The Republican presidential candidate once most feared by Democrats has just about thrown in the towel. Ohio Gov. John Kasich has told his party’s fanatical religious base to go shove it. Well, he did not do so in so many words.

Speaking at a Q&A session hosted by the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce earlier this week, the candidate who likes to call himself a “compassionate conservative” (now where have I heard that before?), talked about his willingness to do what he feels is right even if that puts him at odds with members of his own party.

Kasich, realizing that his chances for the nomination are slimmer than Chris Christie running a marathon up the Great Wall of China, called out his party’s base for being hypocrites. In defending his decision to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, he suggested his detractors do one simple thing: read the Bible.

It seems with a remark like that, the man just doesn’t care any more about his poll numbers, which have been on a steady decline. The NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll, out this week, shows Kasich has fallen from second place in New Hampshire (after the first presidential debate) to a tie for seventh.

You have to give the old-fashioned conservative credit. He is not afraid to antagonize his party’s conservative activists as he lectures them on the moral obligation to help the poor. In fact, be boasts about his heresies, “We also believe in early childhood education. . . . We’ve invested a ton of money in K-through-12 education. . . . I’m somebody that’s not at war with organized labor.”

Much like Jon Huntsman in his 2012 run for the Republican presidential nomination, Kasich is seen as a RINO (Republican In Name Only) by today’s rabid Republican base… just another well-spoken, experienced moderate conservative favored by the Republican intelligentsia but going nowhere fast.

When asked about his struggling campaign, Kasich said, with more than a hint of sarcasm, “some people just don’t get me.”

No, John, many people do get you. It is just your party that doesn’t. Perhaps after the inevitable comes, it may be time to switch teams. Just saying.

Photo  | johnkasich.com

“Bless me Father for I have sinned. It has been 48 years since my last confession. Oh Holy Father, I foolishly believed you secretly met with that four-time divorcee and Evangelical martyr, Kim Davis while on your visit to Washington D.C. I did believe you supported her in her efforts to deny marriage licenses to same sex couples. I thought you were cool with her disobeying the law and refusing to do the job she was elected to do. I will never doubt you again.”

The plot to undermine Pope Francis is slowly being reported by some news outlets. But it will never make the headlines or have the legs as the original bombshell of the pontiff’s “secret audience” with Mrs. Davis. To many progressives, the news came as a major disappointment and undermined all the good will generated by the pontiff during his first visit to the United States. When Kim Davis bragged about how the Pope supported her position and how that “kind of validates everything,” it was almost too much for many of the Pope’s admirers to bear.

But now we learn, through the Vatican press office, that the only one-on-one meeting the Pope had during his time in Washington, D.C. was with Yayo Grassi, an openly gay man and former student of the Pope’s. Kim Davis was just one of a group of admirers with whom the Pope exchanged kind pleasantries. The brief meeting should not be interpreted as an endorsement of her views, the press office emphasized.

Did the meeting with Davis come about because of the Pope’s request? No, Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who scheduled all of the Pope’s D.C. meetings, arranged it. The Archbishop is well known for not being a fan of the current pope but a big supporter of his more conservative predecessor, Pope Benedict.

During his U.S. visit, Pope Francis made a deliberate attempt to stay away from hot-button issues, such as abortion and same sex marriage. In fact, he did not refer to those issues in any of his speeches.. That’s what made the news of the private meeting with Davis seem so incongruous.

Was the meeting a mistake or a deliberate act by the Archbishop to embarrass the Pope?

In an effort to make it clear that the Holy See in no way endorses Kim Davis’ bigotry, the New York Times is reporting that Vigano is “likely to be removed at the first respectable opportunity” if blowback from the meeting with Davis continues to build.

“What was that, Holy Father, three “Hail Marys” and two “Our Fathers” … or the other way around?”

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Photo | gazattereview.com

The man who hates quitters, may himself be a quitter. Donald Trump told Chuck Todd, host of NBC’s “Meet The Press,” that if his poll numbers started going south, he would leave the GOP race and go back to his business.

“Number one — I’m not a masochist,” said Trump. “And if I was dropping in the polls where I thought I wasn’t gonna win, why would I continue? I’d go back to my business. I have no problem with that.”

Finally, the long awaited Trump exit strategy!

As anyone who has been following the polling will tell you, Trump’s national poll numbers are all headed in one direction: down. This was inevitable; as predictable as your Aunt Ruthie flying south to Florida every winter. The old line of “I’ll tell you what I’ll do once I’m in office … trust me, I’ll make this country great” is wearing thin for a number of Trump supporters. They are starting to see through the con. They are gravitating to candidates with real policy chops.

You can only defy political gravity for so long. Yes, there will always be a group of hardcore  Trumpites who will stick with the showman no matter what. But at perhaps 20% of Republican voters, they just aren’t enough to seal the deal for Trump. I’m going to go out on a limb here, but I believe this scenario was always his plan.

Will he run as a third party candidate? Fuggedaboutit! With all his early bluster of not ruling out a third party run, the man was doing what any good businessman would do. The guy who wrote “The Art Of The Deal” was simply using his leverage. He has not intention, nor did he ever, of making good on what was always a bargaining chip.

If Trump’s goal was to market his brand to the largest possible audience, he succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. If his goal was to bring down the early Republican frontrunner, Jeb Bush, he did so fabulously. If his goal was to entertain people normally not involved with politics and create a ratings bonanza for the media, he is a superstar!

There is no doubt Trump will milk this for all it’s worth. Only Trump will know the right time to retreat. But once the table turns against him, like any smart gambler, he will pick up his chips and cash out big time, all the while thinking, “All went according to Hoyle! Those losers!”

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Photo | nbcnews.com

For all those who believe Donald Trump is seeking the Republican presidential nomination as a joke, as I once did, we now have clear evidence to the contrary. For all those skeptical Trump watchers who think the Donald’s quest for the Republican presidential nomination is fake, I suggest you think again. For all those naysayers who believe the man is doing all this to set-up his new reality show or to promote a forthcoming book, I would like for you to consider this … Donald Trump had hands laid on him by a group of crazy Evangelicals.

Donald Trump is a self-described germaphobe. He hates handshakes. He doesn’t like being touched. He has even admitted he doesn’t like to push a ground floor elevator button because it’s been tapped by so many people!

In what can be only be described as his weirdest political stunt so far, the GOP presidential frontrunner met and prayed with about 40 “religious leaders” in his Trump Tower office last week. And he allowed the crazies to press some flesh!

If you haven’t seen the video, you owe it to yourself to watch (YouTube). The highlight comes towards the end of the performance when a Jews For Jesus rabbi (hum, I thought that’s the definition of a Christian?), lays his hand on Trumps forehead. Trump reflexively reaches to repel the fake rabbi’s hand as it is about to touch him, but pulls back at the last second. That had to be so hard.

Only a true candidate would go through such a trying and painful experience. Only someone who is in it to win would put up with what must have seemed like an eternity just to pander to what I’m sure Trump secretly believes are right-wing, religious headcases. As I watch Trump’s unease and pained facial expression, he looks to me like a man who hasn’t had a good bowel movement in quite some time.

I had to laugh at the delicious irony of listening to the “religious leaders” offer up prayers for a man who most likely has never read a biblical passage in his life! As Trump stood there, clutching a Bible, I couldn’t help but think, “This man is as much a man of God as I am the illegitimate son of the Dalai Lama.”

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As of today, the Republican Party has a total of 15 candidates seeking the party’s presidential nomination. If you are convinced, as I am, that Donald Trump will not be the party’s nominee, just who will it be?

One establishment candidate has already called it quits (Walker) and another (Bush) seems to be continually sticking his foot in his mouth. The “stuff happens” gaffe made after the Oregon College gun massacre is just the latest in a steady string of faux pas. (see What’s Wrong With Jeb?)

What was touted as an embarrassment of riches only a few months ago is now just an embarrassment. How could so much equal so little? There doesn’t appear to be an “A” student in the class.

The smart money right now seems to be moving behind Marco Rubio. But at a time when Republican voters are flocking towards candidates with zero political experience, how does the Senator from Florida paint himself as a Washington outsider?

“Four years ago, for the United States Sen­ate, the es­tab­lish­ment was act­ively try­ing to un­der­mine my can­did­acy,” Ru­bio recently told an audience in Davenport, Iowa.

“The truth of the mat­ter is, when I de­cided to run for the pres­id­ency, all the same people that told me not to run for the Sen­ate came out of the wood­work again and said, ‘It’s not your turn; you haven’t been around long enough; we’re all go­ing to line up be­hind some­body else,’” Ru­bio said. “And that’s fine. That’s OK.”

Will this well-calculated stratagem resonate with Republican voters sick of establishment candidates? Probably not. Even the dimmest voter will understand Rubio is talking about four years ago, before the Cuban American defied the odds and made it to Washington; before the outsider became an insider.

Marco Rubio’s profile as a good-looking 43-year-old with just four years of experience in the Senate is awfully reminiscent of Barack Obama’s in 2008. But as Texas Sen. Lloyd Benson said to the young Dan Quayle during the 1988 vice presidential debate, after he defended his inexperience as similar to that of John F. Kennedy, “Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy. I knew Jack Kennedy. Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you are no Jack Kennedy.”

Senator Rubio, with all due respect, you are no Barack Obama.

Photo | marcorubio.com