YouSaid · the spoken record

John Kasich

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77
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2017-05-04
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2017-05-04
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Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

  1. “And then I looked at the president and I said in you, President of the United States, and me, government is unbelievable. I said, so obviously the Lord had a purpose for us. Why don't you guys sit down and figure things? And that is what commenced those negotiations with President Obama and John Boehner. Now, they never concluded it, which was a shame, but that's an interesting story. And that was a way in which people can get the better, get together and think of themselves as human beings rather than as political enemies.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  2. “You know, one story I haven't told you is that I played golf with President Obama and John Boehner and Joe Biden, and when we finished, we were sitting having a drink over at the Andrews Air Force Base, and I looked up round and I said, Boehner, you know, you're the speaker of the House. I mean, your father owned a bar. I mean, come on, man, that you're here. And I looked at Biden. I said, you, vice president? Now let's come on with that.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  3. “Yeah, but I don't think that I'm not waiting for that so I can figure out my political stuff. I do want to keep a voice. I do want to assemble a team. But you never want to say never to anything. You never know. I mean, I'm still thinking maybe I'll get on the PGA tour and not the senior tour. I mean, that's how... That's how I look at life”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  4. “I don't know. I just don't know. I really, I have not really spent a lot of time about it. I have a great friend that says, John, just finish your job. Keep your mind off of it. And I by and large have. I think here's what I know that I have to have a strong finish for my own self respect and all that, which I'm going to do. And I just don't know. I hope things will come my way, but there's nothing more X or more former than a politician.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  5. “Apparently, he went to a town hall meeting and they were all yellin' at him You lie. Sometimes the arc of justice sometimes takes time, doesn't it?”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  6. “No, no, I mean, now I'm going to be for him because he's president. I mean, I was for I support presidents, but that doesn't mean, and I've always supported presidents, but that doesn't mean I go along with them on everything. So I've been critical. Look, I voted against U.S. troops in Lebanon when Ronald Reagan was president. I offered my own budget against George Bush, the senior when he was president. I'm not going to, you know, with Bill Clinton, I had my differences with him. But that doesn't mean I have to root against him or hate him or not have any respect for them. One of the greatest outrages that I've ever seen in politics is when that one guy, congressman, yelled when Barack Obama was making a state of the State of the Union speech and yelled, you lie and turned around the next day and sent out an email raising money for his behavior. Disgraceful.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  7. “Well, I think there's a little of both. I think I have evolved a little bit, but I would also tell you that back when we were reforming welfare, I said if we're going to reform welfare for poor people, we ought to reform welfare for rich people. So there's always been an element of that, David. And when you come from McKee's Rocks, you know, quickly, my mother one time went up to check on us getting these pony rides up at the schoolhouse, and I got one, and she gave the guy that was offering him more money than it costs for the ride. And I said to my mother, why did you give him all that money? She said, Johnny, did you notice his eye? I mean, he needs our help. I mean, we don't have a lot of money, but you know what? He needs something, so we're going to help him. So that sense of fighting for the underdog, that sense of sticking up for people who other people don't stick up for, I think I grew up with that.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  8. “Yeah, nineteen thirty nine to nineteen fifty three ran for the nomination for president against Eisenhower and lost. You know what he said? He said any in our country, our great country of America, if somebody can't afford health insurance, we ought to give it to them. Now somehow because I care about these folks and I expanded Medicaid that somehow I'm not a Republican or a conservative, I think it's total nonsense, but you know that that's the way it goes.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  9. “Substance abuse on mental health issues, not necessarily because I've been personally touched by it. I mean, I don't have any disabled children, but yet I have passion about it. And look, when I look at the health care bill, here's what I think about. I think what would it be like if I didn't have any health care? And so I figure if it would be a nightmare for me, I know it's a nightmare for others. What can I do while I'm in power to get something done to let people feel some sort of confidence? And that's why I've done what I've done, because I think that getting people this healthcare in a comprehensive way makes sense. And so I'm not, I mean, I'm concerned about the Medicaid, but I'm also concerned about the exchanges. I don't want to see them collapse. That's how a lot of people who are above 138% of poverty are getting help. And I don't want, you know, Robert Taft, Mr. Republican.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  10. “Draw when you're out there. I think that's right. The question is, you know, because I've thought about this. Can you be an important voice without holding public office? And when I think about it, well, we know what Al Gore's done, but he was vice president. I mean, he changed the whole business of the environment. Calling Powell, does he have a lot of say? I think so. Robert Gates? Yeah. I mean, I think there are some, but I think it's extremely difficult to maintain a voice if you're not holding an office. Now you're trying to do that. You have a voice. And you know it's difficult, but you know, can it be done? We're sure as heck going to give it the best we can to see if it's possible.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  11. “I, you know, look. That would have to be 2020. Look, my folks advise me because my inclination is to say I'll never run for anything again. And they say, why do you say that, John? You don't know what the future is going to be. And they're right. So I don't know. I'm not am I planning for it? No. Do I have a political organization still active? Yes. Why? I want to have a team of people that can help me to have an effective voice. Because when you're talking about complicated issues like North Korea or you're talking about healthcare, you're talking about any of these things, you don't want to just talk. You want to know what you're talking about. And therefore, you have to have a team. And how do you get your voice into the media? How do you do that? I mean, it takes effort.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  12. “I have been taken away. I don't think people want that. I don't think his people want it. His people may want to take these strong positions, but these polls indicate that everybody would like to see people get along better. But we're not getting along in it. You know, the whole society is fighting. Well, let me pick.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  13. “I don't know where we're going to tell you the truth. I mean, his supporters are rock solid, but they're not a vast number. I mean, it's certainly not half the country. What I have found as I travel around on this book or when I just travel around period is that people come to me and many of them are just almost begging me to get to run again. You know, they're just like, we believe, I mean, there is a certain passion connected to it that has, I've now gotten used to it, but in the beginning kind of shocked me. You agree with that. I've got a friend sitting in the studio with me, David, it's been...”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  14. “Totally remarkable. I mean, if I said some of the things that he said, I would be, I would have been run out of Ohio. I mean, I cannot explain it. Maybe you can explain it, but I don't understand how people look the other way and didn't care about some of these very incendiary things that were said in the way it point not only him, but others behaved.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  15. “Well, but everybody is trying to find their little groove But David, I think there's a responsibility of people not just to make money, but to contribute to the discourse. And if all you want to do is to narrow yourself, then you ought to say it, I guess. But I don't know why you'd want to do that. But I mean, it's all about audience. It's all about ratings. It's all about money. And Michael Novak I think many of them feel like they are they were walking, walking, walking, and they were slipping into a big deep cave, and they were grabbing onto the sides, tearing out their fingernails, trying to figure out how to survive. And when people get like that, it's crazy. And now, of course, they're all making so much money because of what they call what they call it now, the Trump bump. Well, crazy.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  16. “And I got to be pretty good at it by the end because what you learn in television is you have to let go. I mean, it's like learning to swim. If you don't let go, you won't be good. But letting go is hard when you're doing television. Because that's what it was about. That was the biggest challenge. And then I really did enjoy it. But when I decided to form an exploratory committee, I had a leave. And I did.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  17. “Yeah, I mean, when I was there, it wasn't like that. I mean, I never did O'Reilly whenever I had a guest on there to say, oh yeah, I agree with you. It was always contentious. That's what made it so hard because I would basically study up on the show. I would help pick the subjects when I did O'Reilly. And then I would study on the show for a few, two, three hours, and then I would debate people. And I mean, I'm debating lawyers on complicated legal cases. I'm not even an attorney. It really was an intellectual challenge, the same way that Lehman Brothers was an intellectual challenge. You really had to expand yourself.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  18. “There's an opening there recently. Well, the problem is that when I was there, David, this is what's really interesting. Whenever I would host a show, it was always you had to find the other point of view. It was never that you could go on there and get somebody that would agree with you. And so it changed over time when the host started getting people to become sickophants for their point of view.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  19. “I didn't know him. I walked into his office and I said, I'd like to do a television show on Heroes. And I don't want to do anything political. And he goes, okay, I'll give you a one-year contract. We'll test you out. What should we pay you? So I gave him a number. He goes, no, that's ridiculous. We're not paying you that. So he gave me a difference. I didn't have an agent or anything. So I did it for a year. Then they hired me on two or three consecutive three-year contracts. I had my own show for four and a half years that I did basically from Columbus called Heartland. It was on a Saturday night. And then I hosted O'Reilly for about, I don't know, eight or nine years. In fact, they called me to host O'Reilly when I was still in Congress, and I even host a Chris Matthews show when I was in Congress. I have no idea.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  20. “David, it was so unusual when I was there. The first thing, how did I get this job? Well, I went around to all the networks. I said, I'd like to do a show on heroes. And they go, well, why would we put you on? CNN blew me off, MSNBC really didn't even give me the time of day. PBS, forget it. And I did not know Roger Ailes. And I walked in the house.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  21. “Make sure that that stuff default swaps, which are, you know, they're just all risky things. And yeah, I think there is a legitimate need for regulation. But if you go too far, I think Dodd-Frank went so far. You haven't seen any little banks get created here. And that's not good. Community banks, little banks, they're glue in our community. So, if they were going to, they needed to fix this whole thing of Dodd-Frank, but they don't need to get rid of all of it.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  22. “Well, I could remember when the stock was well over a hundred and started dropping, and I was in, because see, I didn't even work in New York, really. I worked in a two-man office in Columbus. And I could talk to a few people in Chicago, and they said, well, this is all going to be okay. And then it went under, you know, and we all lost a lot. Did I understand that? No, I probably, I did not really get exactly what was happening.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  23. “They talked about Lehman Brothers Great, greed. They kept taking all these bad loans and packaging them together and selling them and all this was just like It was like stacking one chair on top of another where the first four might work. But when you get up to about 12, it's about time for the chairs to tip over”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  24. “Yeah, but see, I wasn't doing that good. No, it was Most people would think a guy like me would come out, I'd be sitting in the boardroom. That's not what it was like. You know, they didn't even respect a former politician.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  25. “Yeah, I did that. I had speaking career. I wrote another book bestseller, I think, or two. And then I also taught I did a lot of academia. I was at three different universities on a short time basis. I served on some boards. I was really, really busy. And the Lehman Brothers thing was really amazing because they expected me to get up there and I don't know what the hell they expected, but I told them, I said, I'm not giving you any Rolodex. I want to be involved. I want to learn the business. I had to take all the tests. And I want to be, and what I found in that job is that I could do things peer-to-peer where they couldn't because bankers tend to be suck-ups, and I wasn't. I could tell a CEO, what are you doing here, you know? Now I wasn't going to crank out all the numbers, but I had, I think, a pretty significant impact. In terms of being in a management and all that, these guys didn't.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  26. “Well, I know, but I was a few years there where I think he was pretty angry at me, although he'd never admit it, but I think he was But anyway, I love John”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  27. “Yeah, I just couldn't get anywhere. And I'll tell you what, there was an early poll that showed me starting to rise in New Hampshire was when the war started in Kosovo, and I remember flying on the plane and McCain was on wall to wall coverage. And all of a sudden I told my people, I said, you know, this isn't going to work because he's sucking all the oxygen out of the room. So it got down to McCain and Bush, and then Bush considered me for vice president, and then he called me and he said the problem is if you and I run together, we were likely to blow the roof off of any place we walk into. So that was an interesting thing because I endorse Bush. And frankly, I really should have endorsed McCain. And I don't know why I did that. And I've had to apologize to John.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  28. “So, I never knew that I was going. The campaign for president was ridiculous. And what I found out is these guys had talked me into it. And look, I had some good supporters. I had Don Fierce, who's a great political strategist. I think you probably know who he is, Eddie Gillespie was my press guy. I mean, he even had the press guy for Rubio this last time, Todd Harris. I mean, I had guys from the White House. I mean, it was, but I didn't raise any money. It was ridiculous. So I just moved on.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  29. “Because I was done with Congress, I'd got the budget balanced, we'd limited the production of the B two. The campaigns were getting increasingly negative. And it was just a grind. And the guy who was my chief of staff who had helped me in my first campaign, he and I talked, and I decided like in 1996 I really didn't have many more campaigns in me. So I left. And he and I kind of said, yeah, let's get the hell out of town. So we left. And I was really sick and tired of the place. And look, in anything in life, you go up. It's better to get out on your way up than on your way down.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  30. “I did not. But he did sing a little bit when he was on Sesame Street, he did sing a song. And that was really great. It's too bad it wasn't recorded. But David, I would say that I had to be.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  31. “Well, you got to remember, I also became got on the budget committee and started offering budgets against my own president. And I fought for 10 years to get us to a balanced budget. At the same time, I was trying to limit the production of the B-2 bomber. At the same time, I was trying to reform welfare for the corporate welfare for the rich, and I worked with Ralph Dader I mean, it was really a great.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  32. “Exactly. So I said, I'm not going. And he says, I'm going to send a car because you're going to come see me perform. So I went backstage and they got me passes and everything. And so Dwight performed. I was on the side of the stage. You know, these stages are very big. And I went into his dressing room and he said, I'm leaving. And I said, well, I'm not leaving. I've never seen a grateful bed, really. So I'm going to stay. So I had all these passes. I tried to get back up on the stage and the guy's yelling at me. And I'm like, no, no, it's not loud at a concert, right? So some Washington Post reporter said, you know, I don't know what you were doing. You got kicked off the stage at a grateful dead concert. And that's really the story.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  33. “Well, look, I got a call from a friend of mine by the name of Dwight Yokebum, who was a country star. And I knew Dwight, and he called me up and he said, I'm opening for the grateful dead at RFK. And I said, Dwight, something happened to the telephone because I didn't understand this. He says, well, come and see me because I'm waiting for this.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  34. “I love this story. I'll tell you when they put it in USA today, they had this thing called the Congressman and the Dead. And my wife, who was my girlfriend at the time, was at home, and she saw this CNN story about a grateful dead concert. She called me up. She said, what the hell are you doing down there? But no, I would say, David, that what happened?”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  35. “Well, you know, when you come to the Keys Rocks. Where nobody ever gets anything, you fight your way up through the top. You were saying I was audacious? Well, hell yes, if I wasn't audacious, I'd still be living in McKee's Rock.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  36. “One time I was sitting in there, I'm thirty years old. Maybe he was 31 at that point. And I look at him all. I said, I feel like I'm looking at a history book, you know. It was an amazing experience.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  37. “I got to admire Les Aspen, who was a great leader of our committee, a brilliant strategist, and a terrible secretary of defense. But really, really a terrific guy. And I learned a lot from, you know, and then I, when I found the spare parts and everything, I got on the conference committee as a freshman. So I go to the first conference committee meeting, and we're talking all ancient history, so I hope no young people are listening. But there was John Tower and Barry Goldwater and John Stennis and Gary Hart and Teddy Kennedy. I mean, it was like looking in a history book. And what's his name from South Carolina? Strom Thurman. I mean,”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  38. “No, but they ran the Congress, so all the appropriations and all that stuff, they'd get 90 and the Republicans would get some crumbs. And I never thought of it that way because I had such a beautiful relationship with the Democrats on the Armed Services Committee because there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between the Republicans and the Democrats. My problem, I became a cheap hawk. And I started to say we need to make sure we clean up the defense department. And Republicans really resented it. I mean, they really resented what I was saying.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  39. “Part of it, I think, was the Democrats ran everything, so it was a comfortable situation. And, you know, I never thought of it.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  40. “Conservative Democrat from Alabama had his leg blown off in a war in World War II, and I take all these tools in there. And I go, I sit in his office, and I show him all this stuff. And he's got his glasses on. And he doesn't know what to say. And he pulls his glasses down over his eyes just like this. And he looks at me and he says, Your mamma, she doesn't have any more like you at home, does she? It was part of that whole spare parts investigation where I learned a lot.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  41. “That's like defense. That's like America. That should be very interesting. So I got on that committee. Tip made an arrangement for me to get on there and he added a seat. So listen to this. I go on this little tour of my district and I go to this Air Force station. And I'm with this colonel and he's getting ready to retire and we do a nice tour. And I'm sitting in his office. Why this happened? I don't know. I said, I'm getting ready to leave. Is there anything you'd like to tell me? I never ask anybody that. I said, is there anything you'd like to tell me? He said, well, there is. And he pulled his drawer open. And he goes, you see this wrench? He said, what do you think I paid for it? I said, I don't know, dollar and a quarter. He goes, ten thousand dollars. Then he pulls out this hammer and all this stuff. This was a part the bear part scandal. So I get all this stuff that he has and I go down to Washington and I go in to see Bill Nichols.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  42. “Was people could get along now? I had to get a committee assignment. So I couldn't get any committee assignments because I was a low man on a totem pole. So ultimately I figured out a way, finagled a way to get on the armed services committee. And I can remember my local reporter saying,”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  43. “And then I beat him. And I can remember that night, David. I can remember driving to the campaign headquarters. I can remember being in the car and saying to myself, what has just happened? You mean I'm going to go to Washington, that I'm going to be a congressman, and I'm going to work with presidents? It seemed like it was surreal, to be honest with you. It just was so wild.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  44. “But I almost lost. I almost lost because of a faux pas. And let me tell you, David, you appreciate this. My opponent voted for the nuclear freeze, and we had the B-1 bomber being made part of it, a big chunk of it, in Columbus. So I said that because my opponent voted for the nuclear freeze, he was basically voting to kill the B one bomber. And so Reagan gets up and he says his opponent, you know, this guy, he voted to kill the B1 bomber. Well, he didn't. He voted for the nuclear free. So this guy, I'm beating him. He goes on, it did a very effective commercial, black and white. And he goes on. He goes, Don Kasich and his henchmen lied to the President of the United States because I never voted against any other thing. And I like went way down. And then I squeaked it through. I had a resurgence.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  45. “For two years they wouldn't even recognize me. Then we begin in the majority, and I'm now the chairman of the health committee. So I made up my mind we've got to get things done. So I learned how to work with Democrats and pass legislation, and we rewrote the state's medical board bill, which was a big deal. And I learned how to do it. And by the way, when we took over control, the Republicans tried to have a tax increase. And I said, no, I'm not voting for it. And they called me irresponsible, so I wrote my own bill. And that's how I learned that if you know the budget, you know how things work. That's why I was interested in the budget. I don't care about numbers. It's all policy. The numbers just are a subset of the policy. So I learned how the government works.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  46. “This is a nice precocious young man, uh. You know, a nice looking young man. He's got a lot of energy. And what the heck? Why not help him? And so I won this stunning victory that no one thought I could win, and there I am in the legislature. In fact, when I first went there, they thought I was a page, and some of the members didn't like me because I was so young and they were much older than I was. But, you know, one thing I learned is when you know things, you know. They can't question you. If you're young and you don't know what you're talking about, you have a problem. So I always tried to know what it was I was talking about because I would have more information in the other people because I'd study it and then, you know, I could fight with them the best of them, you know, including people in my party.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  47. “Yeah. Well, I would call people. And I would say I want to run for the state senate. I was probably 25 at the time, actually. I want to run for the state Senate. And I want to reduce taxes and create jobs and grow the economy. And I don't know what all I said. But it was compelling. Now, I would call out of the phone book exchanges that I recognize were in a certain town. And most people would hang up. And then when they finally didn't hang up, I'd talk to them for a while. And then I said, could I come see you? And I'd drive to their house. And then I would ask him to get their neighbors in. And then I would go in and talk to the neighbors about who I was. And I think, David, it was nothing more than...”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  48. “This would have been, well, it probably was like then in 1978 then. But I started the campaign sooner than that because I didn't know anybody. And I actually got to the point. I knew a few people in the town”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  49. “It started when I was about running for this job at about 24 and a half. And I knew nobody. And the party was not. But I ran in the seat that they thought was not winnable. That's why they let me be the nominee. In fact, the party recommended me as the candidate by one vote, which is really pretty remarkable.”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source

  50. “You always know you're going to run. I really never was because my view was Republicans were for maximum freedom for me. No bureaucracy, no standing in line, none of that stuff. And I kind of thought that Democrats were like, okay, wait in line here. We got all this stuff we're going to do. And it never appealed to me. And I honestly don't know why that is. Because my mother who influenced me a lot, at that point in time, I think she was a Democrat. My dad was a Democrat all of his lifetime. So why I became a Republican? I can't actually tell you what is it that sparked that in me because I never met a Republican until I went to college because everybody in our town was a Democrat. It's kind of weird, isn't it?”

    2017-05-04 · The Axe Files with David Axelrod · Ep. 144 - Gov. John Kasich · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source