Rachel Maddow Taunts: Ohio Republicans Are 'Pretty Wussy at This Point'

Assessing the presidential race in the Midwest with Chris Hayes on Thursday night, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow said Ohio Gov. John Kasich may be the "cockiest of all of the cocky breed of the Republican governors right now," but his loss on union bargaining rights was so stinging "I actually think the Republican establishment in Ohio is pretty wussy compared to what they were like in 2010."

That sounds a lot like a taunt that Ohio Republicans may want to tack to the bulletin board. They were discussing how Wisconsin doesn't look as good as they think it should:

CHRIS HAYES: Wisconsin's closer than it should be. It's not just Paul Ryan. That counter-mobilization carries forward as well. I think that`s part of the reason that Wisconsin isn't a sure blue state in the way that I think we would think it would be at this point in October.

RACHEL MADDOW: I think -- in this conversation, and that analysis is why I think that Wisconsin is redder than people think it is and Ohio is bluer than people think it is.

I think that in Ohio, the underappreciated thing is not just that there was a fight but that it was actually a total blowout. It was a 22- point win. And to have seen John Kasich, who's maybe the cockiest of all of the cocky breed of Republican governors right now, maybe Nikki Haley is more cocky, but it's close. To see him so humbled and so brought down to size in a way that he has never grown back to the size he was before that defeat, I actually think the Republican establishment in Ohio is pretty wussy at this point compared to what they were like in 2010.

HAYES: Yes. I mean, that's a really good point. And the fact of the matter is winning really does matter and it affects people`s behavior, after the win, and it affects people's behavior after they lose. And, yes, I think you`re seeing the difference in those states between the difference of those two outcomes.

MADDOW: Right. Which is why the Republicans have such an effort on building a conservative movement no matter how they do in elections and that`s why Democrats always suffer when there isn`t a progressive movement that they can --

HAYES: You have to mobilize in between elections. There`s just no replacement for it.