Batchelder: Sadly,the speaker has spoken

No matter how you spin them, these have not been the best of times for Ohio House  Speaker William Batchelder, although you would not know it by the grinning warrior's self-approval rating.  As you may have read, the veteran Repubican pol has taken it upon himself to stonewall  Gov. Kasich's (also a  Republican) proposal to expand medicaid  under Obamacare.

On Sunday, to continue a narrative that has taken hold  since Kasich announced his  budget, the Plain Dealer's two op-ed  political columnists lathered Batchelder's untidy obstruction to the boss in the governor's office.

Wrote Brent Larkin:  "Once again , House Speaker Bill Batchelder played Team Kasich for fools.  In terms of parceling out blame for what happened, Batchelder deserves a ton of it."

Under the headline "Hypocrisy drives House Republicans' opposition to expansion", columnist Thomas Suddes noted that 88 of the 99 House members have taxpayer supported medical insurance, but  "won't let the poor have it, too".
He added:  "Whether Batchelder , who could get Ronald Reagan on the phone, remains 100 pct. in Kasich's corner, is slyly bucking him via proxies, or , as Batchelder can, is out-scheming Machiavelli to vex 'wingers, are open questions."

The wingers, of course, are Tea Party-incarcerated House Republicans who will be up for reelection in 2014.  We suggest Hannibal Lecter is a better model of The Speaker.

PD PolitiFact: Two Ohio lawmakers slammed

ON TWO CONSECUTIVE DAYS, the Plain Dealer nailed the top two Ohio Republican lawmakers for lies. On Monday, Aaron Marshall, in the PD's PolitiFact column, cited House Speaker William Batchelder for a hokey story about a Canadian provincial prime minister who sought medical aid in Ohio because his treatment in Canada was so slow that it would have endangered his life. After an intensive investigation of Bacthelder's claim, PolitiFact rated it "Pants on Fire." There is obvious method to Batchelder's madness inasmuch as Ohio's Republican leaders, from Gov. Kasich down, have made the new health care reform law a primary target for their attacks on President Obama in 2012.

Today, PolitiFact looked into the charge by Ohio Senate President Tom Niehaus that Senate Bill 5's protestors deficated in the Statehouse.

The PD's Reginald Fields writes:

"As Senate President, Niehaus is one of the most influential people in the state government and when he speaks people listen. Yet his claim is beyond inaccurate. It's a ridiculous assertion that is unsupported by people who actually take care of the Statehouse."

Fields' rates Niehaus's claim: "Pants on Fire."

Oh, my! With all of the crap already flying around the legislature these days, you'd think that Niehaus would have found a different image to make his imagined point.