If there's any reason not to vote for John Kasich in his claimed new bid for the presidency under a new bipartisan ticket strategy, it might just be in his hackneyed reading of the Democrats' woes with voters that states the opposite of their reality:

"The problem with the Democrats, I can't figure out what they're for," he said. "I mean, they have a golden opportunity, right, to be able to come in and win elections, but they can't figure out anything other than the fact that they don't like Donald Trump. I mean, they better figure out what they are. What's happened to the Democratic Party?"

"It's almost lost its soul, and it better get its act together if they want to compete," he added.

Thanks for the information, John, but Democratic Party chairman Tom Perez is already well aware of that problem.

It's actually only a half-true assessment of the Democrats' woes in any case.  While it's true that 52% of the voters do see them in those terms, in truth, the Democrats do have an ideology, a platform they stand for.  It's called socialism.

And socialism these days is not doing very well in places where it's being tried – like Venezuela, whose socialism is a standing rebuke and embarrassment.

Food lines in Venezuela.

It's also not doing well in the U.K., where single-payer health insurance has led to cases like these:

Baby Charlie Gard's parents, abused by the U.K. National Heath Service's bureaucrats, who refused to allow them any decisions over their son's care.

It's also failing in America's inner cities, which have been run by one-party politics for decades under the Democrats:

What comes out of the tap in Democrat-ruled Flint, Michigan.

With a record like that, is it any wonder that Democrats focus most of their message to voters on hating President Trump?  What they stand for is so unpalatable that it no longer sells with voters.  So yelling about Trump is all that is left.

For Kasich, who apparently has no core beliefs, this belief system is invisible.  But voters are savvier about messaging, and if socialism is all the Democrats have to offer, then yelling about Trump serves better as a party platform, the better to keep voters from seeing the real picture.