GOP insiders embrace Trump's presidential bid

[onehandle]

Source: AP

WASHINGTON – Out with Sarah. In with The Donald. President Barack Obama has launched his re-election bid in a low-key manner, but the Republican Party's search for a challenger seems stranger by the day. GOP celebrities like Sarah Palin aren't getting much buzz. Mainstream candidates like Mitt Romney and Tim Pawlenty aren't getting much traction. It's people once considered highly unlikely to compete seriously for the party's nomination who are creating big stirs in early voting states, a reflection of an unformed and uncertain GOP presidential field.

GOP activists in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina appear deeply intrigued by, and open to, a run by Donald Trump, the publicity-loving business tycoon and host of NBC's "The Apprentice," even as he perpetuates falsehoods about Obama's citizenship and questions the legitimacy of his presidency. "I hear more and more people talking about Donald Trump," said Glenn McCall, Republican Party chairman in South Carolina's York County. "He's got people fired up."

These Republican officials and activists stopped short of saying they see Trump as the eventual nominee. But they said their party is hungry for forceful, colorful figures to attack Obama and other Democrats on health care, spending and other issues. In Iowa at least, there's also widespread talk about two social conservatives: Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, who would be the first president elected directly from the House since James Garfield, and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, who lost his 2006 re-election bid by a landslide. Even Herman Cain, the little-known, wealthy former pizza chain executive, gets mentioned by Republican voters who will have the first crack at winnowing the GOP field.

While these people certainly have talents, the party's establishment does not see them as the likeliest contenders to defeat Obama. Karl Rove, architect of George W. Bush's two presidential wins, calls Trump "a joke candidate." Republicans traditionally pick party veterans who wait their turn and earn their nominations after years spent as governors, senators or vice presidents. But this field lacks a front-runner like Bob Dole in 1996 or George W. Bush in 2000. There's a political vacuum in the GOP, insiders say, and it's being filled by an unusually large and diverse number of White House hopefuls.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gop_presidential_field

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Suuuuuure they do...

[yellowcanine]

1. If I were a mainstream GOPer that would be one scary headline.

A Trump candidacy would ignite a GOP civil war and hand Obama reelection.

[ananda]

3. Trump does have a lot of energy and money.

It's a strange, bizarre twist all right.

[Shadowflash]

4. Heh...

And, apparently, a lot of free time.

[yellowcanine]

5. So did Phil Graham in 1996. He withdrew before the N.H. Primary.

And he wasn't saying crazy things (well at least not for a Republican. This is all relative.).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Gramm


I actually think that Trump is more likely to pull a Perot and run as an independent - which would doom the Republican nominee.

[groundloop]

8. Be careful what you wish for - in Georgia we never thought a disgraced ex US Rep. could be governor

Nathan Deal was under investigation for ethics violations, resigned his seat before the ethics committee issued it's report, and we thought he was the perfect Publican candidate to ensure a return of the governorship to a Democrat. Well, now we have a half term ethically challenged US Representative who steered government funds to his own business as our governor.

[yellowcanine]

9. Not wishing for it - stating fact.

[Ian David]

2. Stalking Horse. n/t

[liberal N proud]

6. Out with Sarah. In with The Donald correlates to Out with crazy, in with insane

[arikara]

18. LOL

nt

[lobodons]

7. Trump on Right to Privacy: I am for it

But what does that have to do with Right to Life?

[Broderick]

10. Good Grief

they are all so stupid to fall for this bag of shit.

[FSogol]

11. Translation: GOP insiders are fools.

Nuff Said. :shrug:

[joanbarnes]

12. Fire up a Progressive Candidate

Someone like Howard Dean, Dennis Kucinich, Russ Feingold, even Jesse Ventura!

[bemildred]

13. Does anyone connect this to "Citizens United"?

All that private money floating around undercuts control by "party insiders", hence Rove's grumpy attitude.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

14. Yiuge! It's gonna be YIUGEEE!!!!

[keithjx]

15. Does no one recall the outrage at Obama's "celebrity" from the right???

And now they are "embracing" Trump?

Good God, teh stupid, it hurtzzzz...
KJ

[qanda]

16. Well, he can always count on free publicity from NBC

They had him as the first story on the Today Show this morning. Very annoying!

[Qutzupalotl]

17. They're not even considering how it will play to the long term unemployed

to have someone at the top of the ticket whose catch phrase is, "You're fired."