Kasich: ‘I’m Not Establishment’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of Fox News Channel’s “Hannity,” Gov. John Kasich (R-OH), a candidate for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, reacted to the claim that he is a so-called establishment candidate, given his finish in New Hampshire and compared to two of the front-runners, Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), that he is running against.

Kasich dismissed the label of “establishment” and touted his record in Congress as proof that he didn’t go along to get along as an establishment politician might do.

“I’m not establishment,” Kasich said. “Sean, I make the establishment upset. When I’m introducing budgets against a Republican president, when I’m saying if we’re going to reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform it for corporate welfare, when I went into Ohio and told the special interests to get in line – either get on the bus with me to solve Ohio’s problems or you’re going to get run over by the bus, I make the establishment upset. I was a cheap hawk. I reformed the Pentagon at the same time we were building a stronger defense system. So Sean, you know – it’s really interesting to call me establishment. If you ask the press that covered me in Washington they burst out laughing because I can get along with the establishment, but I’m not part of it. So that’s kind of the way it is.”

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