John Kasich slams Donald Trump and Ted Cruz without once naming them
Entire speech here
In a rather sane and pragmatic speech to the National Republican Club, John Kasich framed Trump and Cruz as unworthy of the presidency and offered a positive view of and for America. Kasich presented himself as someone that was conservative, yet inclusive. He sounded like the Republican of yesteryears.
John Kasich’s actual record leaves a lot to be desired. In many instances, however, he has played a more pragmatic role even as he has been surrounded by a party taking the country over the edge. One should remember that eventually came out on the side of humanity when he accepted the Medicaid Expansion to the Affordable Care Act
There is a portion of his speech that rang loudly. It encapsulated all that is wrong with the Republican Primary and concluded the segment with an inconvenient truth — “Those who continuously push that type of behavior are not worthy of the office they are seeking.”
When we come together, when we unite as a country, America always wins. For those who are angry or afraid, I want to assure you there is another, better way.
Some who feed off of the fears and anger that is felt by some of us and exploit it feed their own insatiable desire for fame or attention. That could drive America down into a ditch, not make us great again.
Just as disturbing are the solutions they offer. We have heard proposals to create a religious test for immigration, to target neighborhoods for surveillance, impose draconian tariffs which would crush trade and destroy American jobs.
We have heard proposals to drop out of NATO, abandon Europe to Russia, possibly use nuclear weapons in Europe, end our defense partnerships in Asia, and tell our Middle East allies that they have to go it alone. We have been offered hollow promises to impose a value-added tax, balance budgets through simple and whimsical cuts in “fraud, waste and abuse.”
We have been promised that unpopular laws shall be repealed simply through the will of a strong man in the White House and that Supreme Court justices will be empowered with some new extra-constitutional ability to investigate former public officials. I have stood on a stage and watched with amazement as candidates wallowed in the mud, viciously attacked one another, called each other liars and disparaged each other’s character. Those who continuously push that type of behavior are not worthy of the office they are seeking.
If somehow Kasich were to be appointed the Republican candidate, he would be a formidable opponent for either Hillary Clinton or Bernie Sanders.