GOP presidential contender John Kasich says he didn't intend to imply he wanted to create a new government agency to promote Judeo-Christian values, but was talking more in terms of the old Voice of America radio broadcasts from the Cold War era when he made the suggestion recently.
Appearing Sunday on
"Meet the Press," the Ohio governor said the phrase was not intended to be anti-Muslim.
"I think it's the Western ethic, Western civilization that is under attack," he said, adding that Islamic terrorists don't want to negotiate. "This is almost a metaphysical battle where they're saying they want to destroy our very way of life."
He told moderator Chuck Todd his statement didn't relate to "any new agency, not anything about going to church," but was "about who we are as the West that represents freedom and life and progress. That's what we need to communicate to the world."
Kasich also appeared
"The Cats Roundtable" on AM 970 in New York Sunday morning where he told host John Catsimatidis he agrees with pausing the United States' acceptance of Syrian refugees.
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"I, as the governor of Ohio, have written to the president and to the Congress saying, 'No, this is time to take the pause,'" he said. "We don’t know who these people are, and we know that many of them in Syria, who represent these radicals, are intent on infiltrating us."
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