Lashes out...

Kasich lashes out: ‘What has happened to the conservative movement?’

By Daniel Strauss

Ohio Gov. John Kasich's first real foray into attacking his Republican rivals centered on him ticking off a list of critiques he has with the 2016 Republican presidential field.

Kasich, at a rally a day before the next Republican presidential debate, lit into the field. He didn't name names but critiqued a set of policy positions championed by multiple 2016 GOP candidates.

"I've about had it with these people," Kasich said at the rally in Westerville, Ohio. "We got one candidate that says we ought to abolish Medicaid and Medicare. You ever heard of anything so crazy as that? Telling our people in this country who are seniors, who are about to be seniors that we're going to abolish Medicaid and Medicare?"

Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has acknowledged that he would like to gut Medicare.

Kasich went on, saying, "We got one person saying we ought to have a 10 percent flat tax that will drive up the deficit in this country by trillions of dollars" and there's another challenger in the field who "says we ought to take 10 or 11 [million] people and pick them up — I don't know where we're going to go, their homes, their apartments — we're going to pick them up and scream at them to get out of our country. That's crazy. That is just crazy."

Donald Trump has expressed support for deporting immigrants living in the country illegally.

"We got people proposing health care reform that's going to leave, I believe, millions of people without adequate health insurance," Kasich says. "What has happened to our party? What has happened the conservative movement?"

The comments by Kasich come ahead of the next Republican presidential debate in Boulder, Colorado, on Wednesday night. The governor is hoping a good debate performance will reverse less-than-ideal fundraising numbers in the last quarter and lackluster polling, despite his campaign and a pro-Kasich super PAC investing heavily in New Hampshire.