John Kasich told The Washington Post editorial board on Wednesday that he is still opposed to granting statehood to the taxpaying residents of Washington, D.C., admitting that his opposition is entirely based on partisan politics.
The Ohio Governor acknowledged to Post associate editorial page editor Jo-Ann Armao while campaigning in Maryland that “If you don’t have ideas, you got nothing, and frankly my Republican Party doesn’t like ideas,” before revealing that he had no clue why Washington D.C. should get no representation in the Senate, as he voted to maintain while in Congress decades ago.
"I don’t know. I’d have to, I mean, to me, that’s just, I just don’t see that we really need that, okay? I don’t know. I don’t think so," Kasich bumbled about to Armao.
"But you realize though that people in D.C. pay taxes, go to war and they have no vote in Congress," Armao pushed back.
Unable to keep up Republican's reflexive (and barely challenged) opposition to representation for the 672,228 people residing in the nation's capitol, Kasich finally admitted the truth, albeit in a most confusing manner.
"Well look, I am not – I don’t – I am not, because you know what, what it really gets down to if you want to be honest is because they know that’s just more votes in the Democratic Party," Kasich admitted to Armao.
Last week, D.C.'s Democratic Mayor Muriel Bowser called for a citywide vote on granting the city statehood.
"So if there were Republicans in the District, you would have a different position?" Armao pressed Kasich who remained flustered and unable to succinctly defend his position. Later in the interview, Kasich said he was unsure about his stance on the issue, telling columnist Ruth Marcus, “Maybe I’ll have to flip-flop my position, OK? I don’t know."
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