Plunderbund » Commentary

John Kasich goes on national TV and forgets the last six months happened

Ben — Tue, 05 Jul 2011 23:47:26 +0000

John Kasich went on Face the Nation Sunday and once again proved that he is living on another planet. This is what he thinks is wrong with the stifiling partisianship in DC right now.

On CBS’ “Face the Nation” Sunday, Kasich suggested that Washington politicians were acting out of their own individual political interests rather than those of their constituents, and called on them to “start thinking about how they’re going to feel about themselves when they leave” office.

“At the end of the day you look yourself in the mirror and you say to yourself, ‘Did I do [...]

You call this progress? The 1st 100 days of the 129th Ohio General Assembly

ModernEsquire — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 14:21:07 +0000

The Ohio House Republicans ran in 2010 on job creation. They even had an entire platform of job-related bills they said they'd pass. As they self-congratulate themselves over their first 100 days in power, why is that 11 of the fifteen bills they highlight passing have nothing to do with jobs? And why did they spend more time on abortion than the budget or job creation?

Is Hagan-Foley’s bill to create the right to recall state elected officials constitutional?

ModernEsquire — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 20:12:27 +0000

The Dayton Daily News reports that Speaker Batchelder’s spokesman’s response to State Representatives Robert Hagan (D-Youngstown) and Mike Foley (D-Cleveland)’s legislative proposal to allow for the recall of the Governor and state legislators was:

Dittoe also said that Batchelder believes the proposal might be in violation of the Ohio Constitution.

In violation of the Ohio Constitution? How? Batchelder’s office didn’t elaborate. I’m assuming he might be talking about how the bill handles the succession issue (holds an election to replace the individual subject to recall) would potentially violate the rules on succession as spelled out [...]

Has Joe Hallett lost his mind?

ModernEsquire — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:12:25 +0000

Seriously, if you still subscribe to the Columbus Dispatch, cancel your subscription. And then tell your friends and family member to do so as well. And when they ask them why you can point out the things I’m about to mention was in Sunday’s edition. Both, amazingly, involved Joe Hallett.

The first was a story about the economy in Ohio. Instead of presenting the economy as I had last week, the Dispatch continued with the “doom and gloom.” The only problem is, I don’t know where they got their numbers because they couldn’t be from where [...]

Joe Hallett: Every time Chris Redfern makes a public records request, it’s like Nixon shooting Giffords or something

ModernEsquire — Mon, 17 Jan 2011 16:43:30 +0000

Don’t believe me? Hallett’s column in the Columbus Dispatch on Sunday says just that. I haven’t bothered to look into this, so I’m willing to take Joe Hallett’s word that this is what occurred:

Chris Redfern got an anonymous tip concerning, somehow, the wife of Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Brent Larkin; Redfern decided to check out the veracity of the tip by making a public records request for payroll records that would either confirm or refute the tip; By all accounts, Redfern received the records which did not confirm the tip, so Redfern let the matter dropped.

These [...]

“Crazy” Tea Party candidates aren’t that much of a problem for the GOP…

ModernEsquire — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 14:39:38 +0000

Just look at the crazy they already have in Congress:

Seriously, a Congressman goes on the floor on the U.S. House and announces a terrorist plot to bring women into the country to deliver babies only to bring them back to train them as terrorists so they can re-enter the country and commit acts of terrorism because we all know how we wind up doing the vocation our parents choose for us. And he didn’t even contact a single intelligence agency to inquire if such a plot existed?

If the Republicans take over the House, you just saw the [...]

PPP poll puts political environment in perspective; this ain’t 1994.

ModernEsquire — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 21:45:21 +0000

There are many reasons to believe that this current environment isn’t a Republican version of 2008 or a repeat of 1994.

Lack of large-scale retirements. Despite defending exactly the same number of seats as they did in 1994, the Democrats are facing substantially less open seat races. While there have been a few surprise high-profile retirements (Obey, Bayh, etc.), it’s not nearly the scope we saw going into 1994. Republicans as an unknown quantity. In 1994, only folks who remember President Eisenhower could recall what it was like when the Republicans controlled Congress (when the party was vastly different, [...]

Kasich, RGA engage in the D.C. past-time: the blame game.

ModernEsquire — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 21:16:46 +0000

Tim’s right. The RGA’s ad is laughable.

You know why NCR left Dayton? Because by the time Ted Strickland became Governor, NCR had already moved most of its operations out of Ohio during the Republican Administrations of Voinovich and Taft. When Ted became Governor, the only thing left in Dayton of NCR was its symbolic HQ. A new CEO from Wall Street came in and said, hey, why do we have our HQ (where the CEO doesn’t even work) in Ohio when everything it manages is in Georgia?

According to this January story in the New York Times, [...]

Deep thought on that “GOP tide” in Ohio…

ModernEsquire — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 14:59:18 +0000

For over a year, we’ve been told that there’s this massive pro-GOP tide ready to come crashing down on Democrats come November. Where is it? Seriously.

We’re four months out of the election. At what point does this “GOP tsunami” start showing the top of the GOP’s ticket leading in Ohio? Because in our last tide election, 2006, the party that allegedly had the wind to its back was leading in the Governor’s race and Senate race by double digits by now.

The media is so bought into this narrative they’ve utterly failed to note the substantial evidence that contradicts [...]

Conservative columnist Jack Torry "fact checks" trade debate by leaving out any facts about imports

ModernEsquire — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 16:23:11 +0000

Two weeks ago, Jack Torry wrote a column titled “Kasich and Portman need to fire a response before hope is lost” (emphasis added) in which he lamented the Democratic attacks against former Bush “free trade” czar Rob Portman and Mr. Wall Street John Kasich because they were effective lines to attack them.

Ever since then, Torry has been trying to make the case that Rob Portman’s trade deals have been great, just great, for Ohio.

Today, he penned another story that I cannot tell is intended to be an editorial column or a news story, “Facts [...]