(Photo by Andrew Burton/Getty Images)

People Republicans who oppose statehood for the District of Columbia bloviate about the constitution and D.C. being a ‘government town,’ and all sorts of other reasons why 672,228 people shouldn’t have full Congressional representation. But everyone knows the real reason for their opposition. And give him a shred of credit for something, at least John Kasich was willing to say it.

In an interview with the Washington Post’s editorial board, the Ohio governor and Republican presidential candidate told associate editorial page editor Jo-Ann Armao what we already knew, that it simply comes down to the fact that D.C. is heavily Democratic:

ARMAO: You voted against statehood for D.C. when you were in Congress.

KASICH: Yes.

ARMAO: Is that still your position, and do you have-

KASICH: Yes, I would it say probably is.

ARMAO: What about voting rights in Congress, voting representatives?

KASICH: Probably not. I don’t know. I’d have to, I mean, to me, that’s just, I just don’t see that we really need that, okay? I don’t know. I don’t think so.

ARMAO: But you realize though that people in D.C. pay taxes, go to war and they have no vote in Congress.

KASICH: Yeah.

ARMAO: How is that-

KASICH: Well look, I am not – I don’t – I am not, because you know what, what it really gets down to if you want to be honest is because they know that’s just more votes in the Democratic Party. That’s what-

To summarize: Uh, I mean, I just don’t think D.C. needs statehood or even voting representation because Democrats.

This prompts Armao to ask about the reverse situation:

ARMAO: So if there were Republicans in the District, you would have a different position?

KASICH: Yeah, okay, well look, they send me a bill, I’m president of the United States, I’ll read your editorials.

In other words, a ballot initiative for statehood and more demanding license plates—not to mention the children song, raps, flag tattoos, national lobbying, liberty pole, and a PAC—aren’t winning any GOP support. But after being asked a question about the length of early voting in Ohio, Kasich sort of reconsiders and promises to read the Post on the issue.

“Now let’s go to this whole thing of D.C. voting rights, okay? I don’t know. I’d have to look at it. I’ll look at your editorials, whatever. Fair is fair. You’ve got a point there,” he says.

Responding to the very basic fact that Washingtonians pay taxes, Kasich adds “maybe I’ll have to flip flop my position, okay? I don’t know. Let me look at it. Let me think about it. It’s just we’re not … I mean, that’s a good point. It’s kind of hard for me to argue against it. I’d have to hear what the argument is. I’ll call my friend [former Virginia congressman] Tom Davis. He’ll tell me the way to think about this.”