"Every Other Monday" By John Kasich

Townhall.com ^ | June 18, 2010 | Hugh Hewitt

[Kaslin]

It is hard to find anyone who doesn't like John Kasich.  The ebullient former congressman from the Columbus Ohio area spent nearly twenty years making a mark in the House of Representatives as an expert of the budget, ran a principled campaign for the GOP nomination for president in 2000 to underscore his concerns on federal spending (prophets are never heeded in time) and then had a great run as a Fox News Channel host and commentator.

 

Last year Kasich decided to try and help his beloved Buckeye State and launched a run for governor against Ted Strickland, the affable but hapless career pol who has presided over an economic bleed out that continues despite promises of massive help by President Obama when, as a candidate for president, he stumped the key swing state asking for a chance to show what a united Democratic Washington could do for the industrial Midwest.

 

Kasich campaign is formidable, and the most recent polling puts him five points ahead. Kasich is teamed at the top of the Ohio GOP ticket with a former colleague from the House, Rob Portman, who is favored to keep George Voinovich's Senate seat in Republican hands.  The two of them present the GOP's best face to voters:  Earnest, smart, optimists who got into politics just as Ronald Reagan came to D.C. and who are now at the top of their games and ready to contribute urgently needed leadership at the state and federal level.

 

This is a great situation for a candidate like Kasich, and just as many candidates have done, he has authored a book.

 

Except Every Other Monday: Twenty Years of Life, Lunch, Faith and Friendship is unlike any other candidate's book that I have ever read.  Every Other Monday is Kasich's spiritual autobiography, or more accurately, a biography of the small group he and seven other men put together in 1987 to discuss the biggest issues of life using the Bible as their guide.  The group has grown over the decades into a cornerstone of the lives of the men who participate in it, a rock on which they have all stood through some very tough times and some deeply difficult circumstances.

 

It has also been the source of joy, friendship and meaning, and Kasich's "mere Christianity" has deepened and matured through the hundreds of sit-downs with ordinary believers grappling with both Old and New Testaments.  Kasich's spiritual journey began after his beloved parents were killed by a drunk driver a quarter century ago, and the path forward for him hasn't been easy or obvious.

 

I heard of the book this past Monday, ordered it up on my Kindle and read it over the next two days.  I asked Kasich to come on the radio show Thursday which he did, and my first question was probably the question most of my D.C. audience on WRC AM 1260 had even if not the first question all of the other listeners across the country would have had:  What did your campaign people think about putting out a book like this in the middle of the campaign?

 

"John," I said "this is a very good book that could be put to very bad use by political opponents.  I can see the direct mail now: 'Kasich an expert on greed and envy!  Admits to meeting with co-conspirators every other week."  I was laughing, but there was a point to the question --candidates don't often talk about their inner lives of faith because such disclosures can and have been used against them in the rough and tumble world of politics.

 

Kasich's answer was immediate: He'd agreed to write the book before he knew he was going to run for governor.  It was an important project to him and he wanted to honor his commitment.  He trusted readers and voters would understand.

 

I think they will.  Certainly anyone who has ever been in a small group will identify with the stories in Every Other Monday, and pastors will celebrate that a high profile guy like Kasich has endorsed the approach that has been near the core of American Christianity for many years.

 

Even cynics and non-believers will find it hard to fault Kasich's account of how life is lived over decades because everyone experiences the same set of ups and downs, great joys and sudden shocks, and Kasich's connecting them to Scripture is not shocking or salacious, only unconventional for a politician.  It is also inspiring and encouraging.

 

Every Other Monday may prompt many other men to seek out or form such groups, and if it does it will be a hugely significant book unlike most candidate books.  If it has any impact on the race for Ohio's statehouse, it will be positive, for it is impossible to put down without concluding that John Kasich is exactly who he says he is and that that guy is the same guy you have seen occasionally on your television screen for the past few years --open, energized and upbeat.  Every Other Monday is in fact an explanation for Kasich's approach and attitude, an unintentional but powerful marker of authenticity and humility in an age when very few elected officials have that particular sort of credibility.

 

Even if you are as far from belief in God as anyone you know, give Every Other Monday a shot.  We would all be much better off if more elected officials met in more such groups and asked more such questions.  In fact, send a copy via Amazon to your congressman or senator or state legislator.  It might be exactly what they, and we, so desperately need right

[hedgetrimmer]

Electing an amoral man to office, linked to a Saudi billionaire playboy, is like putting another Barack Obama in office.

Why can’t people like you get it into their heads that Americans are sick of the corruption and lying of the last 30 years. We don’t want people who cannot control their impulses in office. Especially those ‘befriended’ by the Saudis.

[nina0113]

People “like me” have indeed got it into our heads that Americans are sick of corruption and lying. By the way, I AM an American, and yes, I’m sick of it too. The only corruption and lying I see here is the libelling of John Kasich with a bunch of internet rumors. Do you really not know the difference between rumor and fact? Do you believe everything you hear or read, no matter the source?

[hedgetrimmer]

Do you work for the man? Or the republican party? The man was tainted a long time ago.

He had a campaign for president which he abruptly canceled when the Chandra Levy investigation linked him with Condit’s extracurricular activities.

What the heck, he’ll start a run for the governor and quit again.

[NeoCaveman]

He had a campaign for president which he abruptly canceled when the Chandra Levy investigation linked him with Condit’s extracurricular activities.

Bull on your timeline.

He was out of the 2000 primary on 7/14/1999. While Chandra Levy went missing May 6, 2001.

So please stop lying about John Kasich.

[nina0113]

Why look! Here’s an actual NEWS STORY. Those pesky fact things, they’re not so hard to find.

http://www.cnn.com/ALLPOLITICS/stories/1999/07/14/president.2000/kasich/

[Deadeye Division]

The only lying is from the liar Kasich, who faithfully promised his constituents in Ohio that he would oppose the semi-auto ban, then supported it.

[DLfromthedesert]

Kasich was my first choice for Prez in 2000

[Deadeye Division]

Back in the 90s, there was a vote on whether to have a super-majority in order to have a tax increase passed. It failed by one or two votes. Kasich voted against establishing a super-majority for tax increases, then said that he hadn’t known what bill he voted against. The man is a liar, a traitor and a fool.

[chris_bdba]

You did notice that Levy was killed by an illegal alein who was convicted of the crime last year right and that this has nothing to do with Kasich?

[chris_bdba]

Get the h*ll out of Ohio politics will you?

[chris_bdba]

No I’ve listened to a lot of single men over the years who have talked in front of me. It is you who have the problem here not me.

[HonestConservative]

Good for you.

[chris_bdba]

So that makes you either a supporter of Strickland or sticking your nose in a state’s politics you don’t live in, which is it?

[Deadeye Division]

If Kasich will lie about the second amendment, he’ll lie about anything.

[DLfromthedesert]

Your timeline leaves a lot to be desired. He dropped out of the presidential race in 1999; the Levy/Condit business took place in 2001.

Kasich’s wife was pregnant with twins in 1999, and he was way behind because he was a relative unknown.

[Deadeye Division]

Another Ohio liar and traitor concerning the second amendment is the Rino running for Ohio Atty. General, DeWine. Now that he needs the support of gun owners, after years of stabbing them in the back, he and his wife have an epiphany and decide to get Ohio concealed carry permits. What a phony.

[chris_bdba]

Do you live in Ohio or not? If you don’t get out of this topic and take care of your own state. BTW my cousin worked for Mike DeWine and you are very wrong about the man.

[Deadeye Division]

No. It makes me an Ohioan who knows Kasich can’t be trusted and I will not support him.

[chris_bdba]

I checked Deadeye Division posting in the forum and stragely jut days ago he was touting that Strickland was endorced by the NRA. I beleive he is a Strickland supporter and no friend of ours.

[Deadeye Division]

I don’t give a damn about your cousin.