Posted on 06/01/2016 1:39:22 PM PDT by jazusamo
A group of prominent conservative activists, including the writer and radio host Erick Erickson, aren’t satisfied with Bill Kristol’s suggestion of David French as a third party candidate and are still looking for another alternative to Donald Trump.
The activists are working separately from Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard who favors French, according to two sources familiar with the discussions.
“We’re not going to be jumping on board with what Kristol is doing,” said a person involved in the discussions. “We learned about this from the media along with everyone else.”
Organizers of the self-described Conservative Against Trump group said Kristol’s decision to champion French, a conservative writer, constitutional lawyer and decorated Iraq war veteran, took them by surprise, especially because French has a relatively low public profile.
“This is like flipping open the phone book and picking someone on page 325,” the source said.
The group includes Erickson, South Dakota businessman Bob Fischer, Bill Wichterman, a former advisor to President George W. Bush and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), conservative columnist Quin Hillyer, and conservative strategist Liz Mair.
The group was expected to issue a statement Wednesday or Thursday.
Erickson did not respond to a request to comment for this story. On his website, The Resurgent, he wrote Wednesday that he would vote for French but gave him low odds of even getting on the ballot in many states.
“But let’s be realistic about this. David French has, charitably, 0.1 percent name ID. He will have to raise at least $250 million, dedicating almost all of that to ballot access fights and potential legal challenges to extend deadlines,” Erickson wrote.
“I’d vote for David French,” he added. “Ultimately, however, I suspect the ballot access hurdle will be too much. I suspect it really be an insurmountable improbability.”
Conservative activist leaders held a conference call Wednesday to plan their next steps, on which Erickson did not participate although he was part of a conversation Tuesday evening.
Another conservative leader familiar with the recent discussions said, “We’re still continuing our recruitment effort.”
Only a few in the group have even met French, whom Kristol floated as a possible pick on Tuesday. It met with a decidedly mixed reaction.
“I just wanted to go pound my head against the wall,” said Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, a conservative group with about 100,000 members. “I’m sorry, David’s a great guy but he’s not impressive as a presidential candidate. Where’s the team? I haven’t seen anything about a team.
“Bill Kristol jumped the shark on this one,” he added.
French or any other candidate entering the race at this late date would face significant hurdles to getting on the ballot.
Phillips estimates French would need two million signatures to get on the ballot in states where deadlines haven’t yet passed and at least $500 million “to even have a prayer of moving the needle” in the race.
He argued that conservative activists would be smarter to pressure the Republican Party to give the nomination to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (R), who finished in second place behind Trump, at the convention in Cleveland.
Hillyer, a member of the Conservatives Against Trump movement, however, said it’s “too early” to make a definitive judgment on French.
“I am wholeheartedly supportive of David French as a candidate. I do not know him other than by reputation. He is bronze star winner and a brilliant constitutional lawyer,” he said in an interview. “Obviously, he does not have a big national name. He will have to make a good first impression and we’ll see if he does.”
French teased his potential candidacy on Twitter Wednesday.
“All the normal political rules apply. The conventional wisdom has been right. An underdog can't win. Right?” he wrote.
Other conservatives are skeptical.
Conservative strategist Brian Darling, a former advisor to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.),
speculated that Kristol may be motivated to pull Republican votes away from Trump because he would prefer that likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton becomes president instead.
“I worry that Kristol’s strategy is to elect Hillary,” he said. “Hillary’s foreign policy is much closer to his foreign policy than Donald Trump’s foreign policy.”
Kristol, a leading neoconservative, did not respond to a request for comment left at his office.
Splitting the #NeverTrump vote. I like it.
“We’re not supporting Kristol’s crazy, we’re still looking for our own crazy.”
Just remember the Supreme Court
You nailed it.
Dead Enders
Kristol needs to register as an IRS 527 group working for Hillary - because that is exactly what his efforts will yield.
So....Kristol supports the Democrats and Hillary by engineering a third party loser of an Independent candidate to some day save the GOP after 8 years of Queen Hillary.
Is there a straight line to this logic somewhere? Let's commit suicide in order to cure a bruised ego.
Kristol always looks like he’s trying to push a 3 inch wide turd through a 1 inch wide sphincter
Their first clue was the “candidate’s” article stating that white working people are all drug addicted bums with fake disability claims and a penchant for their neighbors’ wives, who need to die.
Other than that he was a perfect choice.
“Conservatives”??? LOLOLOL!!!!!
[The group includes Erickson, South Dakota businessman Bob Fischer, Bill Wichterman, a former advisor to President George W. Bush and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), conservative columnist Quin Hillyer, and conservative strategist Liz Mair.]
>>“All the normal political rules apply. The conventional wisdom has been right. An underdog can’t win. Right?” he wrote.
This guy isn’t an underdog. He’s not even a dog. He’s a flea that Kristol flicked at Trump.
Now everyone can see just how desperate Bill Kristol has become. He painted himself into this corner. Same with Glenn Beck. What, exactly do you think you’re protecting, other than your reputations as prognosticators? Ask Dick Morris how that usually works out.
“These brain dead so-called conservatives against Trump are doing their utmost to get Hillary Clinton elected.”
I think you are correct. Just how can they possibly continue to call themselves conservatives?!
Biblical, actually
The enemy camp is in confusion!!!!!!....Yes!
>>Kristol always looks like he’s trying to push a 3 inch wide turd through a 1 inch wide sphincter
Yeah, but he looks like he’s trying to push it back IN!
This all about splitting the vote and installing Hillary in the White House compliments of the GOPe.
Should Hillary Clinton Try to Woo the Support of ‘Responsible Republicans’?
By Ed Kilgore
Follow @ed_kilgore
The Washington Post’s Paul Waldman has a well-wrought column today on how Hillary Clinton can appeal to “responsible Republicans” unhappy with Donald Trump’s ignorance and scary instincts on international affairs in a big foreign-policy speech she is scheduled to deliver Thursday. His specific advice is excellent and apparently scratches an itch the Clinton campaign is itself feeling.
Yup, while the rest of the right is falling in line behind Trump, these idiots are having a civil war with each other!
They are looking for someone to run third party when Trump IS third party.
I think it was Bill Frist who gave ‘How To Be A Doormat for the Democrats” lessons to John Boehner.
Concur :)
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