Posted on 07/13/2011 3:14:58 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said Tuesday that fellow Republican Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman who has been surging in the 2012 GOP presidential sweepstakes in recent weeks, was unelectable and unqualified to be commander in chief.
The former Pennsylvania governor, who also served in the U.S. House, gave the stinging assessment in an interview with The Washington Times on the sidelines of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition conference in Washington.
We have a pretty inexperienced president right now, Mr. Ridge said. You see the range of issues in the 21st-century world. We are interconnected, we are integrated. Our ability to connect for both security and prosperity reasons now and forever more, I think, requires a set of experiences that she just doesnt have in her portfolio.
....Mr. Ridge, who said he was very partial to the governors that are in the race, leavened his criticism of the three-term House lawmaker with praise, calling her a very articulate and very formidable candidate with a level of sophistication and a hell of a personal story.
[snip]
We have to say to ourselves as a party: Consistent with principles that we have, do we want to win or are we into Pyrrhic victories? he said. Do we want to appoint Supreme Court justices? Do we want to appoint a Cabinet? Do we want to set a domestic and foreign policy agenda? ......
Now, of course, he added, if were into Pyrrhic victories if we like to win battles and lose wars who knows who well nominate?
Asked whether he thought Mrs. Bachmann had been unfairly compared to former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, also thought to be considering the 2012 race, Mr. Ridge chuckled. I think she compares quite well, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Don’cha just LOVE it when these RINOs go affter all Conservatives?
They treat this as some sort of horrible sin like lynching blacks. The website got shut down after the story and they act as if that were some attempt to hide from guilt.
No girls for President, I guess - especially Christian girls.
Well that’s it, when Tom Ridge speaks, GWB and the Republican Party listen, but no one knows why.
Re this Ridge idiot in an article posted last night:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2747599/posts?page=1e
Perhaps the type of “experience” Mr. Ridge is looking for is like that of a former Texas governor who pushed the unfunded MediPill program, a massive LBJ-type big government program, No Child Left Standing (federal government meddling in state education), endless pushes for amnesty, and a convenient misplacing of his veto pen while the RINO congress in his first term spent more than in the Clinton years.
That kind of “executive experience” I can do without, Mr. Ridge.
I want a consistent conservative this time, and Michele Bachmann fits that bill more closely than any other candidate who has been willing to specifically stake out his or her positions.
The problem is that so many Republican primary voters believe such RINOs. Our own little voters can barely think for themselves. They need “help” from the leadership.
Aren’t you thinking of John Ashcroft?
Why is it that we never hear the RINO’s talk about to total lack of experience that put Obozo into office. The guy never ran a lemonade stand. His biggest accomplishment was handing ouit “anti” something brochures on the street corners of the South Side of Chicago. Now Ridge wants to talk about inexperience, he can talk all day about Obozo.
Missy the Cat (my pride and joy) is infinitely more qualified to run the country than BHO.
When was he President and other than the fact that he is critical of Michelle, what makes tiny tommy an expert on Presidential qualifications.
I read the US Constitution, and Michelle is qualified.
Piss off the edge of a ridge.
July 13, 2011 | 6:29 AM |”Quinnipiac Poll: Bachmann “Surging” Into Second Place”
“Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn., has supplanted other hopefuls as the strongest opponent to former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in the race for the Republican presidential nomination, according to a new Quinnipiac University poll released early Wednesday.
Romney leads Bachmann, 25 percent to 14 percent. They are followed by two potential candidates who have not yet declared whether they will run: former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (12 percent) and Texas Gov. Rick Perry (10 percent).
Romney’s share of the vote is exactly identical to the previous Quinnipiac poll, in early June. But Bachmann has jumped eight points — from six percent — to take over second place.
“Perhaps more than any of the other GOP contenders, Bachmann’s fortunes may depend on whether ... Palin or Perry get into the race,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “All three of them are likely to appeal to the GOP’s Tea Party constituency.”
Palin has slipped slightly, down from 15 percent in June. Perry was not previously tested.
Rounding out the GOP field are businessman Herman Cain (6 percent); former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (5 percent); Rep. Ron Paul, R-Tex. (5 percent); former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty (3 percent); former Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., (1 percent), former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman (1 percent); and Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, R-MIch., (less than 1 percent).............”
http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2011/07/quinnipiac-poll-3.php
Awesome, the circular firing squad begins forming.....
No, the horse race is starting in earnest.
A few years back a FReeper posted a great description of the inside the beltway GOP.
Every 4 years the GOP establishment floods out of the big tent to pat conservatives on the back and shake hands as they remind us that the big tent can fit everyone inside.
They then begin herding conservatives inside and lure us to the voting booths near the rear flap of the tent with big promises.
As soon as we vote we’re jerked out of the booth and shoved out into the rain and mud where we spend the next 4 years as someone occasionally steps outside to chuck a brick at our heads.
There are really two parties: The Pro-Aborts and Everyone Else. Pro-Abort “Republicans” will stab any pro-lifer in the back anytime in order to help a Pro-Abort Democrat.
When Ridge took over in Pennsylvania, all inspections of abortion clinics ceased. Ridge is directly responsible for the horrors, the filth, and the murders of the born-alive aborted babies in Philadelphia.
I was taught as a child that ANYONE (qualified under the Constitution) could grow up and become President. That’s what supposedly made this country great. There was never anything about “experience” and I think our current occupant has established that precedent anyway. Why do these guys act as if membership in an elite class is the qualifier?
I wonder if he thought Obama was “ready”. (Shovel ready is all!)
He’s probably of the school of thought that criticizing 0bama is inherently racist.
Yeah, I can’t wait until some lefty says our candidate is “unqualified” or “inexperienced”.
After Barky? Ya gotta be kiddin’ me.
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Really? Don't you mean eligible? Because by your standard the idiot behind the counter at the DMV is qualified as long as she is 35, and born here legally of parents who were born here.
Qualified to run is not the same as qualified to actually do the job. Millions and millions are qualified to run.
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