John Kasich Wins GOP Hypocrite of the Week for Blaming Economic Meltdown on Britney Spears Instead of His Former Boss, Lehman

John Kasich

Former Republican Congressman John Kasich has been really busy running for the Republican nomination to challenge Ted Strickland's spot as governor of Ohio in 2010. He's been so busy, in fact, that he seems to have forgotten who he is and how he got here. Or maybe it's just that he doesn't want to talk about it.

Of course, no one is too busy to take a quickie trip to the Strip. Kasich gave a paid speech at the Bellagio in Las Vegas before the Nevada Development Authority Wednesday, in which he identified virtually everyone but himself as the root of the country's financial crisis. He went back to the old standards enemies of WorldCom and Enron, even going so far as to blame the downturn on Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

Come on, John; that is so last decade. Wall Street is everyone's favorite economic enemy now, remember?

Indeed, somehow Kasich even forgot all about Lehman Brothers, the firm that went down in flames and got the panic train rolling last September. Maybe that's because Kasich was the firm's managing director of investments from 2001 until the company collapsed?

While he worked at Lehman, Kasich's salary often topped $1 million, and he had a confidential contract as a commentator for FOX News after leaving Congress in 2000. And, as if a tie to the economic meltdown weren't enough, he's involved with the board of a medical device company and has received copious donations from the healthcare industry in the recent past.

No, no. I'm sure what is really driving this country into the ground is the lack of bipartisanship, honesty, integrity, blah, blah, blah, where's my check?

Clearly, it's our morals that are keeping us from succeeding as a country. Oh, and golden parachutes are also bad, according to Kasich's recent Vegas speech. So bad that he doesn't want to disclose how much money he got when he left Lehman.

Kasich apparently prefers to rant on about the core values of this great country and to promise that Ohioans won't have to pay income or estate taxes anymore once he's governor (so much the better for not disclosing one's net worth, eh, Johnny?). Of course, Kasich won't say how he'll replace the third of the budget Ohio will lose if he actually does eliminate these taxes. And Ohio will also magically get a better educational system. Another thing Kasich doesn't want to talk about is the state's budget deficit topping $3 billion. He told local reporters when they questioned his sketchy proposals that he'd rather talk about how this is all Strickland's fault.

After being so tight-lipped in Ohio, Kasich might be surprised his loose talk in Sin City made it back to the Midwest so quickly. But what is falsely blamed on others in Vegas does not stay in Vegas. And that's why John Kasich is BuzzFlash's GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

Remember our motto: So many Republican hypocrites, so little time.

Catch up with you soon.

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This is John Kasich's first GOP Hypocrite of the Week Award. Welcome to the club. You can see a list of all previous nominees here.

Image courtesy of John Kasich for Ohio.