Even before the announcement, Governor Strickland would feather his speeches with attacks on Lehman Brothers, foolishly blaming them for Ohio's economic woes and attempting to set the terms of debate.
The idea was to paint Kasich as somewhat responsible for, or at least, an accomplice of, the fall of Lehman Brothers and the ensuing fallout.
And now, with one 1,300 word article, that argument is completely moot.
Three of the Columbus Dispatch's senior political reporters conducted in-depth research to determine the truth behind the charges against Kasich, and in doing so, any hope that those allegations would ever catch fire disappeared swiftly into nothingness.
Former Lehman-trader-turned-author McDonald blames Lehman's fall on mistakes by Fuld and a few other top executives who gambled on risky investments involving complicated bundles of subprime loans and other exotic products. The wheeling and dealing done by Kasich and others in his corner of the Lehman Brothers world wasn't what brought down the firm, McDonald said.Lawrence McDonald is the one man major news networks have turned to since the collapse for the true dirt behind what brought down Lehman Brothers. He is the one man who hasn't held anything back about who is at fault for the collapse of the investment giant.
And what did he say about Kasich? That he had absolutely zero to do with it.
In fact, the rest of the article goes on to paint Kasich as a hard worker who took on a new challenge and ran with it.
And was he overcome with greed while at Lehman? Not so much.
Now, this doesn't mean we won't continue to hear allegations from Ted Strickland and the Democrats that Kasich's time at Lehman somehow makes him unqualified to be Governor(you'd think overseeing the doubling of the unemployment rate would see to that, but alas). Most assuredly it's something you'll see in commercial after commercial next fall.Schiffman said in a phone interview that one of Kasich's strengths at Lehman was his credibility with CEOs: "Investment bankers sometimes can push clients to do deals. John was very different. He steered clients away from transactions that he felt didn't make sense."
But, with the findings as discovered by the Dispatch, it's clear that the Governor has lost an important vessel for these attacks - the media.
The Ohio media now knows that the attacks are baseless. Any hope Strickland has of using them as a medium for his charges is lost.
So Governor, what's next?
Hilarious. You actually think what the Dispatch wrote will be accepted as "the final word" by their competitors? It makes me want to dig around for the real story even more. Why not release Johnny K's tax returns for the past five years, as reporters have requested? If the campaign had a staff worth its salt they would have (1.) defined Kasich's role at Lehman themselves; instead you counted on the Dispatch to do it for you, and let me tell you, it wasn't a good story for Johnny K.; and (2.) shut you up; instead they have you talking about it all over the Internet where other Ohio journalists - not to mention the story authors - can read your posts. Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteYes. Thus, "the Definitive Word".
ReplyDeleteDig away.
Tax returns? You want to know that Kasich made a lot of money for working hard?
How dare he!
The fact is this: the one man in the world who maintains the utmost legitimacy to discuss what went wrong at Lehman found that Kasich wasn't in any way associated with the negative aspects of the firm.
That fact can't be changed.
Now, let's say it's discovered that Kasich made a lot of money at Lehman?
So. Frickin'. What?
Will some voters punish John for making more than them? Perhaps. But to think that is in any way a substantive constituency is just silly.
As for your second point, thinking journalists would be so enamored with this blog is quite flattering. However, anyone with a lick of sense would understand that it's Kasich's own denial of wrongdoing that would entice journalists to continue the story.
And in fact, they did. For months John has described his dealings with Lehman as they were, and the Dispatch investigated it in-depth.
And found nothing.
Your biggest gun shot a blank.
Get over it.