The governor of Ohio reached across the aisle to lay hands on Joe Biden, after the vice president lost his son. Joe Biden’s son, Beau – who was the Attorney General of Delaware – died on May 30 at the age of 46 from brain cancer. After the death, John Kasich interrupted interviewer Chuck Todd on Meet the Press to say he was praying for the vice president during his time of grief. “Let me just say I don’t always agree with him, but Joe Biden is a special guy,” Kasich said. “And you think about this: He lost a wife, a daughter, and now a son.” “I’m gonna pray for him, because he’s had a lifetime of tears,” said Kasich. “God bless you, Joe.” The 63-year-old, who served as a regular guest host of The O’Reilly Factor on Fox News, has long said that his faith helps him love his political opponents. I try to realize that every single individual is made in the image of God; everyone is to be respected, even the ones that don’t like you,” Kasich told the Columbus Dispatch last year. “No one is better than anyone else.” Raised a Catholic, Kasich became a Protestant and attends St. Augustine’s Anglican Church (ACNA) in Westerville, but he says his personal relationship with Christ outweighs church labels. I don’t pay much attention to anyone’s denomination of affiliation,” Kasich wrote in his 2010 book Every Other Monday. “I worship in an Anglican church, because I want to get Communion every Sunday. Other than that, I’d be comfortable almost anywhere…When I worship in church, it’s a very private matter.” My daughters go to a Christian school, and I’m very proud of the fact that they have both come to know the Lord,” he added. He also affirmed his belief in the historicity of the Bible. “I believe there was indeed an ark – and not just any ark but an impossibly, unfathomably huge ark – and that Noah undertook this impossibly, unfathomably huge task and completed it heroically,” he wrote. “And I don’t just choose to believe this because it pleases me to do so. I’ve read a bunch of texts and studied all kinds of histories and have come to the conclusion that there was indeed a man called Noah, who did indeed build a giant ark, which did indeed weather a tremendous flood and bring about a great change.” During the NBC interview, Todd asked the governor whether he experienced a “struggle” over his support for the death penalty. “No, I don’t, Chuck,” he said. “I think it’s consistent with my faith. If I didn’t, I’d have to exorcise it.” He said imposing capital punishment brought closure to victims’ families and upheld “justice.” Kasich smiled when Todd introduced him as “the former governor of Ohio.” Kasich won a second term as governor last November in a landslide, campaigning as a pro-life conservative. Kasich played a major role in balancing the federal budget during the Clinton administration as part of the House Republican leadership. He is currently in his second term as governor of Ohio. Kasich is expected to enter the Republican presidential shortly, his second presidential run.
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