Samantha Bee seeks to unmask GOP 'so-called moderate' John Kasich as stealth anti-abortion hardliner
The South Carolina primary knocked Jeb Bush out of the Republican presidential race, but there's still one candidate who's not supposed to be "bonkers," Samantha Bee said on Monday's Full Frontal. The last reputed moderate standing, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, "pours on the Midwestern charm thicker than cream-of-mushroom soup on a casserole," she said, teeing up a folksy highlight reel. "But is Kasich really the huggable moderate he's made out to be?" she asked in a clunky and ham-fisted attempt at foreshadowing.
For the next three minutes, Bee took a closer look at Kasich's moderate answers on gay rights and abortion, then matched them up with his actions in Ohio. She found a mismatch, and apparently a carefully constructed one. "Now, if you live outside Ohio, you don't hear much about Kasich's anti-choice record, because he hides his abortion restrictions in larger budget bills, where they won't be noticed — kind of like a desperate, pregnant teenager buying ever-larger sweatshirts," she said. She finished by either warning moderates to not be fooled by Kasich or, perversely, trying to sell conservatives on his long-shot candidacy: "So GOP, take a closer look at John Kasich, because while these other chumps make empty promises to do awful stuff, the so-called moderate gets awful stuff done." Watch below. Peter Weber
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
