The GOP CAN keep them down on the farm

A few people (probably Republicans) have  wondered why I frequently refer to the
GOPers running the Ohio legislature as "rustics". Being old-fashioned enough to believe that a picture is worth a thousand words, I again refer to the official photo logo adorning the top of every official press  release from the Ohio Republican Party as the symbol of the party of regressives.   I don't see a single skyline of an Ohio city nor an urban thoroughfare.    Simply a barn and silo.  Tell me that "rustic" doesn't befit the ordinary Republican politicians, even the ones who live in Upper Arlington or Hudson.

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Speaking of the Ohio legislature, the GOP sausage machine that   ground out the new budget also produced some of the  oddest defenses that edge out the best of  Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert,  today's gold standard of loony  utterances.   There was Rep. Ron Hood, the Ashville, Oh. Republican who introduced an abortion bill in mid-June that was augmented in the final hour as a  budget amendment.  Referring to the American Cancer Society's  rejection of the notion that abortion leads to breast cancer, Hood said he didn't think these issues needed to be stated as fact. Only, he said, as a possibility. Or not.

Then along came Rep.  Terry Boose, the Norwalk Republican, insisting that a state budget is a statement of numbers, not top-heavy policy.  But Democratic Sen. Tom Sawyer of Akron would have nothing to do with that kind of talk that stresses  numbers over policy.  "He doesn't know what he's talking about," Sawyer said. "The budget is 80 pct. policy and 20 pct. numbers".  Right.  Working from the same column of numbers, the budgeteers will find a way to inject their own policies. (Remember the adage that figures don't lie, but liars do figure!)

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Dear me. My copy of the Beacon Journal arrived Monday morning without a single word about the budget that Gov. Kasich signed (as a guy thing, no less) on Sunday evening.    The Plain Dealer, however, nicely filled the vacuum with a long piece that topped the front page.  So how much longer can the BJ sustain its motto of Informing Engaging Essential?  I'm not awaiting a reply.

A Wall Street bonus for Kasich?

CONSIDERING how proud Ohio's Wall Street-tutored governor, John Kasich, is of his proposed budget - particularly as it provides safe haven for the wealthiest Ohioans - it wouldn't be surprising if Goldman Sachs or Bank of America gives him one of their whopping bonuses.

Kasich nose-diving in public approval

FOR ALL OF THE noise that has slammed across Ohio since Gov. Kasich unveiled his budget, has it escaped you that his poll numbers are dissipating as quickly as educational funds? A survey of Ohioans by Public Policy Polling, a reputable national pollster, has revealed Kasich's public approval rating at 35 pct. vs. disapproval of 54 pct! One reason is that voters are now seeing him as a brutish, rough-hewn politician who would have trouble courteously asking a restaurant server for a coffee refill. He has ignored the numbers of his close election that even with a terrible economy failed to give him a clear majority (49-47). Worse yet, of those who voted for him, he's down to 71 pct. approval. That doesn't translate easily into political capital, no matter how boastfully he plays his cards these days. (As Gauguin once asserted: "I am a great artist, and I know it!")

Another reason his fright mask supporting collective bargaining by public unions. The PPP should give him pause:. he's trying to climb a big mountain against unions, as 63 pct. of Ohioans say they support collective bargaining for public employe unions. Up and down the scale, the figures are against him.

You can find a consensus today that our governor is only in the mix for a couple of years because his first priority is to seek the presidency in 2012. Ex-out of touch Wall Streeters tend to regard themselves as larger than life in arranging their days. Problem is that Gov. Scott Walker is said to be aiming for a presidential candidacy, too. Kasich and Walker are political soul brothers, and I would have to wonder whether there wouldn't be a strange conflict of interest if they found themselves on the same stage in the primaries.

But I wonder about a lot strange things in today's weird political climate.