Today's Cartoons - Geniuses!

If, as expected, neo- fascist demagogue Donald "Rump" Trump continues his execrable, inexorable march to the Republican nomination with big primary wins today across the Northeast and mid- Atlantic states, it will mark yet another failure of Republican "stop Trump" forces (most recently, the desperate Cruz- Kasich Axis of Ineptitude alliance- for- convenience).

(click on images to enlarge)

 
(Matt Davies, via gocomics.com)



(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

The Republican War On Women - "Centrist" John Kasich Edition

This guy's in the "establishment" lane in the Republican/ New Confederate/ Stupid/ Shooter's Party presidential clown car bus, a real "centrist moderate!"

The Ohio legislature moved Wednesday to cut off $1.3 million in public health grants to Planned Parenthood in a closely watched vote that could have repercussions for the surging presidential campaign of Gov. John Kasich (R).

The bill, which cleared the Senate last month and passed the House on Wednesday, prohibits the Ohio Department of Health from giving state or federal grants to organizations that conduct or “promote” abortions. Kasich, who placed second in the Republican primary in New Hampshire on Tuesday, has said he would sign the bill.

In the very next sentence we read,

While it could complicate his efforts to cast himself as a centrist...

Isn't it amazing what could pass for a "centrist" in American politics these days (=cough= Overton window =sneeze=), and the media barely bats an eye?

There's a reason Planned Parenthood calls Kasich "one of the most extreme anti-abortion governors in the country." Here's a brief primer:

Consider that, since Kasich took office in 2011, he has signed into law 16 antiabortion measures. These include a ban on abortions after 20 weeks; a mandatory ultrasound for women having abortions in clinics that receive state funding; and a provision in the state’s budget bill that prevents rape crisis counselors from providing women with information about abortion services. Onerous regulations on abortion providers have led half the abortion clinics in the state to shut down.

He seems nice.  And very "centrist."

(As a bonus "centrist" tell, Kasich's "spiritual adviser" is on record calling gay rights activists "thought nazis" and "bullies."  No doubt they want to jam something down the good pastor's throat...)

Welcome To The Republican Clown Bus, John Kasich (Who?)

Alright, we know who John Kasich is (governor of Ohio, former Congressman, Lehman Brothers executive, former budget director under Dumbya).  Today, he's the 16th candidate to board the Republican presidential clown car bus.  What's his niche, you ask?  After all,  he expanded Medicaid under Obamacare and once voted for an assault weapons ban.  So, he's a "moderate conservative," right? (Mmmm, only in an age where the Overton window has shifted so far right.)

We agree with Steve M. at No More Mister Nice Blog, who pegs him as 2016's (doomed) Jon Huntsman:

Can you say "Jon Huntsman"? Kasich also supports the hated Common Core. Yeah, Jeb does, too -- but Jeb has more money than God, and he's more or less locked up the votes of all Republicans who think they need to make a choice based on pragmatism rather than ideological zealotry. That's a minority of the GOP electorate, though it may be a large enough minority to get Jeb through the early primaries, at which point maybe the rest of the electorate will hold its collective nose and rally around Jeb. But there's no room for Kasich in all this. The GOP isn't a lovely garden where a hundred reasonable right-centrists can bloom. It's a cesspit of carcinogenic rage.

Mainstream political journalists can't stand the thought that GOP voters aren't in sync with them. Just as they never stop insisting that Chris Christie is poised for a comeback, they're certain Republicans would embrace Kasich if circumstances were more favorable (a smaller field, an earlier entry into the race, no Trump). That's nonsense. Kasich would be blown away even in a two- or three-candidate race. He's no GOP voter's idea of an ideal presidential candidate. He'll be lucky to outpoll George Pataki and Bobby Jindal. (our emphasis)

The only real constituency Kasich has is the Republican-wired Beltway media, who can't understand why no one has the hots for Kasich like they do.  But that won't stop them from promoting him at every opportunity, now that their tough-love daddy figure, Gov. Chris "Krispycreme" Christie, remains beached like a dead whale.

BONUS:  Harry Enten at FiveThirty Eight has a similar take, with supporting data.

Rolling Back Renewable Energy In Ohio

Spurred on by the Chamber of Horrors Commerce, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), the planet-raping Koch brothers' Americans for Plutocrat Prosperity, and other right-wing troglodytes, Ohio Republican Gov. John "Head" Kasich signed a law freezing renewable energy standards in the state (privately, cravenly, in the Friday evening news dead zone).

The bill, SB310, rolls back requirements passed in 2008 that would have mandated the state "to acquire up to 12.5 percent of its energy portfolio from renewables and to reduce energy consumption by 22 percent by 2025."  It was hoped Kasich, who in the past has praised the fact that 25,000 jobs had been created in Ohio by the renewable energy industry and through energy conservation, would veto the bill. To their credit, over 51 companies -- including Whirlpool, Honda, and Owens-Corning -- had urged a Kasich veto.

But Kasich's overriding concern?

Kasich is running for reelection this year.

Wouldn't want to get the sugar daddy oligarchs and the frothing, know-nothing base up in arms, would we?

(h/t P.E.C.)

(Photo:  "This my head;  me use it maybe someday.")