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 doesn’t 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 we’re into Pyrrhic victories if we like to win battles and lose wars who knows who we’ll 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 ...
This is sad.
And who defines “qualified to do the job”? Seems quite subjective to me.
You’re right. Sorry Mr. Ridge.
Er, Tom, I think the voters can decide for themselves what mattters to them when deciding a presidential candidate.
My guess is that Tom is pulling for Mitt. Cut from the same cloth.
I compare this clown to our current Republican Governor, Tom Corbett, and am greatly encouraged by our progress.
We all define qualified to do the job when we vote. We are not always right though. And, imo, neither MB nor SP is qualified to do the job. Either would get my vote in the general but neither will in any primary.
William F Buckley once said, “I would rather be governed by the first 100 names in the Boston Telephone book than the faculty at Harvard.”
Bachman, Palin, Cain, I will vote for any of those.
So you are voting for obama then, eh??? A vote for a Rino is a vote for obama...And outside of Sarah, Michelle and Herman, Rino's are all that's left...
And there won't be another Rino President...
That’s a very accurate description of the situation.
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Oh, you're one of those freepers...have a nice day.
If Bachmann can knock-off big money RINOS, that’s all the experience she needs. We need candidates with courage and vision, not establishment credentials.
Tom Ridge.. The ‘Foundering Father’ of our illustrious TSA organization.
He’s about as exciting as a soggy bag of potato chips.
Why not go for the whole enchilada?
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