I Think John Kasich Would Make A Good President

The Republican Debate was fairly entertaining, Trump was more or less what I expected (the Fox News people really hated him, though -- I think it's because they want to get rid of him). Bush was surprisingly flat, as was Walker. Rubio, Christie, and Cruz did okay, Huckabee and Carson had some funny moments. Rand Paul, whom I like on a lot of issues, seemed out of his element at times.

But as far as substance was concerned, most of the candidates were completely full of shit on most every issue. I hope that some of the answers they gave tonight are not the answers they'd give in a debate if they won the nomination -- a Democratic opponent would tear them to shreds.

But there was one answer I found very interesting.  Megyn Kelly asked Ohio Gov. John Kasich about his decision to accept Obamacare's Medicaid expansion, and he responded:

"First of all Megyn, you should know that President Reagan expanded Medicaid three or four times. Secondly, I had an opportunity to bring resources back to Ohio. To do what? To treat the mentally ill. Ten thousand of them sit in our prisons. It costs $22,500 a year to keep them in prison. I would rather get them their medication so they can lead a decent life. Secondly, we are rehabbing the drug-addicted. Eighty percent of the people in our prisons have addiction problems. We now treat them in prisons, release them in the community, and the recidivism rate is 10 percent. And everybody across this country knows the tsunami of drugs is threatening their very families. So we are treating them and getting them on their feet. And finally, the working poor, instead of having them come into the emergency rooms where it costs more where they’re sicker and we end up paying, we brought a program in here to make sure that people could get on their feet. And you know what, everybody has a right to their God-given purpose."

That was the most presidential thing I heard all night. He also had a thoughtful answer with regard to his opposition to same-sex marriage.  I may not agree with him on a lot of issues, but Kasich came off as a serious-minded person, which (of course) made him stand out from the rest of them.

I know it's early and it's hard to tell anything about a candidate after a single debate -- especially given that he shared the stage with nine other people -- but I think Kasich has a real shot at the nomination if Bush continues to under-perform.