Kasich: 'The Establishment Is Afraid of Me'

[mystery-ak]

http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx/?nodeid=714959


Newsmax
Kasich: 'The Establishment Is Afraid of Me'
Thursday, February 18, 2016 09:54 AM

By: Sandy Fitzgerald

GOP presidential candidate John Kasich, who picked up a major South Carolina newspaper's endorsement this week, said Thursday that he's got a lot in common with former President Ronald Reagan and ex-House Speaker Newt Gingrich, because "the establishment" never liked them, either.

"Guess what, the establishment is afraid of me because I don't take orders from anybody over there," the Ohio governor told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" host Joe Scarborough, who he said was also not liked by establishment Republicans.

"We aren't anti-establishment, but at the same time we don't like the status quo, and we really believe in change," said Kasich.

However, he continued, "nobody is going to come riding in on a white stallion to solve all of the problems in our community, whether it's education, whether it's drugs, whether it's the fact that we feel divided."

The State, which endorsed Kasich on Wednesday, lauded Kasich's background while slamming candidates like Donald Trump, saying that a president's skills can't end with "insults, bullying and firing people" and urged voters to choose "a candidate whose leadership approach has delivered results."

Kasich, meanwhile, said his campaign is doing as well as it can in South Carolina, and that he'll head to Vermont and Massachusetts on Saturday, the day of South Carolina's primary.

He also listed out his plans for traveling the United States and said he feels very hopeful about his chances.

"Just keep your seat belt fastened," he said. "There is a long, long way to go and we are very hopeful. As you can see us moving up, just everybody keep the faith. They doubted me. They always doubt me. It's always great to be underestimated."

[libertybele]

He's kidding right?       

[andy58-in-nh]

John, buddy: you're a nice guy. You're not scaring anyone. If you were delivering mail on foot, dogs wouldn't bother barking at you. And I hear the Postal Service is hiring again....

[flowers]

Pfft!

[Bigun]

He's kidding right?       

Either that or he's gone WAY around the bend!

[Jazzhead]

Kasich can effect more change, more quickly, than any other candidate.   His credentials as a movement conservative and change agent are a matter of record.  But the beauty part is that he, more so than the other candidates with the possible exception of Rubio,  can both win the Presidency AND the Senate with his coattails. 

Nothing matters more than electibility, and Kasich can win with coattails.   As he's said, he'll work with a GOP Congress to implement a robust conservative agenda in his first 100 days.   He's no status-quo establishmentarian.     

[libertybele]

Kasich can effect more change, more quickly, than any other candidate.   His credentials as a movement conservative and change agent are a matter of record.  But the beauty part is that he, more so than the other candidates with the possible exception of Rubio,  can both win the Presidency AND the Senate with his coattails. 

Nothing matters more than electibility, and Kasich can win with coattails.   As he's said, he'll work with a GOP Congress to implement a robust conservative agenda in his first 100 days.   He's no status-quo establishmentarian.   

??? Kasich a no status-quo establishmentarian??   You're kidding too right?

[Jazzhead]

??? Kasich a no status-quo establishmentarian??   You're kidding too right?

Not at all.  Kasich promises a very ambitious program in his first 100 days, including tax cuts, regulatory reform and entitlement reform.  Here's a link (although I need to find a better one with more actual text from his speech)  

And I tend to believe his rhetoric, because he expects to have a GOP Congress at his back. 

I'm no nihilist.  I understand the practical difficulties that GOP leadership has had in thwarting Obama's hyper-partisan agenda.  I don't scream and hollar and call for their heads.  That's because I also understand that once we get the combination of a GOP Congress and a GOP President, great things can happen.  Kasich is our best shot at that sweet spot.   

[GAJohnnie]

Oh please. John "god wants us to grow Goverment" Kaisch is the Establishments dream canidate. A Democrat in everything but name.

[Bigun]

Oh please. John "god wants us to grow Goverment" Kaisch is the Establishments dream canidate. A Democrat in everything but name.

   and 

[GAJohnnie]

GW Bush was 12 points behind Kerry at this point in 2004. this "Electablity" is a nonsensical con game played by the Establishment every election year to justify nominating Moderate losers like Dole, McCain and Romney

 

[mystery-ak]

John, buddy: you're a nice guy. You're not scaring anyone. If you were delivering mail on foot, dogs wouldn't bother barking at you. And I hear the Postal Service is hiring again....

 

[GAJohnnie]

John "I looked at the polls and decided to do what was popular" Kaisch is no leader. He is a born follower who would be a complete disaster for the GOP and Conservatives. A GOP Progressive is the last thing this country needs after the destruction 8 years of Obama has ranged down on us.

[Jazzhead]

Tax reduction,  regulatory reform,  entitlement reform.

Those aren't "progressive".  They are, however, pro-growth - and that's the orientation sorely lacking these last seven years.

I understand the frustration. Obama's a hard nut.  But the goal ought to be getting a GOP President elected together with a GOP Congress.  In the current hysteria and angst surrounding the Presidential race, we tend to forget that our Senate majority is very much imperiled.  A far-right Presidential nominee,  or a nominee who's bat-spit crazy,  will not only lose, but drag the Senate down with him.   Think of it -  Hillary (or Sanders) free to pack the SCOTUS with liberals.   Just hand 'em that gun.  They'll use it. 

Kasich is the electable conservative.   Kasich is the conservative who can partner effectively with a GOP Congress.   Rather than revolution,  or destruction for its own sake,  why not reach for the attainable goal that's right in front of us?   

[libertybele]

Tax reduction,  regulatory reform,  entitlement reform.

Those aren't "progressive".  They are, however, pro-growth - and that's the orientation sorely lacking these last seven years.

I understand the frustration. Obama's a hard nut.  But the goal ought to be getting a GOP President elected together with a GOP Congress.  In the current hysteria and angst surrounding the Presidential race, we tend to forget that our Senate majority is very much imperiled.  A far-right Presidential nominee,  or a nominee who's bat-spit crazy,  will not only lose, but drag the Senate down with him.   Think of it -  Hillary (or Sanders) free to pack the SCOTUS with liberals.   Just hand 'em that gun.  They'll use it. 

Kasich is the electable conservative.   Kasich is the conservative who can partner effectively with a GOP Congress.   Rather than revolution,  or destruction for its own sake,  why not reach for the attainable goal that's right in front of us?

Obviously your definition of conservative is far different than mine.  I see Kasich as a moderate at best and has leaned to the left more than I am comfortable with:

*** --Governor Kasich said that the United States bears some responsibility to accept Syrian refugees, while saying that the largest responsibility belongs to Europe. Kasich said, "I think we do have a responsibility in terms of taking some more folks in, making sure they assimilate, and at the same time helping people to actually be safe as they move." This would be on top of the tens of thousands of refugees from predominately muslim countries the United States resettles every year. (The Guardian

 - Kasich voted against a 1998 amendment eliminating a $475 million bailout for the United Nations from the underlying bill. (clerk.House.gov)

- Despite his reputation as a deficit hawk, Kasich routinely voted to increase the size of the debt ceiling throughout his career on Capitol Hill.  He voted 12 times to increase the debt ceiling, and voted nine times against increasing the debt ceiling. 

- Under Kasich’s governorship total state spending has ballooned to $63.2 Billion from an inherited budget of $50.5 billion. (Politifact, Ohio OMB)

- When asked about immigration in July 2015, Kasich said, “we’re not going to take 12 million undocumented immigrants and just tell them ‘you’re outta here.’”  In this statement he used the language of the Left by not calling them illegal immigrants. (Des Moines Register)

- John Kasich made his strongest statement in support of amnesty for illegal immigrants by saying he would support a "pathway to legal status" for those illegal immigrants already in this country. (WSJ)

[Jazzhead]

Obviously your definition of conservative is far different than mine.  I see Kasich as a moderate at best and has leaned to the left more than I am comfortable with:

*** --Governor Kasich said that the United States bears some responsibility to accept Syrian refugees, while saying that the largest responsibility belongs to Europe. Kasich said, "I think we do have a responsibility in terms of taking some more folks in, making sure they assimilate, and at the same time helping people to actually be safe as they move." This would be on top of the tens of thousands of refugees from predominately muslim countries the United States resettles every year. (The Guardian

 - Kasich voted against a 1998 amendment eliminating a $475 million bailout for the United Nations from the underlying bill. (clerk.House.gov)

- Despite his reputation as a deficit hawk, Kasich routinely voted to increase the size of the debt ceiling throughout his career on Capitol Hill.  He voted 12 times to increase the debt ceiling, and voted nine times against increasing the debt ceiling. 

- Under Kasich’s governorship total state spending has ballooned to $63.2 Billion from an inherited budget of $50.5 billion. (Politifact, Ohio OMB)

- When asked about immigration in July 2015, Kasich said, “we’re not going to take 12 million undocumented immigrants and just tell them ‘you’re outta here.’”  In this statement he used the language of the Left by not calling them illegal immigrants. (Des Moines Register)

- John Kasich made his strongest statement in support of amnesty for illegal immigrants by saying he would support a "pathway to legal status" for those illegal immigrants already in this country. (WSJ)

Kasich's record is certainly conservative enough for me.  My key issues are fiscal responsibility, entitlement reform and  - especially - economic growth. (I'm an old-school Reagan or movement conservative - not TEA party.)   If you look at Kasich's record as a whole, rather than cherry-pick certain votes seen as arbitrary litmus tests by talk radio pundits,  it's an exemplary record of pragmatic, growth-oriented conservatism in the Reagan mold.

I have no objection to us accepting a modest number of Syrian refugees.   I'd prefer to accept families rather than young single males.  But the crisis in Syria is partly of our making.  If we broke it, we have at least some moral obligation to fix it, or at least to alleviate a small measure of the suffering, don't we?   The vast majority of migrants are escapees from a civil war, not ISIS moles.   Compassion is a virtue.     

I have no objection to a "pathway to legal status" for illegal immigrants, if they've kept their noses clean and become responsible members of the community.  AND if that pathway is negotiated as part of a larger deal that secures the border and allows employers to obtain the labor they need legally.

I don't care that Kasich uses neutral terms like "undocumented immigrants" rather deliberately inflammatory ones.   If he's right on the policy, that's what matters.

Bottom line for me is that Kasich is conservative,  experienced, pragmatic, compassionate, and inspiring.  He exhibits the qualities I value in a leader.  And he can beat Hillary Clinton with the kind of coattails that can let us keep the Senate.   It's an extraordinarily rare occurence when the stars align and conservatives have the chance to control both the Presidency and the Congress.  It's a moment in history where we can finally do great things.  Kasich says fasten your seatbelts,  the changes will be so fast in coming.   

Scalia's death should focus us all on the stakes in this election, as well as the opportunity that a candidate like Kasich, at this moment in time, presents for conservatives.   Cruz and Trump may scratch the itch,  but they're too polarizing to win the general election.   Kasich can.  Kasich is the true revolutionary - the one who can MAKE IT HAPPEN.   

 

[libertybele]

Peace Jazz.  Latest poll that I have seen is showing Kasich and Carson both polling in South Carolina at 9%.  Trump is at 28%, Cruz is at 23%, Rubio is at 15% and Bush is at 13%.

[Jazzhead]

Peace Jazz.  Latest poll that I have seen is showing Kasich and Carson both polling in South Carolina at 9%.  Trump is at 28%, Cruz is at 23%, Rubio is at 15% and Bush is at 13%.

And peace to you, too, LB.   My best hope for SC is that Kasich can beat Bush, and Trump can be kept under 30%.  It's a long road - the states that favor my kind of pragamatic,  Reagan-style conservatism are still to come.   

[Bigun]

Taking the rest of today and tomorrow off. Awaiting South Carolina Results Saturday night.