2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumGOP donors pushing Condoleezza Rice to run independent campaign
TALLAHASSEE A group of Republican donors and strategists has been working to persuade former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to make an independent bid for president, according to a memo outlining the plan obtained by POLITICO Florida.
The group has grown increasingly dissatisfied with New York billionaire Donald Trump, the Republican front-runner who has roiled the partys establishment as he has surged ahead in the polls.
The reality of the matter is that we will have President Trump or President Clinton if we dont have President Rice, read the memo, which was written by Joel Searby, a consultant with Florida-based GOP firm Data Targeting.
POLITICO reported last month about a memo that a group of donors was working on with Data Targeting to look at the viability of a third-party run amid Trumps ascent. The newest memo, sent Thursday, is an update on the firms work.
More: http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/florida/2016/03/8593476/gop-donors-pushing-condoleezza-rice-run-independent-campaign
Fairgo
(1,571 posts)Be careful not to get caught out with the race-bait and switch
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)First, an independent race would split the Republican vote more so than the Democratic vote.
Secondly, Trump would utterly destroy her on her record in 9/11.
It would guarantee a landslide victory for the Democrats, even if HRC is nominated.
Fairgo
(1,571 posts)Let's watch what happens, maybe we will get to test this out.
Xipe Totec
(43,890 posts)I would rather be proven wrong than have Bernie lose the nomination.
Fairgo
(1,571 posts)I'd rather wager on sea gull scrums.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Does she still have time to get in the race?
Betty Karlson
(7,231 posts)Sanders against Rice would be a sandstorm against rice paper: she'd be shredded to pieces then buried in a landslide.
Ooh, and I can't wait for any debate regarding 9/11 and Iraq. We all know that Sanders has been holding back against Clinton for the sake of the Democratic Party, but against a Republican candidate, he wuld unload in no uncertain terms. We are talking about swing-state West-Virginia territory here.
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)Against a Bush crony whose hands are still bloody, look the hell out.
billhicks76
(5,082 posts)They aren't that stupid.
Firebrand Gary
(5,044 posts)Because the last time we did that, we beat the republican party by TEN MILLION VOTES.
Aerows
(39,961 posts)Good luck with that.
That sounds like a Monty Python skit where absurdity goes to die.
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)...propose anyone associated with the Bush Junta as viable in this most anti-establishment of political atmospheres in the country--like nothing we've seen in 50 years (Vietnam War), maybe even 80 years (Great Depression)--and in both the Republican and Democratic parties?
Further, how can they be so clueless as to presume that The reality of the matter is that we will have President Trump or President Clinton...".
The cluelessness and arrogance are epic. They have no idea what is happening in the Democratic Party, where, win or lose the nomination, the Bernie Sanders campaign is already changing the party in fundamental ways, and if Clinton is the nominee and loses to Trump--which is quite likely, given her negatives in the polls--will see ever more radical change for the better, but with long term rather than short term effects. And if Sanders is the nominee, he will bury Trump--according to all national poll matchups--and will trample on both Republicans if the Republicans split into to two factions.
Their presumption that Clinton will be the nominee is wa-a-a-a-y premature, with most blue states yet to vote in the primaries. Her position is deteriorating with every week that goes by. In theory, she should have wrapped up the nomination by now, and in no way is that happening. If Sanders wins a couple of the big states this week--Illinois and Ohio, for instance, which have tightened dramatically (one poll has Sanders ahead now in Illinois, and neck and neck in Ohio) and Missouri (Sanders ahead), and does better than expected in Florida (quite possible), this will catapult him into the blue states with possibly unstoppable momentum.
Clinton has been losing momentum since New Hampshire and is only still viable because she won the "red" states in the South which will go Republican in November anyway. She seems to be just hanging on by tooth and claw in states that are more representative of the country's population. And she has been making gaffe after gaffe after gaffe this week, from alienating gays to alienating workers and others with her lie about Sanders and the auto bailout.
Really, the only things she has going for her are her undemocratic lock on the DNC and bought and paid for establishment types among the undemocratic superdelegates who may or may not stick with her if she continues her miserable campaign as it is.
They're going to put Condi Rice up against the Sanders juggernaut? Gawd. I think Clinton would even trounce Rice, even with all Clinton's negatives. The Iraq War is not that long ago. Condi Rice's role as Bush Jr.'s "wife" is still raw in most memories. It would be ironic as Hell if we end up with TWO women running against each other, both of whom supported that horrible war. Ye gods!
Anyway, these "Data Targeting" assholes are living in a very small and unreal world. They seem to have no idea of Condi Rice's negatives, which I'm sure outweigh even Clinton's.
jfern
(5,204 posts)ladjf
(17,320 posts)deepestblue
(349 posts)The Sanders Revolution is poised to CRUSH any Republican rival in the electoral college. His opponent, not so much.
restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)its designed to keep trump out. the gop elite would rather have clinton than trump because she will play ball with moneyed interests and is controllable, where he is a wild card.
if the ge is trump v sanders, expect full on panic from both sides of the establishment.
mazzarro
(3,450 posts)It will be so sweet to behold the panic spewing from the establishment of both sides of the political divide.
restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)heads of establishment cronies....
and how sweet it will be!
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)Oh yea!
Well, it would split the R vote and then the Democratic nominee would walk into the Whitehouse easily.
Go for it Condi!
Punkingal
(9,522 posts)It's not like she even has Charisma to overcome all her lies. I say bring her on!
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)Whether Trump runs as an independent (after getting ticked off by not being nominated at the convention) or a prominent 3rd party right winger runs for POTUS, Clinton would win in an electoral college landslide. She'd get a plurality in nearly every state.