Kasich threatens to leave GOP

[Fuzzy Bear]

John Kasich used to be considered fairly hard right lol. How times have changed.

Kasich is decidedly right-wing on 'social' issues and economics. In a more sane GOP he is the face. In a crazy GOP he is not completely welcome. He may have acceded to same-sex marriage and rejected young-earth creationism, but that is almost a 'so-what' position.

Unless he is going really liberal (or even moderate) he may be taking a protest position against the personality of Donald Trump.

More evidence that Kasich "leaving" the GOP is a foolish move.  Idiotic.

If I were Kasich, I would be ignoring Trump and doing everrything I can to help every Republican official who would accept his help in whatever.  

The GOP may well be looking for a Plan B in 2020.  If so, they're more likely to turn to the Republican that came by to help THEM in what THEY were doing.

[uti2]

In 2015 Kasich realized he needed to fill a moderate side of the republican party to be effective in the presidential primaries, due to better conservatives with actual track records of getting things done

What does Kasich believe? nothing. He's shifted his positions dozens of times in efforts to get himself elected. Kasich never thought trump was a "threat to his ideology" because Kasich has no ideology. Kasich thought Trump was going to LOSE so he fought trump so he could be the heir apparent in the primaries in 2020, as he was "against trump the whole time"

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Actually for your first point, it's more like rubio/cruz had no records and no accomplishments so they attempted to demagogue on their lack of record. In the case of Cruz, at least he's more consistent with regards to his tea party roots vs. rubio (but you hit Kasich for these inconsistencies, while not mentioning Rubio). If you want to reference Obama, Cruz better fits the mold of Obama who attempted to position himself as a progressive grassroots candidate.

Kasich was filling a niche, as you explain, he positioned himself to appeal to moderate voters, his category also had Christie & Jeb. There are different factions of the GOP. If you go by that line of thinking, then it should also be accepted that Rubio's role in the race served to split conservatives from Cruz. Rubio split the vote of the Conservative Niche that was dominated by Cruz.

Your argument would work better if it was invoked to defend Cruz rather than Rubio, to be fair. Glass Houses and all that.

[uti2]

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Do you see how easily this quote can also be applied to Rubio? You can't bash Kasich for playing the same game even if the premises of this statement are true.

You see Rubio as this conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in FLORIDA see him  

In comparison, at least in Texas, no one thinks Cruz isn't a "conservative warrior". Cruz has the reputation of being too much of a "warrior" if anything.

[TheSaint250]

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Do you see how easily this quote can also be applied to Rubio? You can't bash Kasich for playing the same game even if the premises of this statement are true.

You see Rubio as this conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in FLORIDA see him  

In comparison, at least in Texas, no one thinks Cruz isn't a "conservative warrior". Cruz has the reputation of being too much of a "warrior" if anything.

Many of us actually think of Rubio as a good person. He’s extremely nice in person and seems to be working for the good of Florida and America.

[uti2]

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Do you see how easily this quote can also be applied to Rubio? You can't bash Kasich for playing the same game even if the premises of this statement are true.

You see Rubio as this conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in FLORIDA see him  

In comparison, at least in Texas, no one thinks Cruz isn't a "conservative warrior". Cruz has the reputation of being too much of a "warrior" if anything.

Many of us actually think of Rubio as a good person. He’s extremely nice in person and seems to be working for the good of Florida and America.

Which is also how Kasich supporters feel about Kasich.....but the idea that you think you can shame Kasich supporters for their candidate behaving in a similar fashion is absurd.

[Badger]

If he runs against Trump, I will SERIOUSLY consider taking a few weeks off work to go stump in NH for him.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Kasich accepted the Medicaid expansion in February of 2013 : https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSBRE91312A20130204

[RINO Tom]

John Kasich is the guy who put strong restrictions on abortion, voted for the war in Iraq, supported NAFTA, Patriot Act & cut welfare & has proposed gutting the pre-existing conditions in ACA by granting the states a waiver. This guy is such a warmonger that he wanted to punch Russia in the nose by playing war-war with Putin - That was his claim in a GOP debate instead of some serious policy to counter Putin.

This is the guy who blasted the Paris Climate Change Conference & wanted on waging new wars. In which world does he become a moderate? Only when the current GOP is a band of extremists. Kasich is a war worse candidate that what Hillary Clinton was - I have no idea why Democrats would even think of supporting him.

Paul Ryan, a strong right wing conservative is a RINO & Kasich is a moderate? What has the world come to!

Mostly False!

- Kasich opposed withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, saying at one debate in the election: "The fact is that you can have a strong environmental policy at the same time that you have strong economic growth; they are not inconsistent with one another."

- A twenty to twenty-four week ban on abortions is supported by a majority of Americans.

- He opposes the Patriot Act now, for the most part.

- Supporting free trade is rarely considered "far-right", considering even progressive Democrats support free trade for the most part.

- Welfare is a vastly, unfortunately complex system, and cannot be simplified to "cutting" or "expanding".

- Using a metaphor hardly makes him a warmonger. Kasich opposed Iraq and the Bosnian intervention.

Support for free trade in 2017 would absolutely be considered more "economically" conservative by most people.

[Rjjr77]

In 2015 Kasich realized he needed to fill a moderate side of the republican party to be effective in the presidential primaries, due to better conservatives with actual track records of getting things done

What does Kasich believe? nothing. He's shifted his positions dozens of times in efforts to get himself elected. Kasich never thought trump was a "threat to his ideology" because Kasich has no ideology. Kasich thought Trump was going to LOSE so he fought trump so he could be the heir apparent in the primaries in 2020, as he was "against trump the whole time"

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Actually for your first point, it's more like rubio/cruz had no records and no accomplishments so they attempted to demagogue on their lack of record. In the case of Cruz, at least he's more consistent with regards to his tea party roots vs. rubio (but you hit Kasich for these inconsistencies, while not mentioning Rubio). If you want to reference Obama, Cruz better fits the mold of Obama who attempted to position himself as a progressive grassroots candidate.

Kasich was filling a niche, as you explain, he positioned himself to appeal to moderate voters, his category also had Christie & Jeb. There are different factions of the GOP. If you go by that line of thinking, then it should also be accepted that Rubio's role in the race served to split conservatives from Cruz. Rubio split the vote of the Conservative Niche that was dominated by Cruz.

Your argument would work better if it was invoked to defend Cruz rather than Rubio, to be fair. Glass Houses and all that.

Rubio had several accomplishments, from senate intel committee to being the only senator to actually do anything to stop Obamacare.

Kasich, a one time tea party conservative demagogue ran to the LEFT of JEB! and Christie, again the biggest problem with Kasich is he is a self serving phony.

Say what you want about Cruz and Rubio, but they do have stances they havent changed, I can't find a stance Kasich hasn't flipped on at one point in his career. 

[Rjjr77]

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Do you see how easily this quote can also be applied to Rubio? You can't bash Kasich for playing the same game even if the premises of this statement are true.

You see Rubio as this conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in FLORIDA see him  

In comparison, at least in Texas, no one thinks Cruz isn't a "conservative warrior". Cruz has the reputation of being too much of a "warrior" if anything.

Many of us actually think of Rubio as a good person. He’s extremely nice in person and seems to be working for the good of Florida and America.

Which is also how Kasich supporters feel about Kasich.....but the idea that you think you can shame Kasich supporters for their candidate behaving in a similar fashion is absurd.

Thats not the consensus of his own constituents.

The problem is Kasich supporters dont exist, because there is nothing to support on John Kasich other than his blind ambition. The problem is his supporters don't even know his own record, they just like what they saw in the presidential, which isn't who he is

[Rjjr77]

Kasich accepted the Medicaid expansion in February of 2013 : https://www.google.com/amp/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSBRE91312A20130204

Fine, got my dates wrong, doesnt change the fact that he completely flipped on his previous stance the first chance he got, and railroaded it through in a very nefarious way.

[Rjjr77]

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Do you see how easily this quote can also be applied to Rubio? You can't bash Kasich for playing the same game even if the premises of this statement are true.

You see Rubio as this conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in FLORIDA see him  

In comparison, at least in Texas, no one thinks Cruz isn't a "conservative warrior". Cruz has the reputation of being too much of a "warrior" if anything.

Many of us actually think of Rubio as a good person. He’s extremely nice in person and seems to be working for the good of Florida and America.

Which is also how Kasich supporters feel about Kasich.....but the idea that you think you can shame Kasich supporters for their candidate behaving in a similar fashion is absurd.

Oh and anyone who thinks Kasich is a nice person has never spent any time with John Kasich.

[Santander]

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Do you see how easily this quote can also be applied to Rubio? You can't bash Kasich for playing the same game even if the premises of this statement are true.

You see Rubio as this conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in FLORIDA see him  

In comparison, at least in Texas, no one thinks Cruz isn't a "conservative warrior". Cruz has the reputation of being too much of a "warrior" if anything.

Many of us actually think of Rubio as a good person. He’s extremely nice in person and seems to be working for the good of Florida and America.

Which is also how Kasich supporters feel about Kasich.....but the idea that you think you can shame Kasich supporters for their candidate behaving in a similar fashion is absurd.

Oh and anyone who thinks Kasich is a nice person has never spent any time with John Kasich.

Yeah... seriously. Kasich is a real piece of work.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Which Republicans since 1992 have been more accomplished than Kasich(with maybe the exception of McCain )

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Yes Kasich is a nasty person up close and personal.


The guy had an A rating from NumbersUSA for his Congressional record. He should have run like Romney did as an establishment border hawk and the fact that he hoped on board with Comprehensive reform in the same manner as Jeb and Marco meant that the entire establishment slate of candidates put their eggs in the same basket, after already stirring the base hornet's nest on the issue in 2013. Genius Mofos, GENIUS!!!

Clearly, if he was calculating on this issue, he must have had garbage pollsters.

Now if you want someone who truly did calculate his way to the nomination, Trump's team spent two years listening to talk radio and had a better understanding of the base and the GOP primary electorate than any one else, including Ted Cruz. Because they figured out what I said in my post a few pages back.

Kasich could have easily filled that void instead of Trump and the kicker is, Kasich was on Fox News and has filled in on talk radio as a host, so he had access to same information and ignored it.

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yes Kasich is a nasty person up close and personal.


The guy had an A rating from NumbersUSA for his Congressional record. He should have run like Romney did as an establishment border hawk and the fact that he hoped on board with Comprehensive reform in the same manner as Jeb and Marco meant that the entire establishment slate of candidates put their eggs in the same basket, after already stirring the base hornet's nest on the issue in 2013. Genius Mofos, GENIUS!!!

Clearly, if he was calculating on this issue, he must have had garbage pollsters.

Now if you want someone who truly did calculate his way to the nomination, Trump's team spent two years listening to talk radio and had a better understanding of the base and the GOP primary electorate than any one else, including Ted Cruz. Because they figured out what I said in my post a few pages back.

Kasich could have easily filled that void instead of Trump and the kicker is, Kasich was on Fox News and has filled in on talk radio as a host, so he had access to same information and ignored it.

Kasich lost the nomination because of his decision to accept the medicaid expansion .

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Which Republicans since 1992 have been more accomplished than Kasich(with maybe the exception of McCain )

For the record this was why I endorsed him in 2013 and stuck with him for almost 3 years.

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Yes Kasich is a nasty person up close and personal.


The guy had an A rating from NumbersUSA for his Congressional record. He should have run like Romney did as an establishment border hawk and the fact that he hoped on board with Comprehensive reform in the same manner as Jeb and Marco meant that the entire establishment slate of candidates put their eggs in the same basket, after already stirring the base hornet's nest on the issue in 2013. Genius Mofos, GENIUS!!!

Clearly, if he was calculating on this issue, he must have had garbage pollsters.

Now if you want someone who truly did calculate his way to the nomination, Trump's team spent two years listening to talk radio and had a better understanding of the base and the GOP primary electorate than any one else, including Ted Cruz. Because they figured out what I said in my post a few pages back.

Kasich could have easily filled that void instead of Trump and the kicker is, Kasich was on Fox News and has filled in on talk radio as a host, so he had access to same information and ignored it.

Kasich lost the nomination because of his decision to accept the medicaid expansion .

Romney passed the same healthcare bill in MA pretty much. Romney got the nomination because he was also better on immigration then then alleged true cons who opposed him like Perry, Gingrich etc. The only one who he could not claim that against was Santorum, but Santorum rose too late to seriously challenge him.

Immigration politics is a deciding factor in GOP primaries. McCain had to flip flop to get the nomination against Romney, Romney got the nomination 2012 and Trump got in 2016 largely because of this issue.

[Attorney General & PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Kasich is really pissing me off. If he wanted to stop Trump, he should have dropped out after the New Hampshire primary and endorsed either Rubio or Cruz. Instead, his ego wouldn't let him quit, and he played a major role in Trump winning the GOP nomination.

Maybe Rubio shouldnt have done so badly in NH.


Kasich came in 2nd in NH not Rubio , due to Rubio self destructing at the NH debate

By the way, the idea that Kasich played a role in helping Trump is fallacious. If you're a pro-choice/pro-medicare republican Trump is the most moderate of the 3 (Trump,Rubio, Cruz), that's why Trump consistently won moderates in every single primary, with Kasich collecting the second highest number of Moderates.

If anyone played that role, it was Rubio, who took conservatives away from Cruz, he was the one who should've dropped out and endorsed Cruz after NH.

You also need to look at it from the perspective of Kasich/Jeb/Christie, they're experienced governors and relatively more moderate, forcing them to pick a choice between two hard-right inexperienced congressmen is absurd at face value, because for them, in some policy respects, Trump would actually be more preferable.

Actually I have to disagree with this, so much of the presidential primary is about momentum. Had Kasich dropped out after Nevada (as he should have) Rubio wins VA and MN on super tuesday. This entirely changes the narrative, Rubio was down double digits in polling on VA and his victory would have been the talk of the race, and would have shown trump as far more vulnerable. Had Carson also dropped out after NV as he should have, Cruz most likely wins Arkansas.  

If actors in this primary acted rationally Trumps momentum would have been severely blunted on Super Tuesday, and would have possibly changed the entire campaign narrative to show a more beatable trump. Kasich staying in the race gave trump several states.

Without Kasich, it would've been a very tight race in VA, but it's hard to call him a spoiler when rubio came in fourth place in a number of states behind Kasich.  Do you not understand the irony in hating Kasich for being moderate when his voters are almost exclusively moderates? If you do the math and give a two-thirds margin to him and one-third to Trump, it evens out.

Anyway, the only thing that would've done is improved Rubio's margins a bit to getting more delegates which would have additionally come at the expense of Cruz. It would've just tanked Cruz's momentum after Rubio's defeat in FL to offset any impact Kasich had on Cruz's chances on the Trump v. Cruz finale.

I don't hate him for being a moderate, I hate him for being a phony.

By the way, this is a particularly rich comment considering Kasich was the first republican to actually pay for ads against Trump back in 2015. Rubio didn't spend a dime or even attack Trump once until 2 weeks before he dropped out in a last minute spree of desperation.

If you're an ideological conservative, and you busily play footsie with someone you believe to not be so conservative and are willing to gamble the likelihood of that person potentially taking over the party (to boost your own odds in your own mind), you're not that ideological to begin with. Both Cruz & Rubio played this game. Go watch the CNBC debate in Oct. 2015, the moderators asked both to attack Trump point blank and both deflected and bashed the media and the moderators instead.

Kasich at least attacked Trump point-blank whenever he was asked to do so.

As for phoniness.....

attacking trump makes him authentic?

Kasich is absolutely a fake. He runs as whatever benefits him. Kasich has been never trump simply because it benefits John Kasich. He has a history of taking self serving stances that are opposite to other stances hes taken in the past

If you're a conservative and you believe someone is a threat to conservatism, you're supposed to risk helping him by not attacking him to improve your own odds? The only outcome of that strategy is an increase in the likelihood of conservatism failing.

That's some bitter irony, Kasich did more to defend his ideology of moderate conservatism than Rubio/Cruz did for their respective ideologies, yet you're slamming Kasich for not being ideological enough....

I'm slamming Kasich for not being anything.

In congress Kasich ran as a budget hawk who supported some gun control.

in 2010 Kasich ran as a gun toting Tea Party conservative who was going to get things done

In 2011 Kasich supported a ban on public employee unions
In 2011 Kasich supported an amendment stopping Obamacare in Ohio
in 2014 Kasich decided he was going to run for president, and stayed on a conservative message, but distanced himself from the tea party
In 2015 Kasich realized he needed to fill a moderate side of the republican party to be effective in the presidential primaries, due to better conservatives with actual track records of getting things done
In 2015 Kasich killed a RTW ballot initiative in Ohio because he felt it would hurt this new switch in ideology
in 2014-15 Kasich accepted medicaid expansion (despite railing against it for years when running) and did it against the will of the legislature through some shady things.

On top of all this he went from a bombastic jerkish cross between Christie and Scott Walker to a soft touch compassionate conservative.

What does Kasich believe? nothing. He's shifted his positions dozens of times in efforts to get himself elected. Kasich never thought trump was a "threat to his ideology" because Kasich has no ideology. Kasich thought Trump was going to LOSE so he fought trump so he could be the heir apparent in the primaries in 2020, as he was "against trump the whole time"

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

The people of Ohio love him:

[OSR stands with Israel]

Yes Kasich is a nasty person up close and personal.


The guy had an A rating from NumbersUSA for his Congressional record. He should have run like Romney did as an establishment border hawk and the fact that he hoped on board with Comprehensive reform in the same manner as Jeb and Marco meant that the entire establishment slate of candidates put their eggs in the same basket, after already stirring the base hornet's nest on the issue in 2013. Genius Mofos, GENIUS!!!

Clearly, if he was calculating on this issue, he must have had garbage pollsters.

Now if you want someone who truly did calculate his way to the nomination, Trump's team spent two years listening to talk radio and had a better understanding of the base and the GOP primary electorate than any one else, including Ted Cruz. Because they figured out what I said in my post a few pages back.

Kasich could have easily filled that void instead of Trump and the kicker is, Kasich was on Fox News and has filled in on talk radio as a host, so he had access to same information and ignored it.

Kasich lost the nomination because of his decision to accept the medicaid expansion .

Romney passed the same healthcare bill in MA pretty much. Romney got the nomination because he was also better on immigration then then alleged true cons who opposed him like Perry, Gingrich etc. The only one who he could not claim that against was Santorum, but Santorum rose too late to seriously challenge him.

Immigration politics is a deciding factor in GOP primaries. McCain had to flip flop to get the nomination against Romney, Romney got the nomination 2012 and Trump got in 2016 largely because of this issue.

Yes but Romney flipped flopped on it and promised throughout the 2012 campaign that he would repeal Obamacare fully , and when he signed Romneycare that healthcare plan was a republican plan. By 2013 it was democratic plan when Kasich signed on to it and that hurt him massively .


Also one of the main reasons Romney got the nomination in 2012 was the fact that the GOP field was so weak , and McCain got in 2008 because Rudy didnt campagin in IA,or NH making NH a race between Romney and McCain and McCain won just like in 2000. Romney had no shot without NH and this is what gave McCain the nomination .

[Southern Senator North Carolina Yankee]

Yes Kasich is a nasty person up close and personal.


The guy had an A rating from NumbersUSA for his Congressional record. He should have run like Romney did as an establishment border hawk and the fact that he hoped on board with Comprehensive reform in the same manner as Jeb and Marco meant that the entire establishment slate of candidates put their eggs in the same basket, after already stirring the base hornet's nest on the issue in 2013. Genius Mofos, GENIUS!!!

Clearly, if he was calculating on this issue, he must have had garbage pollsters.

Now if you want someone who truly did calculate his way to the nomination, Trump's team spent two years listening to talk radio and had a better understanding of the base and the GOP primary electorate than any one else, including Ted Cruz. Because they figured out what I said in my post a few pages back.

Kasich could have easily filled that void instead of Trump and the kicker is, Kasich was on Fox News and has filled in on talk radio as a host, so he had access to same information and ignored it.

Kasich lost the nomination because of his decision to accept the medicaid expansion .

Romney passed the same healthcare bill in MA pretty much. Romney got the nomination because he was also better on immigration then then alleged true cons who opposed him like Perry, Gingrich etc. The only one who he could not claim that against was Santorum, but Santorum rose too late to seriously challenge him.

Immigration politics is a deciding factor in GOP primaries. McCain had to flip flop to get the nomination against Romney, Romney got the nomination 2012 and Trump got in 2016 largely because of this issue.

Yes but Romney flipped flopped on it and promised throughout the 2012 campaign that he would repeal Obamacare fully , and when he signed Romneycare that healthcare plan was a republican plan. By 2013 it was democratic plan when Kasich signed on to it and that hurt him massively .


Also one of the main reasons Romney got the nomination in 2012 was the fact that the GOP field was so weak , and McCain got in 2008 because Rudy didnt campagin in IA,or NH making NH a race between Romney and McCain and McCain won just like in 2000. Romney had no shot without NH and this is what gave McCain the nomination .

Romney could have come back in Florida, but that is besides the point.

You can strip it down to weak field or whatever you want. But it doesn't change the fact that immigration was always Romney's ace in the hole whenever he faced tough opposition. It is also how he got noticed in 2007, because he cashed in on the anger at Bush and the establishment and McCain/Rudy over this issue and built up huge leads in IA and NH over the summer of 2007 based on that. The real reason though that Romney lost NH was Rudy pulled out of NH to focus all on FL, and that meant that most of the Rudy support in the state switched to McCain. Thompson fading and Brownback dropping out likewise enabled Huckabee to beat Romney in Iowa. 

And in 2012, both of the two serious challengers to Romney, were weak on this issue.

Failing to understand the dynamics of immigration politics within the GOP, is 75% of the reason that Trump is the President today.

[uti2]

In 2015 Kasich realized he needed to fill a moderate side of the republican party to be effective in the presidential primaries, due to better conservatives with actual track records of getting things done

What does Kasich believe? nothing. He's shifted his positions dozens of times in efforts to get himself elected. Kasich never thought trump was a "threat to his ideology" because Kasich has no ideology. Kasich thought Trump was going to LOSE so he fought trump so he could be the heir apparent in the primaries in 2020, as he was "against trump the whole time"

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

Actually for your first point, it's more like rubio/cruz had no records and no accomplishments so they attempted to demagogue on their lack of record. In the case of Cruz, at least he's more consistent with regards to his tea party roots vs. rubio (but you hit Kasich for these inconsistencies, while not mentioning Rubio). If you want to reference Obama, Cruz better fits the mold of Obama who attempted to position himself as a progressive grassroots candidate.

Kasich was filling a niche, as you explain, he positioned himself to appeal to moderate voters, his category also had Christie & Jeb. There are different factions of the GOP. If you go by that line of thinking, then it should also be accepted that Rubio's role in the race served to split conservatives from Cruz. Rubio split the vote of the Conservative Niche that was dominated by Cruz.

Your argument would work better if it was invoked to defend Cruz rather than Rubio, to be fair. Glass Houses and all that.

Rubio had several accomplishments, from senate intel committee to being the only senator to actually do anything to stop Obamacare.

Kasich, a one time tea party conservative demagogue ran to the LEFT of JEB! and Christie, again the biggest problem with Kasich is he is a self serving phony.

Say what you want about Cruz and Rubio, but they do have stances they havent changed, I can't find a stance Kasich hasn't flipped on at one point in his career.  

If obstruction is to be an accomplishment, then Cruz had the biggest accomplishments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rkkRSxZJPA

Besides this most prominent example, there are numerous examples of rubio's cynical calculations - 2 days after the NH debate where rubio was on record of supporting drafting women he flipped his position after he found the position didn't poll well.

What a great use of the Senate Intel Committee. He also flipped on his position of authorizing air strikes on Syria as another example, at least Cruz remained consistent on that front.

[Kingpoleon]

John Kasich is the guy who put strong restrictions on abortion, voted for the war in Iraq, supported NAFTA, Patriot Act & cut welfare & has proposed gutting the pre-existing conditions in ACA by granting the states a waiver. This guy is such a warmonger that he wanted to punch Russia in the nose by playing war-war with Putin - That was his claim in a GOP debate instead of some serious policy to counter Putin.

This is the guy who blasted the Paris Climate Change Conference & wanted on waging new wars. In which world does he become a moderate? Only when the current GOP is a band of extremists. Kasich is a war worse candidate that what Hillary Clinton was - I have no idea why Democrats would even think of supporting him.

Paul Ryan, a strong right wing conservative is a RINO & Kasich is a moderate? What has the world come to!

Mostly False!

- Kasich opposed withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, saying at one debate in the election: "The fact is that you can have a strong environmental policy at the same time that you have strong economic growth; they are not inconsistent with one another."

- A twenty to twenty-four week ban on abortions is supported by a majority of Americans.

- He opposes the Patriot Act now, for the most part.

- Supporting free trade is rarely considered "far-right", considering even progressive Democrats support free trade for the most part.

- Welfare is a vastly, unfortunately complex system, and cannot be simplified to "cutting" or "expanding".

- Using a metaphor hardly makes him a warmonger. Kasich opposed Iraq and the Bosnian intervention.

Support for free trade in 2017 would absolutely be considered more "economically" conservative by most people.

Sure, but supporting NAFTA isn't some extremist position.

[Rjjr77]

Kasich is really pissing me off. If he wanted to stop Trump, he should have dropped out after the New Hampshire primary and endorsed either Rubio or Cruz. Instead, his ego wouldn't let him quit, and he played a major role in Trump winning the GOP nomination.

Maybe Rubio shouldnt have done so badly in NH.


Kasich came in 2nd in NH not Rubio , due to Rubio self destructing at the NH debate

By the way, the idea that Kasich played a role in helping Trump is fallacious. If you're a pro-choice/pro-medicare republican Trump is the most moderate of the 3 (Trump,Rubio, Cruz), that's why Trump consistently won moderates in every single primary, with Kasich collecting the second highest number of Moderates.

If anyone played that role, it was Rubio, who took conservatives away from Cruz, he was the one who should've dropped out and endorsed Cruz after NH.

You also need to look at it from the perspective of Kasich/Jeb/Christie, they're experienced governors and relatively more moderate, forcing them to pick a choice between two hard-right inexperienced congressmen is absurd at face value, because for them, in some policy respects, Trump would actually be more preferable.

Actually I have to disagree with this, so much of the presidential primary is about momentum. Had Kasich dropped out after Nevada (as he should have) Rubio wins VA and MN on super tuesday. This entirely changes the narrative, Rubio was down double digits in polling on VA and his victory would have been the talk of the race, and would have shown trump as far more vulnerable. Had Carson also dropped out after NV as he should have, Cruz most likely wins Arkansas.  

If actors in this primary acted rationally Trumps momentum would have been severely blunted on Super Tuesday, and would have possibly changed the entire campaign narrative to show a more beatable trump. Kasich staying in the race gave trump several states.

Without Kasich, it would've been a very tight race in VA, but it's hard to call him a spoiler when rubio came in fourth place in a number of states behind Kasich.  Do you not understand the irony in hating Kasich for being moderate when his voters are almost exclusively moderates? If you do the math and give a two-thirds margin to him and one-third to Trump, it evens out.

Anyway, the only thing that would've done is improved Rubio's margins a bit to getting more delegates which would have additionally come at the expense of Cruz. It would've just tanked Cruz's momentum after Rubio's defeat in FL to offset any impact Kasich had on Cruz's chances on the Trump v. Cruz finale.

I don't hate him for being a moderate, I hate him for being a phony.

By the way, this is a particularly rich comment considering Kasich was the first republican to actually pay for ads against Trump back in 2015. Rubio didn't spend a dime or even attack Trump once until 2 weeks before he dropped out in a last minute spree of desperation.

If you're an ideological conservative, and you busily play footsie with someone you believe to not be so conservative and are willing to gamble the likelihood of that person potentially taking over the party (to boost your own odds in your own mind), you're not that ideological to begin with. Both Cruz & Rubio played this game. Go watch the CNBC debate in Oct. 2015, the moderators asked both to attack Trump point blank and both deflected and bashed the media and the moderators instead.

Kasich at least attacked Trump point-blank whenever he was asked to do so.

As for phoniness.....

attacking trump makes him authentic?

Kasich is absolutely a fake. He runs as whatever benefits him. Kasich has been never trump simply because it benefits John Kasich. He has a history of taking self serving stances that are opposite to other stances hes taken in the past

If you're a conservative and you believe someone is a threat to conservatism, you're supposed to risk helping him by not attacking him to improve your own odds? The only outcome of that strategy is an increase in the likelihood of conservatism failing.

That's some bitter irony, Kasich did more to defend his ideology of moderate conservatism than Rubio/Cruz did for their respective ideologies, yet you're slamming Kasich for not being ideological enough....

I'm slamming Kasich for not being anything.

In congress Kasich ran as a budget hawk who supported some gun control.

in 2010 Kasich ran as a gun toting Tea Party conservative who was going to get things done

In 2011 Kasich supported a ban on public employee unions
In 2011 Kasich supported an amendment stopping Obamacare in Ohio
in 2014 Kasich decided he was going to run for president, and stayed on a conservative message, but distanced himself from the tea party
In 2015 Kasich realized he needed to fill a moderate side of the republican party to be effective in the presidential primaries, due to better conservatives with actual track records of getting things done
In 2015 Kasich killed a RTW ballot initiative in Ohio because he felt it would hurt this new switch in ideology
in 2014-15 Kasich accepted medicaid expansion (despite railing against it for years when running) and did it against the will of the legislature through some shady things.

On top of all this he went from a bombastic jerkish cross between Christie and Scott Walker to a soft touch compassionate conservative.

What does Kasich believe? nothing. He's shifted his positions dozens of times in efforts to get himself elected. Kasich never thought trump was a "threat to his ideology" because Kasich has no ideology. Kasich thought Trump was going to LOSE so he fought trump so he could be the heir apparent in the primaries in 2020, as he was "against trump the whole time"

You see Kasich as this moderate conservative warrior, when he isn't. hes a self serving jerk, and thats how people in OHIO see him  

The people of Ohio love him:

Ha that map is cute, long time ago in a political cycle

[Rjjr77]

Which Republicans since 1992 have been more accomplished than Kasich(with maybe the exception of McCain )

most of them, Kasich hasn't actually accomplished anything...