John Kasich, the centrist ...not

Sandy Theis, the executive director of ProgressOhio, sent along a perfect cameo  of Gov. Kasich's Orwellian newspeak that captures his  huge reliance on cognitive dissonance in responding to the delicate issues of the day. Campaigning in New Hampshire, he described Roe v. Wade as the law of the land that we must live with. But the day before in Iowa,  he returned to his pro-life mode in a conversation with a woman:

Woman questioner: "In Ohio, I know half of the abortion centers closed.   Can you do that in the country if I vote for you?"
Kasich:  "We'll do our best, okay."

Not okay, guv.  It 's going to be a tough uphill presidential campaign anyway so you might as well come clean on your dedicated pro-life  position.  After all,  cheerleaders  who know you best, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor and Ohio Right to Life boss Mike Gonidakis  have already called you the greatest pro-life governor  in America, boasting  that some of the state's toughest abortion restrictions have been signed into law by you. It has been, and will continue to be, in all of the papers as myth collides with reality.

And I didn't even mention your opposition to Planned Parenthood.

All of this leads me to a comment by Kent State University political science professor Danielle Sarver Coombs, in a speech this week at Akron Roundtable in which she referred to Kasich as a "centrist"  who could be the "last man standing".  Good grief.    A centrist who is in born-again lockstep with the Republican presidential field on most issues, calls for boots on the ground in Syria, opposed the stimulus package and auto bailout, is a charter school loyalist, ridicules public school  teachers and waffles mightily  on climate change.

On the latter, he says he  believes there is a problem but  doesn't think we should "overreact" to it, whatever the hell that means.  At the same time, he is part of a the group taking legal action against the EPA.

But as an "on the other hand" candidate, it has earned him plaudits from the gallery that on some hazy days  may be hard pressed to figure out what he really is at any given moment and settles for "centrist".