THE RANT: ANOTHER LOW MOMENT FOR FOX NEWS

Fox News, the upstart conservative news channel that has been kicking butt in the ratings lately, is so determined to prove itself that it has to constantly remind viewers it is “fair and balanced.”

Which, of course, is a crock. All the news channels have a political bent. CNN is the long established home for liberal slant. Fox comes the right side of the spectrum and MSNBC reinvents itself so often that no one is quite sure what philosophy, if any, it has lately.

I find it hard to take any news organization that hires Geraldo Rivera seriously. Rivera has been a joke in the news business ever since he built a TV news special around opening Al Capone’s supposed vault and finding nothing. At NBC and MSNBC he became the lead apologist for Bill Clinton’s lechery, then claimed he had “seen the light” and landed at Fox, a political conversion akin to Madonna taking a vow of chastity.

So I don’t waste a lot of time watching Fox. I’ve usually got better things to do (rearrange my sock drawer, get a root canal or scratch my ass), but I stumbled across the channel on a hotel room TV recently and almost lost my lunch. Fox has given a show to John Kasich.

Some of you may remember John Kasich. He was a little-known Ohio Congressman whose self-importance led o a laughable Presidential run in 2000, even though most people in the country didn’t have the foggiest idea who he was and no one could think of a single piece of memorable legislation that bore his name during his time on the Hill. His only claim to fame before running for President was an aborted attempt to crash the backstage area of a Grateful Dead Concert in Washington after a long night of partying.

Yet here he was, Fox’s latest golden boy, expounding on morality and the state of the Union in something called “From the Heartland.” I suppose the “From the Heartland” title comes from his onetime residence in Ohio, although like most ex-members of Congress he spends most of his time in Washington trying to peddle his former status as an elected official to the highest special interest bidder.

I first ran into John Kasich in 1983, during his first term. He liked to hang out at Bullfeathers, a popular Capitol Hill watering hole, drinking with other members of Congress and chasing any sweet young thing that came into his field of vision.

He ended up at a large table of Congressmen and women, along with some Capitol Hill staffers who spent their evenings at Bullfeathers drowning their guilt over their shameless waste of taxpayer dollars and voter trust.

No matter what story or joke someone at the table would tell, Kasich would have to top it with a tale that usually bragged about his exploits in either politics or the bedroom. As the evening drew to a close, he downed his last drink, got up from the table and announced: “Well, I guess it’s time to see which deserving young lady gets to go home with me tonight.”

I should have let it pass but I looked at him and said: “You know, Kasich, you’ve set a record in just how short a time it takes to come to Washington and turn into an arrogant a**hole.”

“You can’t say that to me,” Kasich boomed back. “I’m a United States Congressman!”

He lurched over to the bar, struck up a conversation with a cute young thing and left with her shortly afterwards.

“Nicely put,” said another freshman Congressman, Arizona’s John McCain, who was also at the table. “Rude, but nicely put.”

A few nights later, I ran into the woman who left the bar with McCain that night. She was a lobbyist who liked to sleep with Congressmen.

“Oh, you mean Kasich? Typical. He was so wasted he fell asleep. Normal politician. All talk, no action.”


Saturday, March 15, 1997

Condit puts new twist on fund raising

By Michael Doyle
Bee Washington BureauWASHINGTON -- Democratic Rep. Gary Condit is taking an unusual, bipartisan approach to his fund-raising efforts.

And that's got some Republicans hot under the collar.

In two weeks, the influential Republican chairman of the House Budget Committee, Rep. John Kasich of Ohio, will attend Condit's regular breakfast meeting at Modesto's Red Lion Inn.

Kasich, a key player in efforts to balance the budget, is an intriguing draw for the people who pay $500 a year to join what's called the Gary Condit Breakfast Club. Condit uses the money raised from his Breakfast Club to finance his re-election efforts.

"He and Gary Condit are very close personal friends," Kasich spokesman Bruce Cuthbertson explained Friday. "There aren't many Democratic congressmen like Gary Condit."

The implication of Kasich's May 31 appearance is that one of the nation's most prominent Republicans will be helping a Democrat raise funds to defeat a Republican challenger next year.

Imagine how that makes William Conrad feel.

Conrad, a West Point graduate and contractor, lost badly in his challenge to Condit in November. He spent $73,000, compared with about $650,000 spent by Condit over the two-year election cycle. Undeterred, Conrad says he intends to challenge Condit next year as well.

"He's (Kasich) hurting Republicans by doing this," Conrad said Friday. "He's hurting our registration, and he's hurting my ability to run."

But Cuthbertson was unfazed by Conrad's complaint and by calls from other unhappy San Joaquin Valley Republicans that filtered back to Kasich's office this week.

"Everybody is entitled to their opinion," Cuthbertson said.

Kasich, a hyperenergetic 44-year-old who invariably invites adjectives like "brash," is not particularly rigid about party lines. A Minnesota Democrat went to one of his fund-raisers several years ago, and in 1993 he invited first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton over for dinner.

Kasich and Condit are social friends, and both are happy to buck political convention. Kasich resists traditional Republican favorites like the B-2 bomber and wide-ranging tax cuts. Condit voted against President Clinton's position about half the time last year.

As chairman of the House Budget Committee -- and a long-time proponent of a balanced budget -- Kasich hopes to play a big role in any balanced-budget negotiations between Congress and the White House. As a leader of the 23-member Blue Dog Coalition, which earlier this month offered its own balanced-budget proposal, Condit likewise has the potential for budget influence.

"We think people take partisan politics too seriously, and it poisons the environment," said Mike Lynch, Condit's chief of staff.

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