Hey Cincy! Normally, we’d be talking local news today, but it’s a bit slow and yesterday’s GOP presidential primary debate yielded plenty to discuss, along with I’m sure more than a few debate drinking game-related hangovers. So let’s talk about that, shall we?
As previously noted, this was a big day for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who barely made the cutoff for the top 10 GOP contenders invited to participate. Despite being governor of the state in which the GOP will hold its national convention next year and choose its presidential nominee, Kasich narrowly averted having to participate in a so-called pre-debate “kids table” panel made up of also-rans like former Texas Gov. Rick Perry and former Hewlett Packard exec Carly Fiorina. That discussion presented a pretty sad scene inside the empty Quicken Loans Arena (the pre-debate panel wasn’t open to the public).
Kasich, however, was on the big stage with the GOP’s top national names and, by most accounts, made the most of the opportunity. While frontrunners like former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush floundered a bit, Kasich was aggressive in pushing his balanced budget, tax cutting, privatizing vision, something he’s instituted in Ohio to rather mixed results. As we mentioned yesterday, though unemployment under Kasich has fallen in Ohio, the state’s median household income still lags behind its 1980s levels and the national median income. Kasich also got big applause for a somewhat dodgy answer to a question about gay marriage. Shifting from policy to personal life, Kasich said he would still love his daughters if they were gay. I would hope so. Meanwhile, the state of Ohio under Kasich spent tons of time and energy fighting a losing battle against marriage equality. So there’s that.
There were several fun moments at the debate, and by fun I mean terrifying because one of these guys could be the next leader of our country. And by “one of these guys,” I foremost mean Donald Trump, who has taken an early and stupefying lead among GOP voters, according to some polls. First, everyone got mad because the Donald wouldn’t declare himself loyal to the Republican party and didn’t rule out a third-party run if doesn’t get the GOP nomination. “If I’m the nominee, I will pledge I will not run as an independent,” he said, hilariously. That’s nice of him. That ticked off Rand Paul, among other candidates, and some high-school friend-group-level bickering commenced. The Donald also made inflammatory comments about immigrants and women, but that’s hardly news these days, right?
Interestingly, there was little talk of the economy in the series of passive-aggressive tiffs debut debate. In fact, the candidates mentioned the middle class just twice, and one of those times was Christie referring to himself. Inequality got no mentions, though Kasich did nod to it obliquely in a couple statements. Maybe it’s because the topic isn’t exactly a winner right now for Republicans — unemployment is low, after all, and has been for a while. Instead, the GOP hopefuls chose to focus on “illegals” (their word) and the border, which they mentioned 25 times all together. They also mentioned Hillary Clinton nearly 20 times, which is a lot like talking a bunch about someone you say you don't care about. It just makes you sound like you have a crush on them or are scared of them. Or both.
So, did Kasich raise his profile with his performance? It’s too early to tell, but national commentators have at least tipped their hats to him post-debate, with some saying he came out on top.
That’s it for me today. Hope your weekend is good and debate free.
