Thoughts on Kasich not attending the GOP convention...

[SillyAmerican]

Kasich being the Governor of the RNC host state, do you think it's ok for him to bow out of attending the convention like he did?

In addition to Kasich heading up the host state, Governor Huckabee has been keen to point out that Kasich did in fact sign the pledge to support the eventual nominee, whoever that turned out to be. Folks made such a big deal about getting all the candidates to sign that thing, if they aren't going to honor their word, then why bother? I understand Kasich's not being comfortable with Donald Trump, and I fully supported Kasich's candidacy, but I have to say I'm more than a little disappointed with the way he's handling Trump's nomination.

[SillyAmerican]

Good move. If you pledge to do something stupid and later realize that stupidity, you shouldn't just do the stupid action to keep your word. The GOP won't be fixed unless more people start pushing back.

Are you saying that Kasich didn't realize what Donald Trump was all about? No, he knew exactly what Trump is about, but he along with everyone else (myself included) could never have predicted that Trump would end up as last man standing. So I guess future such pledges should read something like "I pledge to support the party nominee, unless I don't like the nominee or the nominee does/says stupid things, in which case I'll stay home and not be bothered".

I am disappointed in him as he went back on his pledge. I formerly supported him but not anymore. I now have coalesced around Trump.

Trump himself said back in March that the pledge no longer applies:

http://edition.cnn.com/2016/03/29/politics/donald-trump-ted-cruz-nominee-pledge/

So again, I'm confused: why put a pledge like this in place at all, and make such a big deal about getting everybody to sign it? I seem to recall Trump saying that the pledge was pointless, and he was given all kinds of grief about saying that. He signs it, and so do all the other Republican candidates, but it sure appears as though Trump was right in thinking that the document was pointless. Typical politics, I suppose...

[SillyAmerican]

Seems to me that the GOP candidates who were standing on that stage were coerced into signing the pledge they would support the winner, whoever it was. Even Trump, who did not want to make that commitment, agreed to it eventually, but then later threatened to go out on his own because the "GOP was treating him badly" kind of thing.

Personally I wouldn't hold any of the candidates to that coerced pledge. To me it's a non-issue. So to accuse Kasich of violating his pledge is a waste of time. He has the right to endorse who he chooses, or not to endorse.

Well, I agree that the pledge was a pointless gimmick, and I would have put money on it being broken by somebody at some point (there was absolutely no way Trump was going to support Jeb Bush if he won, and vice versa). I wish politicians would stop doing these kinds of meaningless things, as they just serve to illustrate how completely insane our party politics have become.