We don’t want to see those on Ebay ladies
by digby
So former GOP wunderkind, Ohio Governor John Kasich, gave a State of the State speech off the cuff (for 100 minutes!) in which he seemed as if he might be drunk. Or addled in some way. But apparently this is completely normal for him and nobody cares:
This is a logical result of the punditification of the right wing leadership after they’ve taken their well-paid sinecures at Fox news and on talk radio. They’ve completely forgotten how to be dignified.
Get a load of this:
Kasich framed the speech as a pep talk for Ohioans, but in order to promote his record on job creation, he took swipes at residents of other states.
“A year ago, Ohio ranked 48th in job creation,” he said. “We trailed only Michigan and California in lost jobs — Michigan, the home of the auto industry that was devastated and California, of course, filled by a bunch of wackadoodles.”
In a break from tradition, the governor moved the speech’s location from the Capitol in Columbus to a school auditorium in the rural town of Steubenville, near the Pennsylvania border. He used the rural location to highlight new investment in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in the state, which will occur primarily in the areas closer to Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Frank Semple of MarkWest will be investing $500 million in starting new fracking businesses in the state, he announced.
The governor also championed the state’s coal industry.
“We’re the Saudi Arabia of coal. Clean it and burn it,” he said. “Clean it, Gordon, and burn it. Clean it, Battelle, and burn it. Use it.”
At one point, Kasich saluted his wife, Karen, describing her as his “hot wife.”
“And I also want to give a nice comment about my wife, Karen Kasich,” he said. “Sweetie, stand, take a little wave, would you, okay? I remember that cartoon that said, ‘Kasich will still not reveal how he snagged that hot wife.'”
Fourteen times during the speech, Kasich singled out Ohio State University President Gordon Gee by name, in reference to medical research, higher education and coal. Kasich highlighted Gee’s past experience leading five universities and publicly pinned his hopes on OSU, saying that the school could help the state recover economically.
“God bless Gordon,” he said.
Lastly, Kasich cried as he announced the new Governor’s Courage Awards. He awarded medals to three Ohioans who performed extraordinary service to the state — but he did so with a surprising word of warning for these local heroes.
“We don’t want to see those on eBay, ladies,” he said.
Another account adds this:
At one point Kasich reportedly teared up while talking about how Ohio needs to stop human trafficking (“We don’t want to see you in slavery, ladies?”)
WTH? And yet, with exception of the alternative media, a quick perusal of Ohio papers doesn’t show any kind of concern that their Governor is behaving as if he might be tippling or sniffing something before he makes major speeches.
I guess the rest of the country should just count ourselves lucky that he didn’t decide to run for president. Yet.
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