Debate Audience Sours on John Kasich, Boos Him During Bailout Discussion

Ohio Governor John Kasich fought for more time during the Fox Business debate this evening, but as he grew increasingly agitated over what he saw as a lack of experience on key issues, the audience got tired of his preaching.

At one point, they booed the governor when he was defending the notion of bailing out banks in order to keep them from failing.

CRUZ: What would you do if the bank was failing?

KASICH: I would not let the people who put their money in there all go down.

CRUZ: So you — you would bail them out.

KASICH: As an executive — no. As an executive, I would figure out how to separate those people who can afford it versus those people, or the hard-working folks who put those money in those institutions…

As the audience booed, Kasich tried to clarify: “Let me — no, no. Let me say another thing. Here’s what I mean by that. Here’s what I mean by that,” he said before insisting that a leader had to “deal with it” without “turning a blind eye” to the problems.

With nearly 12 minutes of speaking time, Kasich came in second for the most amount of time given (or taken) during the debate.

He appeared willing to interrupt any of the non-establishment candidates to remind them about what he saw as the “realities” of serving as an executive, and he frequently charged over the moderators, ignoring the bell signaling the end of his time.

Kasich even stepped on the toes of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who protested.

“You’ve already made two comments, John. It’s my turn,” Bush said. “I got about four minutes in the last debate. I’m going to get my question right now.”

After Donald Trump answered a question about stopping amnesty, Kasich jumped in, “Can we comment on that? Can we comment on that?” he repeated.

“If people think that we are going to ship 11 million people who are law-abiding, who are in this country, and somehow pick them up at their house and ship them out of Mexico — to Mexico, think about the families. Think about the children,” he said indignantly.

Tonight, Kasich may have earned his ticket off the main debate stage. His combative, argumentative demeanor with the more conservative candidates on stage might have soured a lot of Iowa and New Hampshire voters.