GOP senator [Sasse] calls for 'adult' third-party candidate

The Hill ^ | 05/05/2016 | Jesse Byrnes

[GIdget2004]

Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) is calling for a third-party presidential candidate to emerge, saying there is no reason to believe that either of the two national front-runners "believe in limiting anything about DC's power."

The conservative senator late Wednesday issued the call in a letter on Facebook to "the majority of Americans" who wonder why the U.S. "can't find a healthy leader who can take us forward together." "With Clinton and Trump, the fix is in. Heads, they win; tails, you lose. Why are we confined to these two terrible options? This is America. If both choices stink, we reject them and go bigger," Sasse wrote.

"Why shouldn't America draft an honest leader who will focus on 70% solutions for the next four years? You know...an adult?" Sasse added.

Sasse envisions a candidate who hasn't spent their life in politics, "either buying politicians or being bought." He also wants a candidate to serve for only one term "as a care-taker problem-solver for this messy moment."

Sasse, the father of three kids, indicated he's not interested in being that candidate himself, arguing for someone who can campaign around the clock through November.

"Although I'm one of the most conservative members of the Senate, I'm not interested in an ideological purity test, because even a genuine consensus candidate would almost certainly be more conservative than either of the two dishonest liberals now leading the two national parties," he added.

Sasse is one of few leading Republicans who have indicated that they will never support Trump as the nominee and signaled in February that if Trump becomes the presumptive GOP nominee, as the businessman has this week, he'd look for a third-party alternative.

[rarestia]

Here we go...

[boycott]

He should be removed from the party.

[outpostinmass2]

Sen. Ben Sasse is looking for a D.C. insider that will keep the status quo. He needs that bribe money to keep pouring in.

[ObamahatesPACoal]

He has a Dylan Roof bowl cut, as Trump would call, straight from central casting.

[Dr. Sivana]

Why not run for the spot yourself, Sen. Sasse?

[TigerClaws]

The GOPe is fine with Hillary.

The illusion of our two party fraud system has been exposed by Trump.

There is one party of elites who pretend to be on opposite sides. In fact, they are an evil cabal controlled by globalists bent on destroying national borders and America in the process.

[stockpirate]

The RNC should stop aiding his reelection efforts.

[af_vet_1981]

Sasse, the father of three kids, indicated he's not interested in being that candidate himself, arguing for someone who can campaign around the clock through November.

Typical resume for the elite who make a living telling others what they need to do ...

Sasse graduated from Harvard University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in government. He also studied at the University of Oxford during the fall of 1992 on a junior year abroad program.[6]

Sasse graduated from St. John’s College in 1998 with a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies and from Yale University with a Master of Arts degree (M.A.), Master of Philosophy (M.Phil.) and Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D), all from the Department of History, in 2004. Sasse’s dissertation, The Anti-Madalyn Majority: Secular Left, Religious Right, and the Rise of Reagan's America won the Theron Rockwell Field (best dissertation) and the George Washington Egleston (history) Prizes.[6][7]

Career and politics[edit] From September 1994 to November 1995, Sasse worked as an associate consultant at the management consulting firm, Boston Consulting Group. For the next year, Sasse served as consultant/executive director for the Christians United For Reformation (CURE).[6] During Sasse's tenure, CURE merged with the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals (ACE), and Sasse became executive director of ACE in Anaheim, California.[6][8]

From January 2004 to January 2005, Sasse served as chief of staff for the U.S. Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy in Washington, D.C. and as a part-time assistant professor at the University of Texas at Austin by commuting to Austin to teach. Sasse left the Department of Justice in 2005 to serve as chief of staff to Representative Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE) from January 2005 to July 2005.[6]

Sasse then advised the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington, DC, on national security issues from July 2005 to September 2005 as a consultant. Sasse moved to Austin, Texas, to resume his professorship full-time from September 2005 to December 2006.[6]

From December 2006 to December 2007, Sasse served as counselor to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in Washington, DC, where he advised the Secretary on a broad spectrum of health policy issues, from affordable healthcare access to food safety and security.

In July 2007, Sasse was nominated by President George W. Bush to the post of Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.[9][10] His appointment was confirmed by the Senate in December 2007[11] and served until the end of the Bush Administration in January 2009. During his tenure at HHS, Sasse took unpaid leave from the University of Texas.[6]

During 2009, Sasse was advising private equity clients and health care investors and teaching at the University of Texas.[12][13] In October 2009, Sasse officially joined the University of Texas LBJ School of Public Affairs’ Center for Politics and Governance as a fellow, before being appointed president of Midland University.[14]

Midland University[edit] Sasse was announced as the 15th president of Midland University in October 2009. At the age of 37, he became one of the youngest chief executives in American higher education when he took over leadership of the 128-year-old institution in the spring of 2010. He was officially installed as President on December 10, 2010.[3] When Sasse announced his intention to run for U.S. Senate, he offered to resign his post at Midland. Instead, the Board asked him to stay at Midland under a partial leave of absence;[15] in October 2013, Sasse's employment contract was amended to reduce his presidential duties and salary.[16]

[dasboot]

“He should be removed from the party.”

Why? He’s taking the corrupt faction of the GOP over the cliff and into the sea, if he’s successful. Holding breath until they die. OK!

[Donglalinger]

I see a lot of cocktail party invitations in Ben’s future

[Tax-chick]

I sympathize with the guy, but this is nuts.

[HombreSecreto]

It should be noted that Ben Sasse was supported in his election bid by the Senate Conservatives Fund.

[Cboldt]

One of the pipsqueak talking heads, in the nominal GOP camp, also in the #NeverTrump camp, floated Sasse and Romney as "solid conservatives" who should run.

None of this action is surprising. #NeverTrump has a megaphone, and is going to use it. That's not a bug, it's a feature. Smoke 'em out.

[dforest]

Sasse calling for an adult.

That is after laying on the ground and kicking and screaming like a spoiled child because he didn’t get his way.

[dasboot]

“Sasse graduated from Harvard University in 1994 with a bachelor’s degree in government.”

Degree in Government? Like that’s a good thing? From Harvard?

[Lazamataz]

He should be removed from the party.

He *IS* the GOP.

[circlecity]

Such a candidate would merely insure a Hillary victory - which I suspect is what Sasser really wants.

[HarleyD]

"Why shouldn't America draft an honest leader who will focus on 70% solutions for the next four years?

Republican voters did. The liberals, MSM, and Republican leadership just don't like it. Should tell us something about the elite running the country.

[dasboot]

‘The RNC should stop aiding his reelection efforts.’

IIRC, Trump IS the head of the party. I think it’s a given, unless Don is betrayed by scheming insiders in a Shakespearian ending. The fight is never over, and keeping enemies close is also dangeroys.