Trump says he’d probably run as independent if he doesn’t win Republican nomination
posted at 9:30 am on April 12, 2011 by Ed Morrissey
Gee, this seems so …. familiar:
Donald Trump will “probably” run as an independent candidate for U.S. President in 2012 if he does not receive the Republican party’s nomination, he told the Wall Street Journal in a video interview on Monday. …
“I am very conservative,” said Mr. Trump. “The concern is if I don’t win [the GOP primary] will I run as an independent, and I think the answer is probably yes.” Mr. Trump said he thought he “could possibly win as an independent,” adding, “I’m not doing it for any other reason. I like winning.”
As for foreign policy, Mr. Trump said he is “only interested in Libya if we take the oil,” and that if he were President, “I would not leave Iraq and let Iran take over the oil.” He remains sharply critical of the Chinese, asserting that as President, “I would tell China that you’re either going to shape up, or I’m going to tax you at 25% for all the products you send into this country.”
The only difference between Trump and H. Ross Perot seems to be that Perot was a better businessman. About four minutes into the interview, Kelly Evans hits Trump on his flirtations with bankruptcy over the years. Trump insists that he never filed for bankruptcy, which is true in terms of his personal finances, although Trump came close enough to it. His businesses were another matter. Trump’s Taj Mahal casino had to go through bankruptcy, which cost Trump half of the casino. The Trump Plaza Hotel next went through bankruptcy, which caused him to lose 49% of the hotel and resign from its management. Two years ago, Trump Entertainment Resorts filed for Chapter 11, and in 2008 his Trump International Tower in Chicago defaulted on a $40 million loan. In response, Trump blamed the global economic collapse and tried to have it declared an Act of God to relieve himself of responsibility for the default.
That’s not exactly a great track record for a chief executive. It’s worth noting that his own investors have booted him from management at these holdings after his risk-taking and failures.
Otherwise, this is a second coming of Perot. Trump has the money (at least for now) to mount a vanity campaign as a third-party alternative to the two major-party nominees. This would end up splitting the anti-Obama vote and set the President up for an easy re-election through a popular-vote plurality that would translate into an overwhelming Electoral College majority. Liberals are not going to flock to Trump’s side for any reason, which means whatever Trump draws will come directly from those who were already inclined to vote against Obama. It would be a nightmare scenario for Republicans in this cycle, a sort of Charlie Crist on steroids and junk bonds but with a viable Democratic opponent in the mix.
The GOP should nip this in the bud now. Can we agree that the starting position for anyone seeking the Republican nomination is that they will support the outcome of the primaries?
Update: Aaron Worthing says it’s all about the combover.
Blowback
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Oh, good heavens. What did I ever do to you? Run over your dog or something?
KingGold on April 12, 2011 at 11:47 AM
aww is the mittbot upset that Trump took Mitt’s roll out and made it a non event? so sad…..
unseen on April 12, 2011 at 11:47 AM
I stand with Mark….
“…Trump is NOT the real deal. He will get Obama re-elected. This is not a game. This is not a circus. He is not a conservative. He was happy to donate to Schumer, Weiner, & Emanuel campaigns last year. He was pro-choice recently and now claims to be pro-life. He sounds more & more like Ross Perot. If he runs as an Independent, Obama wins. We should not encourage this.”
Mark Levin
tencole on April 12, 2011 at 11:48 AM
It can’t make up it’s mind. it’s now giving Pawlenty a second look….LOL
idesign on April 12, 2011 at 11:51 AM
The ‘nistas are out in force today, aren’t they? Good to know that if Palin doesn’t run, Trump’s got a viable voting bloc.
KingGold on April 12, 2011 at 11:51 AM
Yes Mark is right but Mark still doesn’t explain how Mitt is better than Trump which is the only reason Trump is gaining in the polls.
unseen on April 12, 2011 at 11:51 AM
I sense a note of disdain when you say “free traders like Scott.” What do you have against free trade?
Do you even know the difference between floating and fixed exchange rates? That seems pretty basic to me.
Not favoring protectionist policies isn’t rolling over. Protectionism, whether in the form of our deliberate currency devaluation or erecting artificial barriers to trade, will only damage our interests. Your cure would be worse than the disease.
steebo77 on April 12, 2011 at 11:53 AM
This.
And this ……. quite the hypocrite. Do you know how offensive that is, as there are many here who post who have family members who have special needs. it’s not what you’ve done to me, It’s what you do the general population at HA.
So, allow me to retort …… insensitive azzhole.
Jerome Horwitz on April 12, 2011 at 11:53 AM
No, you don’t “got it”.
Good grief.
I, and many, many others, spent some years arguing against the Blood for Oil accusation on the grounds that there was a higher purpose to taking out Saddam. A combination of the threat to our security posed by his regime, the brutal oppression he imposed on his people, and the effect a democracy in the heart of the middle east would have on surrounding nations over time.
Stealing the most valuable natural resource out from under a newly liberated country was not one of them.
Now it seems, Trump believes that is what should have been the goal all along.
I don’t think so. Iraq’s oil is available for purchase on the open market, as it should be. Their oil sales are no longer funding the 4th largest army in the world under the command of the Arab Stalin, not to mention the WMD programs he was perusing for years.
What is so hard to comprehend about this?
Brian1972 on April 12, 2011 at 11:56 AM
Exactly how? I think Donald has the potential to develop a large following and this statement is the most dangerous development yet.
The GOP must accommodate Trump not anger him and drive him to oppose us. Trump has lots of talents! He says he is conservative at least fiscally, there is room for Trump in this party.
I am troubled by the narrow litmus tests that a candidate must pass through to please Republicans. This isn’t a country club where we get to limit membership to people who are exactly like us.
Going for President your first try at public office is pretty arrogant, maybe Trump is really after something else… like a cabinet position or just a voice in how things are run.
That reminds me of this:
“He drew a circle that shut me out-
Heretic , rebel, a thing to flout.
But love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle and took him In !
Edwin Markham
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 11:56 AM
If you Mittbots were smart you would understand what danger that protends for the gop party.
unseen on April 12, 2011 at 11:58 AM
Ah, there we go. I used a term that is potentially loaded to describe someone doing something utterly dishonest and attempting to be funny by doing something childish.
For your benefit, allow me to clarify that any word could have been substituted for that one and my point could have gotten across. Which is, of course, in no way like savaging Palin’s Tucson response because it used the words “blood libel.”
So, sorry for using that word. And in the meantime, you may wish to deploy a safety net under your pedestal to avoid further injury.
KingGold on April 12, 2011 at 11:58 AM
I agree with you. I attend a lily-white conservative evangelical church in a wealthy suburb of Memphis, mere miles from the spot where MLK was murdered. Though blacks are more than welcome , the only black man I ever see darken the door is Michael Oher (The Blind Side). Sunday after Sunday I hear Herman Cain’s name come up. Someone from church emails every new Cain article or Cain Youtube link.
Cain really connects with people–white Southern people. And that is truly historic.
flyfisher on April 12, 2011 at 11:59 AM
now that is sad.
unseen on April 12, 2011 at 12:00 PM
I’m just up the I-40 from you in Jackson TN.
Howdy neighbor.
Brian1972 on April 12, 2011 at 12:01 PM
Why are you slapping the pro-Mitt label on people who don’t like Trump? They’re identical in most ways.
MadisonConservative on April 12, 2011 at 12:01 PM
“Deserving”? Try earning your fuc*ing oxygen.
rrpjr on April 12, 2011 at 12:02 PM
He strikes me as very Goldwater-ish, and that could be an asset in 2012.
MadisonConservative on April 12, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Small world. I’m from Jackson.
flyfisher on April 12, 2011 at 12:02 PM
Trump you jerk’ don’t you dare split the conservative vote. Who’s side are you on, the country’s or your own?
rplat on April 12, 2011 at 12:03 PM
The net does shrink the world.
I am much happier here than Memphis, since it has become Detroit South the last decade or so.
Brian1972 on April 12, 2011 at 12:04 PM
flyfisher on April 12, 2011 at 11:59 AM
Howdy neighbor. Herman Cain is an American success story. He is a hard-working, Conservative man who loves his country. Average Americans can identify with him.
kingsjester on April 12, 2011 at 12:05 PM
I wonder if many of the same people who are going to vote for Trump are the same people who voted for Obama
after being caught up in the emotional rhetoric of his
campaign?
Amjean on April 12, 2011 at 12:06 PM
Doing what? Having a f**king stupid reality TV show?
MadisonConservative on April 12, 2011 at 12:06 PM
At least Trump is out there making challenging statements and no one punched him in the face on a plane. One president wears mom jeans and the next gets beat by a whelp?
unlisted on April 12, 2011 at 12:06 PM
ROFL…yeah forgot about the plane thing…cowards will be cowards…
unseen on April 12, 2011 at 12:12 PM
Other than hurting Obama politically The Donald is off the reservation for me at this point!
Sorry Donald I’m done flirting with you!
Time to move along.
PappyD61 on April 12, 2011 at 12:14 PM
You really are amazing. He, at least, has poll data which has *consistently* shown Mitt (and others) doing FAR better than Palin against Obama. You have nothing. And yet, you’re the one accusing others of magic thinking.
This is why we don’t take you seriously.
Vyce on April 12, 2011 at 12:14 PM
thanks for the vindication Ed ;-))
NY Conservative on April 12, 2011 at 12:15 PM
Believe me, I understand.
flyfisher on April 12, 2011 at 12:16 PM
Do people even care that Trump supported Obama in 2008? How anybody who supports Trump can call another candidate a flip-flopper, a RINO or a squish is beyond hypocritcal.
Its absurd.
swamp_yankee on April 12, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Trump’s threat to split the conservative vote makes me suspect he’s a Manchurian Candidate inserted by the Left, regardless of his joy-making attacks on The Precedent.
On that same front, though, I recently met a brave guy manning a petition (in the midst of the Leftmost County In The Country [® The Congressional Record]). His pitch was that putting Bloomberg on the ballot for California’s open primaries would split the Hillary vote and splinter the lefties, which strikes me as a good idea.
Alinsky rules, kids. Stop trying to argue logic with people who don’t recognize its existence, which is asymmetrical warfare by definition. Attack ‘em, confuse ‘em, set ‘em at each other’s throats.
And Donald, STFU already. Give your money to a conservative, many of whom have been pointed out in this thread.
warbaby on April 12, 2011 at 12:20 PM
Hey Jester! I agree. I will let the campaign play out a bit before I decide who to support, but I could see myself voting for Cain. At this point it’s easier for me to know who I won’t support–Romney, Huntsman, and Daniels leap to mind.
flyfisher on April 12, 2011 at 12:20 PM
You answered your own question. Trump, for all his entertaining value and needling of Obama – is out for himself.
By the way, where are the “But he has a reality show, he can’t be president” crowd? I should think the schlocky Apprentice is a far worse stain than a travelogue which highlights a former Governors state.
Come on. Why does Trump get a pass here? Where is Karl Rove and Dr. Krauthammer calling him an un-presidential reality star? Wait, he’s a rich white guy. Never mind so none of that applies…
Sharr on April 12, 2011 at 12:21 PM
Still playing the Bifurcated Communist Party‘s game – you apologists are pathetic. If Trump is the only man left demanding adherence to constitutional norms – then it will be me and the Donald against the other 299 million of you. I’m giving us better than even odds.
abobo on April 12, 2011 at 12:22 PM
Herman Cain is a true wild card, unlike The Donald, who would drag the Republican party to defeat. I originally though Mr. Cain was just another flash-in-the-pan egotist with some fanciful idea of running for the Presidency from outside establishment party circles. But listen to him, and you see a depth and seriousness of purpose that reminds me of Clarence Thomas (and, though the flamers here would disagree, John Boehner). Obambi’s handlers can laugh off Trump, but Herman Cain would have them wetting their pants.
/Mr Lynn
MrLynn on April 12, 2011 at 12:23 PM
Why are the two mutually exclusive?
We can take out a dictator by expending our blood & treasure, make life better for the Iraqis and claim reparations. Payment with Iraqi Oil is win-win. We get reimbursed and they get investments from us to improve their infrastructure and strategically we block Iran, China and Russia from moving in behind us.
As it stands right now, the Chicoms are already in Iraq working to lock down Iraqi assets for their own national interests. They invested nothing to get rid of Iraq, we walk away with nothing then they get the windfall while we the people get to pay down the debt on our own.
No different than us asking the Russians & Britian to repay us for our support and making Germany/Japan pay for our occupation in the aftermath of WWII. The difference is that unlike Russia which ransacked Germany and as the French wanted to do the same, the Brits and the US was more interested in seeing Germany stand on its two feet again. The differences in mindset is vividly reflected by the 4 sectors of Germany.
With Iraq, that was the track we should have taken, instead we ran with this “no oil for blood” and nearly 8 years later, Iraq can’t wait to get us out and it’s still a political & economic cesspool – ripe for subversion by Iran, China, Russia and Jihadis.
Imagine the difference if we said we weren’t leaving until we were repaid and the Iraqis could prove that democracy was cemented in their psyche.
AH_C on April 12, 2011 at 12:23 PM
Is that really true? I haven’t verified it, but on another site (maybe Free Republic?) someone posted part of transcript from a Larry King interview in which Trump explicitly endorsed McCain.
flyfisher on April 12, 2011 at 12:24 PM
Trump is actually sabotaging the GOP here. He is not a conservative. He is not a politician. Heck, he isn’t even a good businessman like Perot was.
–
What he does share in common with Ross is megalomania. Both are self absorbed shills with more money than sense who were out for themselves.
–
Trump is a train wreck. His birther silliness and Fox News tour have shown his hand, that of someone looking to leverage money and name value for personal gain.
–
If someone is looking to run as an independent, pro-life, pro-business candidate not in line with the GOP then their only goal is to lose the election for the Republicans. I’d wager based on Trump’s long history of donations and love to the DNC this is the case here.
crscott on April 12, 2011 at 12:25 PM
Seriously when the f* ck will people learn that THERE IS NO APPRECIABLE DIFFERENCE between a bolshevik and a menshevik in the long run.
Trump isn’t a threat to the GOP – The GOP’s willing participation in our nation’s subversion is the ONLY threat to the GOP, and it’s self-inflicted, as usual.
abobo on April 12, 2011 at 12:25 PM
Dammit….just when I started liking this guy, he turn’s out to be just a spoiler d*uche.
Never took him seriously as a candidate, but really was starting to warm-up to his style – publicity hound or not.
Would hate to see this dope siphon the “moron” contingent in 2012….we’re gonna want every vote.
Tim_CA on April 12, 2011 at 12:27 PM
Rossi did not lose the first time. ACORN beat him by cheating in a recount. The campaign laws in WA are a complete fraud. It is not illegal to get help filling out the ballot. That means ACORN types can legally “help” people fill out their ballots. Then the person signs their name and mails it in. They just have to say they made the marks on the ballot themselves… WA will never be anything but Democrat.
Palin’s candidate was Deidler. She came here and campaigned for him. He didn’t make it out of the Primary.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 12:29 PM
Pay attention. The complaint was about Trump hoarding “media oxygen” while more “deserving” candidates languished. Trump is making the issues his own and earning his oxygen by hitting Obama where it hurts, while Romney dresses up his website and poses with his erstaz Reagan-esque “sunny” smile. So go out and make the news like Trump does. Trump will flame out, but in the meantime he’s at least taking the fight to Obama in a way that makes entitled RINO loser fops like Romney recoil.
But this complaint udnerscores the problem — a candidate and his supporters who think they “deserve” something. They deserve sh*t.
And what did Romney do? Pave the way for a morbid “healthcare reform” laying waste to our freedoms and our economy and scavenging dying companies for profit as he laid off thousands of people? Trump’s “fuc*ing stupid” reality show has done more for society. At least he employed some people and entertained many others.
rrpjr on April 12, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Indeed. I would never vote for him simply because he’s black. But if he proves a capable debater and a viable conservative candidate, his skin color would be an added bonus. Just think of the damage he could do to the poverty-pimp industry.
flyfisher on April 12, 2011 at 12:30 PM
Take away the TV cameras…
… and see how much longer he is interested.
Seven Percent Solution on April 12, 2011 at 12:31 PM
So why do you support Trump but dismiss Palin as a flake and unserious? Trump seems pretty flaky and narcissistic to me. Plus he’s a bonafide reality TV celebrity, which would seem pretty unserious. Is it because you like his accent and he went to big-name schools?
alwaysfiredup on April 12, 2011 at 12:33 PM
Yes, this third party threat takes all the fun out of his poking at Obama.
I think we need to find out what Trump is really after. He hasn’t pretended to want to be President before. He really is unhappy with Obama and who can blame him. But this is a very dangerous turn.
Trump should be courted into the fold rather than pushed to a third party.
His advice to another candidate could be very helpful. He does have PR skills and media savvy.
Maybe Palin should contact him for help in those areas. Or Pawlenty.
He is like Perot in that he has a personal issue with the President… but unlike Perot his third party threat wouldn’t hurt the President it would help him.
Trump should be an ally not a spoiler. I hope someone is smart enough to handle this.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 12:35 PM
I was for Trump before I was against him. He will ensure the re-election of 0bama if he runs as a 3rd party candidate. This is so obvioous, I wonder why I am repeating it.
Mirimichi on April 12, 2011 at 12:36 PM
Your logic is really flawed…..
Obama campaigned for over 100 candidates and most of them lost while most of Palin’s won. Yet you focus on the very few that She lost.
So what’s your agenda here?
idesign on April 12, 2011 at 12:36 PM
Two sovereign nations entering into an agreement negotiated between the two is one thing, but simply declaring “all your oil belong to us”, as Trump has been saying, is exactly what the left accused America of doing in the first place.
It plays into the narrative of the left, and certain others (Ron Paul) that America is an Empire stealing the resources of third world countries to feed our greedy unsustainable lifestyles.
It also would play into the narrative being pushed in the rest of the world by the likes of Al Queda and others that America steals the oil of the Arabs, when in fact we purchase it fairly.
I am not opposed to some sort of deal between Iraq and the US being worked out to compensate our sacrifices in some way.
We can’t just say it’s ours.
Brian1972 on April 12, 2011 at 12:37 PM
So you’re really arguing that Trump’s exposure is his own doing, and not the media’s selective filter designed to tarnish and destroy the Republican brand at all costs?
Wrong.
MadisonConservative on April 12, 2011 at 12:37 PM
I think Trump getting the nomination is the only thing that can keep me from voting Republican this time. The guy is a DB and the sooner we can move on from this sideshow the better for the party.
Scrappy on April 12, 2011 at 12:40 PM
I don’t think Palin is a flake.
I don’t think she has the necessary experience to run the country.
I have said over and over and over and over, if she gets the nomination I will back her. I voted for her before.
I don’t think she is the best candidate. I think her talk is very well and good but she lacks any real life application.
I said last night in the headline thread on this subject that I would likely back Palin over Trump.
Governors who have been re-elected because they did a good job are much better qualified than someone who spent less than two years doing the job and then couldn’t handle the media and Democrats and was forced out. I don’t see how that record makes one qualified to lead the country.
She lacks government experience and business experience.
But I want Obama out. If Palin can magically overcome all the bridge burning she has done… then she will have shown some real leadership. But so far she only makes enemies. Leaders don’t make enemies out of allies.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 12:46 PM
I’m saying he’s defining an issue and confronting Obama in a proactive and clever way the media cannot ignore, and he’s earning his oxygen. He’s also obliquely taking on the media in the process (a more important battle, perhaps) — making Candy Crowley, Meredith Veira, Gail Collins, among others, look foolish. Only Palin has shown this kind of cunning. But her style of warfare is subtler and better designed for the long game.
Romney and the others are from the “with all due respect” school of pathetic RINOs.
rrpjr on April 12, 2011 at 12:46 PM
He’s wishy washy. He may have given McCain an endorsement in the end, but he spent the whole campaign fawning over Obama:
Trump fans, this is your guy:
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2008/06/10/2008-06-10_donald_trump_would_fire_bush_hire_obama_.html
Shameless
swamp_yankee on April 12, 2011 at 12:47 PM
I was defending Rossi.
Everyone who is not gaga over Palin is not your enemy or hers.
It may surprise you to know that there are several very good people who are running for President. They don’t happen to be Palin however, so I’m sure you won’t have noticed. They seem a threat to you. They are not.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 12:49 PM
You have it backwards. Her ‘allies’ being the GOP establishment, right? They don’t like her because she doesn’t have the ‘pedigree’. That’s elitism plain and simple.
fossten on April 12, 2011 at 12:53 PM
Ok, but don’t make false accusations about a candidate to fit your agenda.
idesign on April 12, 2011 at 12:55 PM
I can’t agree. The Country Club is already trying to nip a whole bunch of candidates in the bud
These outsiders are being treated like cockroaches at a cocktail party
The GOP Club was very happy to have spoilers fake a run as Presidential primary candidates against McCain, to hand their delegates over to a losing candidate. These spoilers sank off the radar screen after the election almost as fast as Perot went into a bunker after splitting the vote.
What’s the point of a gentleman’s handshake with a cad?
I don’t have a problem with Trump’s bankruptcies. Trump is a dealer, and he uses the law to make money. He cost me less than Wall Street, and the cronies sucking blood out of Fannie and Freddie
However, Trump just set himself to look like another Perot.
I won’t say Perot or the McCain Spoilers did it ‘on purpose’ but they don’t mind taking the blame silently. Even what’s his face Edwards is still making noise
Trump certainly dotes on his Obama team ponies, and he can hide behind his ‘business as usual’ trademark, but he cannot run from it. At some point, Trump will either straighten out the kinks, or create for himself a birther style rumor.
As much as the Club hates the Trump for his vulgarity, they might prefer to gamble on a Trump third party run, because if he splits the vote, at least they wont have a hard core Tea Party President, and if he wins, they
knowthink he will make deals.The Club has no problem with illegal alien voters, moving industry overseas, or erasing borders. They would survive Obama. Look at all the bucks various global American front companies have taken to smooth their obamacare burden. GE greased the Obama machine and reaped rewards. But GE may not be able to grease an ideologue’s palm. The dollar is shot, but to the pragmatic, all trends generate profit, just take the profit in a better currency
entagor on April 12, 2011 at 12:56 PM
Why not? You’ve found it quite useful so far.
KingGold on April 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM
Sure, that’ll stop old Donald dead in his tracks. Like Chamberlain’s agreement stopped Hitler and our post WWI agreement with Japan stopped the Japs from building the largest modern war machine ever seen in the Pacific.
Is the “Donald” a ruthless enemy like Tojo and Hitler? Of course not, but neither is he to be shackled in his quest for power and notariety by a silly agreement. He is, after all, the only Republican brave enough to go directly after Obama and the (gasp, tremble,) media on those untouchable questions, knowing he would be excoriated from both- the left and our ever-reluctant right.
I, for one, would love to see him debate Obama (it’ll never happen as the One would vote present before showing up for such a public shellacking) I could never vote for such a man as Trump – a rich John McCain with bad hair.
Don L on April 12, 2011 at 12:58 PM
Fighting against people who are suposedly supporting Trump is a straw-man.
I doubt there is any really serious support there yet. He is just going after Obama and that makes people like him.
Can anyone really picture him as President? Obama has lowered the bar far enough that I suppose I can… and it would be better, but not desirable.
For people like me who are still exploring all the options it is fun to tease and try others.
I haven’t made up my mind… and call me a squish if that is your inclination but I don’t much care about anything but getting Obama out.
The Supreme Court is all important, and so is getting the socialists out of the government, so we can cut government down to a size that doesn’t threaten my freedom.
Just about anyone who thinks Mao shouldn’t be a Christmas ornament is in the running as far as I’m concerned.
But I do put a premium on experience. That excludes people like Jindahl, Christie, Palin and Rubio from the first string this year. They are back benchers until they have time to prove themselves over the long term.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 12:59 PM
If Obama wins (ala Perot redux).
I found a new place to go live (when the meltdown happens).
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7517531.html
PappyD61 on April 12, 2011 at 1:00 PM
Trump rising in the polls is also an indicator of ……..
……….HOW MUCH THE GOP LEADING CANDIDATES SUCK!!!
PappyD61 on April 12, 2011 at 1:01 PM
Wow, that pretty much says it all. Thanks for the great link.
warbaby on April 12, 2011 at 1:02 PM
The idiot speaks……
idesign on April 12, 2011 at 1:04 PM
I don’t understand the Chinese currency issue at all and they never explain in the news exactly what the Chinese do with their currency so a lay person can understand.
Petunia, it just frosts my a$$ at how much you purposefully discount Palin’s 20 years of government service RUNNING the show in her positions. It also frosts my a$$ at how you discount the business that she and Todd run. They make a payroll, unlike many of the other candidates out there, and unlike our current disaster in the oval office. You are intellectually dishonest.
karenhasfreedom on April 12, 2011 at 1:04 PM
In principle, I agree with the above part.
However, you can’t negotiate a deal with a hostile regime. In that case, it should have been stipulated upfront as a consequence of our going in to remove the regime.
Given the facts on the ground, yes we should negotiate with them for us to channel investments into Iraq in exchange for access (not taking) to their oil. If Iraq was fully up and running, the world oil prices would be down due to their massive reserves.
So if Trump is simply saying just go in and take it, ain’t no way that can happen. But nothing wrong with putting a full-court pressure on Iraq for the best outcome favorable to us and lock out the Russians & China.
AH_C on April 12, 2011 at 1:06 PM
Donald Trump = Carl Paladino
For those of you who didn’t pay attention to New York governor’s race in November. Paladino was a tough talking New Yorker..donated lots of money to dems before finding “conservatism”…claimed to be a “Tea Partier”…won republican primary…then IMPLODED.
Let’s all hope the implosion with Trump comes much sooner than the primaries…or we are SCREWED.
Dan Pet on April 12, 2011 at 9:45 AM
THIS
PappyD61 on April 12, 2011 at 1:06 PM
:lol..His true Perot colors is showing setting up for a Bush 41 Clinton,And Perot spit scenario.
Palin is now the only anomaly in this setting. She is a true Reaganite and a Thatcher Conservative that has never been seen in American politics before.
She may be the best counter to such a vote split strategy.
Palin 2012….:)
dec5 on April 12, 2011 at 1:08 PM
“I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors”
Associated Press Dec 2, 1999
FINALLY, A PRO-FLIP-FLOP CANDIDATE
Dave Rywall on April 12, 2011 at 1:13 PM
Palin is not a china doll. We don’t have to treat her as though she will break if she is discussed honestly! In fact, this attitude is one problem she is going to have to overcome. Nobody wants a President that we can’t talk about honestly! Been there, done that.
She didn’t campaign for Rossi. She campaigned for Deider. I don’t know why that insults her. Or why you think it is a lie.
And she was forced to resign, after less than two years, by her enemies. That is cold hard fact, not spin. And it is not an insult, it is her history.
There is nothing personal in it. She might become a very good candidate. But right off the bat she has some high hurdles to overcome.
Not the least of which is this attitude that we can’t ever speak anything but good about her record. A person who needs that kind of protection is not qualified to be President.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:18 PM
Say, what if Trump and Hillary run on 3rd party ticket?
Just joshing – silly me, that would be the same as thinking a civilian army-seeking, community organizer with no experience and some very bad racist and terrorist friends, all of whom hate America could ever make it to the White House.
Don L on April 12, 2011 at 1:19 PM
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:18 PM
Just come out and say it, ma’am. From your posts in the past, we know that you’re pro-Romney. No need to attack Palin. Tell us all about Mitt’s virtues.
kingsjester on April 12, 2011 at 1:20 PM
Yawn…..
idesign on April 12, 2011 at 1:25 PM
The elitism goes both ways. She does want to run as a Republican so it seems that making friends with fellow Republicans would be a good idea. It seems everyone is an enemy and no one is a friend from your point of view.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:26 PM
I was happy to entertain Trump as a GOP candidate, even if I really didn’t intend on supporting him over the other new blood, but this proves he has no interest in the country other than adding another page to his glossy bios.
An independent Trump run moves Obama from 40/60 to an astronomically measured lock for reelection. A conservative – or even an moderate – who cares about this country does not grant Obama a second term to satiate his own ego.
As for Palin, there’s no conclusions to be drawn. She loses just as surely as any other Rep if Trump runs as a 3rd, if for no other reason that her margin over Obama will be razor thin, if not nonexistent.
And to her credit, she’s not the one threatening to run as an independent (or at all, yet).
HitNRun on April 12, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Yep. Someone who leaves a campaign bus to run into a Walmart to buy diapers for her baby, sure is an Elitist. Yeah, buddy.
kingsjester on April 12, 2011 at 1:29 PM
Fixed it…..
idesign on April 12, 2011 at 1:32 PM
Terrific! Hello Obama’s second term, goodbye USA as we now know it.
Susanboo on April 12, 2011 at 1:34 PM
1) Explain Gerald Ford, Papa Bush, LBJ, Bob Dole & Biden? they all had extensive political experience.
2) Are you actually claiming Jindahl & Palin should be back benchers to Mittens, TPaw & Huckster? Both of the former have had longer AND/OR more effective public service than a the latter.
3) Experience is overrated and the elites would like to keep pressing the experience canard. It doesn’t matter the outcome, but if you do your time conforming to the clubhouse rules, your turn will come soon enough. The club doesn’t like any brash outsider coming in and upsetting their rules of decorum.
4) What really counts is results. Was the candidate successful in their previous roles and leave their State and/or business a better place while still showing the proper reverence to the Constitution? Jindahl/Palin? Yes! Mittens/Huckster? No!
As for Cain, one of the marks of a successful CEO is to be able to come in and lead the business to success. A good CEO doesn’t have to know the intricacies of a business in order to suceed, he/she just has to know read the bottomline and understand the mission statement and with the help of a few good lieutenants start leading the way.
AH_C on April 12, 2011 at 1:35 PM
Here is Trump’s plan on the Birther issue. He will use it to get the nomination. If he wins the nomination (God Help Us), he will suddenly drop the issue and claim that he has been presented with sufficient evidence that now convinces him that Obama was born in Hawaii. And that all he ever cared about was getting to the bottom of it. While it may be clever and it may even be effective, it is utterly dishonest.
Is there any chance that Trump will pull more votes from Obama? When he drops the stick designed to get the nomination, will he revert to his fiscal conservative/social liberal self and take votes from Obama…
Probably not
RedSoxNation on April 12, 2011 at 1:35 PM
Actually she resigned after 2.5 calendar years and three legislative sessions. So that’s not a fact.
alwaysfiredup on April 12, 2011 at 1:38 PM
Dave Rywall on April 12, 2011 at 1:13 PM
“Welcome back…” Did you miss us as much as we missed you?
Khun Joe on April 12, 2011 at 1:38 PM
Here’s my conspiracy theory: Trump is not really doing what he says he is doing. In reality He is a New York RINO (republican in name only) that has been recruited to destroy the Republican’s chances for the presidency in 2012.
Remember that so called center coalition that Bloomburg and company announced about a year ago? They are really just an dirty trick organization to siphen off votes from Republicans, ala Ross Perot giving Bill Clinton his margins of victory. Bloomburg convinced fellow New Yorker Trump to go along with them in exchange for future favors from the second term Obama Presidency. Trump’s task is to go around saying crazy birther stuff in order to paint Republicans as extreamist and then at the last minute pulls a Perot to siphon off votes from the Republican nominee.
LakeLevel on April 12, 2011 at 1:40 PM
And she was forced to resign, after less than two years, by her enemies. That is cold hard fact, not spin.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:18 PM
Forced to resign ha ha h ah ah ah h ha ha ha ha
Please elaborate, especially on the “forced to resign” part.
Dave Rywall on April 12, 2011 at 1:43 PM
Bloomberg (RINO) and his center political organization will take Trump under their umbrella, thus assuring a second term for BO.
LakeLevel on April 12, 2011 at 1:43 PM
D. Rywall is right. Still, relative to Obama’s 100% expiration of all he ever says, all other people are saints.
————————
These threads on who will run, and who will not, or would, should and etc., here and in the headlines, generate a lot of comments.
On the substance of them, if the trend continues, sane people will be dead or fainted, not able to vote by Nov. 2012.
Puerility is indignant from all quarters.
Schadenfreude on April 12, 2011 at 1:43 PM
How much clearer can I say it? I have not yet chosen a candidate for 2012. Romney has one really really big problem, which is Romneycare. Plus, I don’t think he can win in the south. What is the point in supporting a candidate who has no chance?
If I were supporting Romney I would say it. I did support him in 2008. I learned a lot about the electorate in 2008, and I don’t think he can win. And his refusal to distance himself from Romneycare is hard to understand.
I am keeping my options open… in my criteria above Romney doesn’t fit exactly either. He didn’t win re-election. He didn’t stick around to face the consequences of Romneycare. If he had, maybe it would be a different story, but that record looks bleak now.
I am waiting for Pawlenty and Daniels possibly others like Barbour and maybe even Huck to catch fire.
My biggest priority is to get Obama out. There is little point in dividing into fiefdoms again and then losing.
Which makes me a possible Palin voter as well. If she can overcome all her mistakes in the past few years, and convince people with real experience that she is more than a talking head… talk is cheap… maybe she has something more to her than I see right now. But she really is not qualified. The idea that she thinks she is qualified is quite frightening.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:44 PM
Suuure.
There are a lot of other differences between Perot and Trump: Perot seemed to be a lot more trustworthy. He wasn’t swapping his wife out for a new model every few years, for one thing
tom on April 12, 2011 at 1:46 PM
You insulted the French constituency. Trump will need every vote to get rid of Obama.
Schadenfreude on April 12, 2011 at 1:48 PM
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:44 PM
Pawlenty seems like a good man, but, he is about as exciting as watching paint dry. Mr. Truce, c’mon home, please, Fleebaggers, Mitch Daniels, doesn’t stand a chance, either. Neither of them would appeal to Southern voters.
kingsjester on April 12, 2011 at 1:48 PM
You’d consider voting for her but she’s not qualified and it frightens you that she thinks she is?
You are not being internally consistent.
alwaysfiredup on April 12, 2011 at 1:49 PM
I have to admit — I’m richly enjoying the discomfort that Trump is causing to the leftist establishment over Obama’s background, and I hope to see him continue in this vein for a few more months, but I have yet to see any reason to support this guy for President — whether he runs as a Republican or as an independent.
Aitch748 on April 12, 2011 at 1:49 PM
Trump is doing the country a big service right now. No one is more in Obama’s head right now. No one has the stones to call Obama out for what he is, no media, no rightie, no leftie.
The country is on her way to he*l and all just dither and hide. Trump is making the WH very nervous. He has nothing to lose, loves his country and fights for her. His fleas are but an annoyance. Until someone else takes the mantle of being more impertinent than the Obama-machine, all others are jus yak, yak, yak…or nada, nada, nada.
Schadenfreude on April 12, 2011 at 1:53 PM
And his refusal to distance himself from Romneycare is hard to understand.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:44 PM
——-
Yes, distancing yourself from your own actions that are named after you is always the sign of a great leader.
Now how can he distance himself from his 250 million dollars?
Maybe he can buy that distance with some of his 250 million dollars.
Dave Rywall on April 12, 2011 at 1:55 PM
More strawmen and double-standards. “Elitism”? Palin? Example, please. And making friends? Who have been the ones not “making friends”? She’s not proferred an unkind of critical word about a fellow republican (to my knowledge) — except in response to the serial aspersions cast her way. Romney, Pawlenty, Christie, Huckabee — all have taken their turns with condescensions and allusive slurs. She’s been admirably, almost impossible gracious in response.
Besides — they’re all potential primary opponents. Why would we expect any of them to “make friends”? But Palin has some special burden to do so?
Staggering cognitive disjunction. Is there a candidate, a person, in our time who has had more, and more obscene and personal, libels leveled against her, had her record more distorted, been more relentlessly hounded by vicious slanderers, had less “protection” from the assaults of a billion-dollar media empire of lies? Did it occur to you that the defensiveness and protectiveness some Palin supporters feel might be an understandable reaction to this overwhelming, unprecedented industry of personal destruction?
And I rarely if ever hear a substantial or documented critique of her policies or performance. It is always personal.
rrpjr on April 12, 2011 at 1:57 PM
Who’s up for another four years of BHO?
CliffHanger on April 12, 2011 at 1:57 PM
They made it impossible for her to continue as Governor. She didn’t have the money to defend herself. They knew what they were doing and they beat her at the game of politics.
She was painted into a corner, her only option was to resign. It has happened to other Governors, but they have never tried to make a come back this big. Fife Symington in Arizona for instance.
If she allowed the Democrats to best her in her own state where she should have had access to all the benefits of being the party in power and the sitting Governorship how easily will it be for national Democrats to find her weaknesses and make her unable to govern? She didn’t develop the friendships and connections to help her survive. She didn’t have the loyalty of those in her own party and in the other party. Making enemies of people in your own party is bad leadership.
Palin was beaten by her opponents in the end.
Politics is a tough tough game. I don’t see evidence that she can play it well.
So regardless of her stand on issues, no matter how well they are expressed, if you don’t political skill, leadership skill, in the end, the other side wins.
I don’t see that as a small thing. National Democrats are far more ruthless that what she faced inside Alaska.
petunia on April 12, 2011 at 1:59 PM
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