ...But even in defeat, Clinton continues to execute a hard turn toward November — and the coming war with Trump. Over the past two weeks, Clinton has been quietly accelerating her swing-state operation, organizing what amounts to a shadow general election campaign at the same time she is fending off a rival who insists he'll continue to fight until the Democratic convention in July.

      In recent days, the Clinton campaign has finalized a series of senior hires around the country, expanded the size of her central swing-state planning team in New York, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have been transferred to strategically important state parties from the Democratic National Committee. She’s also scheduled a series of public speeches and private meetings in states that will be crucial to her general election campaign.

      Many of the moves had been in the works since early spring, when campaign officials began the process of hiring swing state operatives and more closely coordinating with state parties — the building blocks of the fall campaign’s field organizing infrastructure.

      http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/hillary-clinton-swing-states-trump-222772

      Delete
    4. Anonymous12:22 PM

      Donald Trump trails Hillary Clinton by 13 percentage points, according to a CNN/ORC poll released Wednesday, a day after the Republican presidential front-runner won Indiana decisively and became the presumptive GOP nominee following Ted Cruz’s exit from the race.

      Clinton leads Trump in the hypothetical head-to-head matchup 54 percent to 41 percent, her largest advantage over Trump since July. Voters’ reasons for backing Clinton are largely split, with 48 percent of her supporters saying they would vote for her because they support her, while 51 percent said their vote is an expression of their opposition to Trump. On the other side, 57 percent of Trump’s supporters are backing him because they oppose having another Clinton in the White House, while 43 percent actually support his campaign.

      Clinton and Trump both have negative favorability among Americans. Clinton’s net favorability is minus 1 percent (48 percent favorable, 49 percent unfavorable), while Trump’s is minus 18 percent (39 percent favorable, 57 percent unfavorable).

      Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/poll-trump-hillary-clinton-222780#ixzz47ijhs3Oz

      Delete
  4. http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a44541/bernie-sanders-super-delegates-democratic-party/

    'nuff said

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous11:43 AM

      Good night, sweet Bernie. I knew him well.

      Delete
  5. Anonymous11:37 AM

    A Dark Time in America

    Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/434850/dark-time-america

    http://crooksandliars.com/2016/05/republicans-line-behind-their-fascist

    ReplyDelete
  6. Here's an analysis on what a Republican attack on Bernie would look like, thought you guys might like it: http://trofire.com/2016/05/04/republican-attack-actually-work-bernie-thom-hartmann-program/

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    Replies
    1. Well, I'd hardly call that an 'analysis'. More like 'one example'. I like and respect Thom Hartmann a lot, I really do, but what he described is far from 'the best they've got' and I think he knows that.

      You all know that if the Trump side gets that word 'socialist' out there in massive ad buys in major or even minor markets, you and I would have a hell of time trying to convince anybody who wasn't already on board for Bernie to vote for him. Add what would be thrown out about his tax plan - the stuff already analyzed by government agencies (CBO? I may have to go look this up again) but the point is it's data that is not fly-by-night, manufactured-out-of-a-right-wingers-netherregions.

      This is why I am sure Bernie would never take Florida in a general election against Trump. But Hillary can.

      Delete
  7. Anonymous11:47 AM

    This reality>
    "What happens in the Arctic does not stay in the Arctic."
    http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2016/05/03/3774789/april-record-arctic-ice-loss/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous2:16 PM

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-canada-wildfire_us_572a42ece4b0bc9cb0457d9a

      Delete
  8. Anonymous11:56 AM

    This seems such a strange time for the Republican party to self-destroy. Let me explain.

    http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/434924/gop-morning-after-trumps-triumph

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anonymous11:59 AM



    Hillary Clinton gave a glimpse into what her general election campaign may look like during a Wednesday interview with CNN, saying she's prepared to counterpunch against all manner of attacks from presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.

    In the interview, CNN host Anderson Cooper asked Clinton if she was ready for Trump's personal attacks on her marriage to former President Bill Clinton.

    "Well, he's not the first one, Anderson," Clinton says. "I just can't—I can't say this often enough. If he wants to go back to the playbook of the 1990s, if he wants to follow in the footsteps of those who have tried to knock me down and take me out of the political arena, I'm more than happy to have him do that."

    Clinton told Cooper she is far more prepared to take on the "blustering" Trump than his 17 failed Republican opponents were over the last year.

    "This is to me a classic case of a blustering, bullying guy who—who has knocked out of the way all of the Republicans because they were just dumbfounded," Clinton said. "They didn't know how to deal with him and they couldn't take him on on the issues and they basically agreed with him and they didn't know how to counterpunch him."

    ReplyDelete
  10. Anonymous12:03 PM

    Really? OMG. Seriously? Is THAT the angle they're gonna take?

    http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/katrina-pierson-clinton-never-vetted

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    Replies
    1. Anonymous12:14 PM

      I saw that! Crazy!!!! Trump is nuts.

      Delete
    2. linda2:06 PM

      Quite objectively I don't think Trump stands a chance against Hillary. She's dealt with male asshole opponents her whole career. He's not dealt with smart competent women so won't know how to handle it. Insults are going to roll right off of her. Temper tantrums - well she's been a mom so I doubt those will phase her. He's so incredibly ignorant that he is going to lose each and every debate he has with her, and I think he may actually decline to debate her which will also make him look bad. I'm not looking forward to all the rolling around in the mud, but I know who will win this. No doubt in my mind. As for any aspersions cast on Bill - Hillary would have plenty of ammo to fire back at Trump re: his spouse and ex-spouses although not sure she'd stoop to that.

      Delete
  11. Anonymous12:24 PM


    Dems: Trump wins us the Senate and Garland

    Even some conservatives are now calling on the GOP Senate to let Merrick Garland through.

    Donald Trump threw a big party Tuesday night. So did every Democrat running for Senate.

    The party’s Senate candidates are brimming with excitement about spending the next six months hitting their opponents with Trump — and being able to tie their case together by saying that Republicans’ opposition to President Barack Obama’s Supreme Court pick means they want a President Trump to fill the vacancy.

    “Here’s where we are: If I were Trump or I were [Mitch] McConnell or I were Paul Ryan, the first thing I’d say is, ‘Listen, let’s take one issue off the table quickly: Let’s have hearings on Garland. Let’s have a vote and put him on the Court,’” Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said in an interview Wednesday.

    He added, “Every Republican candidate will now have answer for every racist and every anti-woman and every anti-immigrant statement. There are so many other issues than Trump, but Trump is the No. 1 issue.”

    Democrats are gearing up for the next phases of the Supreme Court fight, from having Obama do more campaigning on the vacancy — such as the local news interviews he did Monday, all of which just happened to be in markets with competitive Senate races — to beginning to plot out a final month of campaigning before the election. Preliminary plans call for kicking off the home stretch with commercials highlighting the still-empty seat as the Supreme Court begins its new term the first Monday in October — and riding Republicans on the issue every day until polls open.

    http://www.politico.com/story/2016/05/democrats-trump-supreme-court-222797

    ReplyDelete
  12. Anonymous12:30 PM

    But just because Cruz is out of the presidential race doesn’t mean he’s lost his political influence. In fact, as a U.S. Senator with newfound national name recognition, he arguably holds more clout than he did before his campaign. It seems likely he’ll use that political power to push harder for the ultra-conservative agenda he has been touting across the country for more than a year.

    Here are some of the ways Cruz will likely try to wreak havoc now that he can focus his full attention on the Senate.

    http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/05/04/3775209/ted-cruz-senate-agenda/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anonymous3:37 PM

      He is also despised by them.
      I fully expect him to double down!
      Butthurt baby.

      Delete
    2. Anonymous4:31 PM

      Name recognition - as what, the son of JFK's murderer? /snark??

      Delete
  13. Anonymous12:30 PM

    Pundits Sold Kasich As A Moderate Alternative. Here’s The Truth.

    http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2016/05/04/3775351/fare-thee-well-kasich/

    ReplyDelete
  14. Anonymous4:15 PM

    Now we just have to oust him from Ohio.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Anonymous4:43 PM

    He's not accepting reality, he simply sealed the deal. He agreed to get out of Indiana so that trump could win. In return for a vice presidency bid? perhaps.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Anonymous6:20 PM

    Oh fuck. Now he will be back in Ohio again. He has done so much harm here already, we wanted him gone!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Anonymous11:04 AM

    Kasich's record in Ohio:
    Ohio has trailed the national average in job growth for 40 straight months.
    Our public school system has plummeted from fifth in the nation to 23rd.
    8 of our 10 biggest cities are economically distressed.
    There are more Ohio kids living in poverty today than there were at the height of the Great Recession back in 2008.

    ReplyDelete

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