Ohio Gov. John Kasich sent signals earlier in the week that he was prepared to drop his "adult in the room" persona and start attacking his fellow Republican presidential candidates. The question is always whether a candidate promising attacks will have the nerve to follow through in person—and boy, howdy, has Kasich followed through.
The opening lightning round question was what's your biggest weakness? Kasich basically said screw that. "Good question, but I want to tell you, my great concern is that we are on the verge perhaps of picking someone who cannot do this job. I've watched to see people say that we should dismantle Medicare and Medicaid and leave our senior citizens out in the cold. I've heard them talk about deporting 10 or 11 people here from this country out of this country, splitting families. I've heard about tax schemes that don't add up ..."
He went on from there. Screw those other guys, screw questions about weaknesses, John Kasich is the leader we need.
When the questions came back around to Kasich, it was the same note all over again. To be fair, this time the moderator invited Kasich to attack, but he went for it gung-ho. "I'm the only person on this stage that actually was involved and the chief architect of balancing the federal budget. You can't do it with empty promises. You know, these plans would put us trillions and trillions of dollars in debt. I actually have a plan, I'm the only one on this stage that has a plan that would create jobs, cut taxes, balance the budget and can get it done because I'm realistic. You just don't make promises like this. Why don't we just give a chicken in every pot while we're coming up with these fantasy tax schemes?"
Attention-grabbing, to be sure, but when Donald Trump counter-punched Kasich for desperation, it rang true. This is not the Kasich of previous debates. He's decided he needs to break through and that attention-grabbing attacks are the only way to do it. But his attacks and complaints have a querulous tone that may not go over well ... and he's attacking the leaders of the field for exactly the kind of nonsense that has endeared them to Republican primary voters. Why would these voters choose Kasich's angry establishment tone over Trump's angry outsider tone?