Mitt Romney met privately with William Kristol, who is leading the effort to draft an independent bi

[applegrove]

Mitt Romney met privately with William Kristol, who is leading the effort to draft an independent bid

By Robert Costa at the Washington Post

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/05/06/mitt-romney-met-privately-with-william-kristol-who-is-leading-the-effort-to-draft-an-independent-bid/

"SNIP............


In spite of his insistence that he will not run, Mitt Romney is being courted this week by a leading conservative commentator to reconsider an jump into the volatile 2016 presidential race as an independent candidate.

William Kristol, the longtime editor of The Weekly Standard magazine and a leading voice on the right, met privately with the 2012 nominee on Thursday afternoon to discuss the possibility of launching an independent bid, potentially with Romney as its standard-bearer.

“He came pretty close to being elected president so I thought he may consider doing it, especially since he has been very forthright in explaining why Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should not be president of the United States,” Kristol said in a phone interview Friday, where he confirmed that he and Romney had a “little meeting in Washington.”

But knowing Romney's reluctance, Kristol told Romney that if he remains unwilling to run, many top conservatives would appreciate having the former Massachusetts governor’s support for an independent candidate, should he and other right-leaning figures enlist a willing contender.



.............SNIP"

[sufrommich]

1. Do it,Mittens!! nt

[Major Nikon]

2. Kristol was on MSNBC today trash talking Trump

I figured something was up.

[thucythucy]

3. I could be wrong, but wasn't it Kristol who gave us Sarah Palin?

He was one of her original fans, back in the day. At least that's what I thought.

[3catwoman3]

7. I believe you...

...are correct about that. Damn Bill Kristol for that, and damn John McCain. And, while I'm at it, damn Steve Schmidt and smirking Nicole Wallace, too.

And, IIRC, President Obama won his second election by a pretty hefty margin, so Mr. Always-Wrong Kristol is wrong yet again about Willard coming "pretty close."

[Ilsa]

18. I'm under the impression that Wallace despised Palin.

That's how it was portrayed in the movie.

[3catwoman3]

19. Then she should have looked for a...

...different job.

[Hortensis]

20. She came to despise, and vice versa, DURING AND AFTER

trying to turn her into a presentable product and failing. It wasn't the cynical job itself she objected to.

[malaise]

9. Way more than fan

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2008/10/10/palins-talent-scout.html

[Hortensis]

21. Good article, Malaise. "a blank page" as a good thing.

Kristol, a NY intellectual, couldn't have missed clues to her crippling ignorance about almost everything but was prepared to make her VP anyway to get the religious right vote. I didn't remember this.

[Liberal_in_LA]

17. Yes

[rurallib]

4. “He came pretty close to being elected president"

when did that happen? I missed it.

On a serious note, I still think Mitt believes he has been chosen by his god to be the first Mormon prez, so don't be surprised

[Hortensis]

22. Big yep to who Mitt serves. The Second Coming is expected almost

any time, and he has said many times that he is a true and complete believer. When I was raising my kids in a town with a lot of Mormons, those kids were told they would see Jesus in their lifetimes. Not many Mormons around our Deep South neighborhood, but lots of people of other fundamentalist Christian sects, who all see signs that we are in End Times everywhere they look. (Poor things.)

[Lucinda]

5. Probably has lot more women in his binders by now!

Hillary can let them out so they can vote.

[applegrove]

6. LOL!

[malaise]

8. Down Memory Lane with Sarah Palin's talent scout

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2008/10/10/palins-talent-scout.html
<snip>
No wonder Bill Kristol has remained so positive about her while other neocons have fled. He helped push her to the veep ticket—and won out against Karl Rove. (With an update after a Weekly Standard blog post Friday night critiquing this piece.)

In June 2007, a cruise hosted by the political journal The Weekly Standard set anchor in Juneau, Alaska. Standard editors William Kristol and Fred Barnes then lunched with Governor Sarah Palin. It was a moment of discovery to equal Hernando Cortez’s landing at Veracruz.

The Daily Telegraph’s Tim Shipman saw this encounter as the launch of a Neoconservative project surrounding Palin. He interviewed a former Republican White House official now at the American Enterprise Institute about Palin:

“She’s bright and she’s a blank page. She’s going places and it’s worth going there with her.” Asked if he sees her as a “project,” the former official said: “Your word, not mine, but I wouldn’t disagree with the sentiment.

Kristol appeared on Fox News on June 30, 2008, confidently predicting that McCain would select Sarah Palin and as a public display of support, oil prices would miraculously fall.

Kristol can fairly lay claim to having “discovered” Palin for Washington political circles. Palin’s name appeared in 41 Weekly Standard articles since the Juneau meeting—starting with a paean entitled “ The Most Popular Governor” that ran right after the reception.

[lindysalsagal]

10. Bristol, of Project for a New American Century.

What could possibly go wrong?

Oh, yeah. 100,000 dead Iraqis.

[UTUSN]

11. Problem with this is that Billy "William" KRISTOL never succeeds at anything

[JEB]

12. Kristol and Romney, that is a lot of stupid to fit in one room.

They should have invited Kissinger and Kagan and gone for the record.

[Brother Buzz]

13. Kristol is the perfect reverse barometer

This isn't going anywhere

[Gman]

14. Mr PNAC himself.

They do not give up power easily.

[Maynar]

15. Please Proceed

Mr. Kristol.

[IDemo]

16. The only man in the world whose broken clock would still be wrong 24 hours a day? n/t

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. +1

[Miles Archer]

23. Romney to Kristol, at the meeting: "Did you bake those cookies? No. no."

[La Lioness Priyanka]

24. kristol has been wrong about EVERYTHING in his life. this is just another one of those things.

[Initech]

26. Remember when he was the biggest cheerleader for Iraq and Afghanistan?

[struggle4progress]

27. "I'm thinking we might get Palin to run. Your endorsement could put her over the top!"

[madinmaryland]

28. Heh! The World's Most Incorrect Person touting The World's Least Interesting Person.

[Blue Owl]

29. William "Ronco" Kristol

It's a simple as this...