Kasich: ‘I Don’t Read a Bible to Figure out What I Think’

‘The Medicaid decision was — I didn’t read the Bible to decide that … I just have a heart for people who have been disabled or disadvantaged’

BASH: “OK. So you talk a lot about the fact that your faith guides you. And, specifically, it guided you on your decision to accept Medicaid dollars. You talk about the fact that, when you die, you're not going to be asked at the pearly gates if you cut enough government spending, but did you help people who need it most? Beyond Medicaid domestically, where else does that principle guide you and your policy?”

KASICH: “Well, I think it relates to like, you know, like early childhood education, poor kids, people who are in prison, giving them a chance to get their lives back if they want to earn their way there. But let me -- let me say that the Medicaid decision was not -- I didn't read a Bible to decide that. I knew that, number one, we would save money by taking people out of prison and letting them get a job where they could become a taxpayer. So we save money over the long run by this. But, secondly, there's the morality of, why would we want to lock a schizophrenic or a bipolar person in a prison cell? That's not what America is. You know, I don't, like, read a Bible to figure out what I think.”

BASH: “But you obviously –“

KASICH: “But I have a heart for people who - and, look, I don't question anybody else's, but I just have a heart for people who have been disabled or disadvantaged. And, you know, I care about them.”

BASH: “You talk about the social safety net in a way that a lot of Republicans don't. You sound like a Democrat sometimes.”

KASICH: “I think Republicans allowed themselves to be put in a box. Like, if I care about people - like, some lady whispered to me when I walked out of that town hall, she says, ‘Thanks for caring about people.’ And she's, like, whispering, like that's -- no. To me, conservatism is giving everybody a chance to be able to successful. That's the way Reagan was. I mean, that's common sense.”

 

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