Bill Kristol

Republican Party Split Begins Around Presumptive Nominee Donald Trump!

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The Republican Party is deteriorating before our eyes, as they face the threat of Donald Trump.

George H. W. Bush, George W. Bush, Mitt Romney, Jeb Bush, Lindsey Graham all reject him.

So does Erick Erickson, Bill Kristol, most of the Weekly Standard and National Review conservatives, and most US Senators and Congressmen of the party.

Others such as John McCain and Susan Collins and Kelly Ayotte are steering clear of him, while not repudiating him.

Many Republican Senators running for reelection are in a no win situation, including McCain, Ayotte, Rob Portman, Ron Johnson, Pat Toomey, and Mark Kirk.

Many Wall Street Republicans, and much of the Wall Street Journal group, and even elements of the Fox News Channel crowd, reject Trump’s candidacy.

Neoconservatives in the party are infuriated with Trump’s foreign policy views.

Social conservatives cannot accept Trump’s support of limited abortion rights and LGBT rights, including transgender bathroom issues.

And Speaker of the House Paul Ryan stating his inability to support Trump at this point is totally stunning!

There is a sense of desperation, and the belief we are in the midst of a revolution in the party system!

Conservatives Desperate! Floating Idea Of Tom Coburn Or Rick Perry As Third Party Alternative To Donald Trump!

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The conservative movement is desperate, as they foresee disaster for their movement and for the Republican Party, and rightfully so, with the almost certain nomination of Donald Trump as the Republican Presidential nominee this summer at the GOP National Convention in Cleveland.

The likelihood is, more than ever, that the Democrats will win the Presidency, regain control of the US Senate, be able to transform the Supreme Court majority to the liberal-progressive side, and possibly win the House of Representatives majority.

The latter is hard to accomplish, but the effect of Trump could cause that disaster for the Republican Party.

So now, Bill Kristol of THE WEEKLY STANDARD and other conservatives are promoting the idea of a third party movement, with former Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn or former Texas Governor Rick Perry as potential nominees!

That is so hilarious, as both are terrible choices and will NOT help the conservative cause.

This blogger has already listed Coburn as one of the absolutely worst members of the Senate historically in previous posts over the last number of years, and Perry is a true example of an
“empty suit”,who can never outlive the embarrassment of his inability to remember federal agencies he wished to eliminate, during debates in the Presidential Election campaign of 2012!

With such choices, it demonstrates just how clueless and bankrupt the conservative movement has become, as it reaches a nadir in its evolution!

 

Cocky, Arrogant, Smug, Smirker Bill Kristol Gets Comeuppance On THIS WEEK On ABC News!

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Bill Kristol, publisher of The Weekly Standard, one of the leading conservative journals of opinion, and a leading Neoconservative, who advocated intervention in Iraq a decade ago, is always willing to promote US military intervention all over the world, as long as he does not, himself, have skin in the game.

A true “chicken hawk,” Kristol is one of the most obnoxious of all necons, being extremely cocky, arrogant, smug, and a smirker with an attitude that he knows it all. Watching him makes one wish he could wipe the smirk off his face!

On ABC’s THIS WEEK on Sunday, Kristol finally got his comeuppance, when Katrina Vanden Heuvel, the publisher of The Nation,which is one of the leading progressive-liberal journals of opinion, and Matthew Dowd, who was an aide to President George W. Bush, both went on the attack against Kristol and other necons, and effectively shut him up, although it is clear Kristol does not wish to listen or to learn, as he has all the answers, with his intellectual snobbery!

Vanden Heuvel suggested that if Kristol really believed in further military intervention in the Middle East, that he enlist in the military, and put his own skin in the game, to which Kristol had no answer.

It is amazing how many necons, including the most infamous, former Vice President Dick Cheney, never served in the military, but are only too willing to send the sons and daughters of others to war!

The Neocons: Despicable Hypocrites!

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The Neoncons, those conservatives and Republicans who drew us into the Iraq War on false intelligence, are at it again, advocating further intervention in a hopeless war, in a nation which should, and likely, will be, soon, three nations instead of one, as the concept of Iraq created by Great Britain and France after World War I, has been a total failure, accelerated by the US intervention in 2003!

The nerve and gall of the neocons–mostly “Chicken Hawks” who never served in the military–to advocate return to Iraq, and to blame the mess there on Barack Obama, rather than George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, is beyond belief!

To see Paul Wolfowitz, Bill Kristol, Kark Rove, Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and his daughter Liz, and so many other hypocrites, all liars and deceivers, advocate the same failed policies, is enough to make one vomit!

To see John McCain and Lindsey Graham call for more military intervention, despite their military service, is also hard to conceptualize, and makes one happy McCain was not elected President in 2008!

Somehow, particularly annoying, is Bill Kristol, publisher of the Weekly Standard, with that classic smirk on his face, calling for more intervention everywhere, despite the fact that everything he has ever stated and advocated, has proven to be totally wrong! One would love to meet Kristol, and put him on the defensive, and really, wipe that smirk off his cocky, arrogant face!

These people listed above are so outrageous and obnoxious, it makes one wish to send them to Iraq to the front lines to fight the battle they are so dedicated to, as long as they and others around them do not have to serve, with the only exception in this regard being the son of John McCain, who has followed in the distinct tradition of his dad, although his dad is so wrong headed right now on this matter!

Rand Paul And Rupert Murdoch As His Guest At The Kentucky Derby: A “Marriage” Made In Heaven?

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Kentucky Senator Rand Paul is working at wooing Rupert Murdoch, and invited him as his guest at the Kentucky Derby horse race last weekend.

It made quite a splash in the newspapers and on cable tv, that the Australian tycoon in his 80s, one of the most powerful conservative giants, as the owner of Fox News Channel, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Post, and The Weekly Standard, was allowing himself to be the guest of the son of the libertarian giant, former Congressman Ron Paul of Texas.

The question is whether this means that Rand Paul will eventually gain the backing of Murdoch and his top lieutenants in the conservative spectrum of politics, including Roger Ailes and Bill Kristol, among others.

At this point, it would seem highly unlikely, but it could be a “shotgun” marriage, although the odds of Paul being the GOP Presidential nominee, let alone the winner of the Presidency in 2016, is highly speculative!

The Battle Between Bush I Loyalists And Bush II Loyalists Begins Over Chuck Hagel Nomination For Defense Secretary

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Hard to conceive, but the battle between loyalists to President George H. W. Bush and loyalists to President George W. Bush has begun over the nomination of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to be Barack Obama’s Secretary of Defense in his second term in the Presidency.

The “old guard” Establishment Conservatives around the first President Bush, including Brent Scowcroft, James Baker, Colin Powell, Condoleezza Rice, and the former President himself, have no major problems with Hagel.

On the other hand, the neoconservatives, including Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, and conservative ideologues like Bill Kristol of the Weekly Standard, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, Elliot Abrams, Frank Gaffney, John Bolton, and Charles Krauthammer all will find Hagel wanting in his foreign and defense policy views. It is not clear where President George W. Bush will come down, but in theory, he would agree with his key advisers and consultants mentioned above. Note that Powell and Rice are more linked to father Bush, and both were certainly involved in major battles with Cheney, Rumsfeld, and others during the second Bush Administration.

It will be an interesting battle, and it is likely that many Republican Senators will refuse to back Hagel, including Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, newly sworn in Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, and Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, who has particularly gone on the attack already against Hagel.

A key person to watch will be Senator John McCain of Arizona, who still harbors resentment that Hagel backed Obama over him in the 2008 Presidential campaign, and vehemently disagrees with Hagel on issues involving Afghanistan and Iraq and Iran. McCain has been attacking Obama on every front lately, but will he concede that Obama has a right to the Defense Secretary he wants?

Stay tuned for the fireworks, particularly to wonder where Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky will take their stand–with the old line establishment figures, which include also many military and naval leaders; or with the neoconservatives who brought us into long, drawn out wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with very little success!

Secretary Of State John Kerry Or Secretary Of State Susan Rice? Kerry Should Be Favored!

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With all of the hullabaloo over Senator John McCain’s derogatory comments about United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice in regards to the September 11 Libyan ambassador death controversy, a momentum has built up in the Obama Administration to double down on Rice, and decide to nominate her to be Hillary Clinton’s replacement as Secretary of State.

Susan Rice is certainly qualified for the position, and would do a fine job in the State Department. She has excellent qualifications, and educational and scholarly credentials to back her up for the nomination.

But what this struggle between John McCain and Barack Obama has done is minimize the possibility that the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and 2004 Democratic Presidential nominee, Senator John Kerry, might gain the position.

Kerry has has a long, distinguished career in the Senate, and had he been President, he would have had to deal with all of the many international matters that would have arisen. He has been a forceful spokesmen on foreign affairs for many years, and having been an anti war advocate in the past, SHOULD be seen as a positive factor, unlike conservative commentator Bill Kristol’s assertion on Fox News Channel yesterday that Kerry’s past anti war stands should disqualify him for the position. Kerry truly deserves this position, and would not be the first losing Presidential candidate to become Secretary of State, joining a long list who have served in the State Department after losing the Presidency, including

HENRY CLAY
JOHN C CALHOUN
DANIEL WEBSTER
LEWIS CASS
JAMES G BLAINE
WILLIAM JENNINGS BRYAN
CHARLES EVANS HUGHES

Also, there have been former Presidential contenders, who failed to win the nomination, who have later served as Secretary of State, including:

WILLIAM SEWARD
EDMUND MUSKIE
HILLARY CLINTON

So TEN former Presidential seekers have gone on to serve as Secretary of State, and anyone with knowledge of American diplomatic history KNOWS that they are among the very best people we have had in that position, particularly the case with Clay, Calhoun, Webster, Blaine, Hughes, Seward, and Clinton. So if seven out of the ten have made a major impact, that is an excellent argument for John Kerry as Secretary of State!

Some Conservative Activists Recognize Need For Change In Republican Party Views, But It Will NOT Revive Republican Fortunes!

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Imagine this: SOME conservative activists are realizing that there is a need for change in the Republican Party views, but it will NOT have a positive effect on the fortunes of the GOP any time soon.

Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity suddenly thinks that the GOP attitude toward Hispanics and Latinos should change, and that a passage to citizenship for eleven million undocumented immigrants is the answer to this problem.

Bill Kristol, also on Fox News Channel on Sundays, and editor of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, suddenly believes that it is right to tax millionaires and billionaires, as necessary for the economic growth of America.

Karen Hughes, former adviser to President George W. Bush, has made it clear that Republicans can no longer use the issue of rape and abortion against women, and that women will not accept the extremist views of the Republicans toward the rights of women to be in charge of their own lives.

These are all feeble attempts, however, as plenty of other conservatives and Republicans, such as Rush Limbaugh, Grover Norquist, and Glenn Beck advocate no change in Republican principles or policies..

Also, even if there were unity on changing the ideas and principles of the Republican Party, why would any intelligent voter, whether a person of Hispanic or Latino heritage, a middle class taxpayer, or a woman, believe a word they say?

After all, talk is cheap, and it will take YEARS before any of the groups which voted for Barack Obama will again, if indeed ever, have trust and faith in the Republican Party, so the Democrats have a tremendous advantage as one looks forward to the future of our political system.

After all, the Democrats have won the popular vote now in FIVE of the past six elections, only failing to do so in 2004!

The Republican Party of 1988 under George H. W. Bush and of 1980 under Ronald Reagan is long distant history!

Republicans Starting To Panic In Congressional Races After Romney’s “47 Percent” Comments

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The effects of Mitt Romney’s “47 percent” comments, secretly taped in May at a fundraiser in Boca Raton, Florida, are starting to be seen in Congressional races throughout the nation.

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown; Connecticut Senate candidate Linda McMahon and others are repudiating what he said, with Brown pointing out that his family needed “public assistance” when he was young.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, not on the ballot this year, was highly critical of Romney, and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he wished to represent “all” people in his state, not just those who voted for him.

Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal and Bill Kristol in the Weekly Standard were very harsh on Romney, saying that veterans and senior citizens, part of the 47 percent who do not now pay federal income taxes, are part of the Romney supporters, and that Romney should be able to win with the difficult economic conditions in the nation, but is running a horrible campaign.

Polls in many Senate races show the Democrats likely to win some GOP seats and retain many of their own this November, even though two thirds of the seats coming up are presently held by Democrats, and it was thought that the Republicans would gain seats and the majority in the Senate.

Much more about the Senate races will be covered and analyzed by this author over the next few weeks, but Romney is, seemingly, self destructing, further proved when running mate Paul Ryan said Romney had been “inarticulate” in what he had said!

Fox News Channel Poll Shows Obama Ahead Of Romney By Five Points!

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Imagine this: Fox News Channel, which has been attacking Barack Obama relentlessly for years, has come out with a poll showing Obama five points ahead of Mitt Romney, 48-43!

How is Sean Hannity and Bill O’Reilly going to explain this?

How is Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and Michael Savage and Mark Levin and Ann Coulter and Laura Ingraham and Michael Reagan and Lou Dobbs and Michelle Malkin going to explain this?

How is the Tea Party Movement and the evangelical Christian Right going to explain this?

How is John Boehner and Mitch McConnell and Eric Cantor going to explain this?

How is Human Events, the Weekly Standard, The National Review, the American Conservative and NewsMax going to explain this?

How is George Will, Bill Kristol, Tony Perkins and Grover Norquist going to explain this?

The answer is that they cannot answer this—and that when one realizes that this five point lead is BEFORE the gaffe of Mitt Romney about Libya is computed, it can only mean a wider lead for Obama in the next poll!

In other words, while no one wants to say it, face the facts!

THE ELECTION IS OVER, AND BARACK OBAMA IS THE WINNER OF A SECOND TERM!

But that does not mean one should not vote, as until the vote is counted, nothing is one hundred percent, BUT it is safe to say that the election is indeed over!