Bob Dole Warns of ‘Cataclysmic’ Losses With Ted Cruz, and Says Donald Trump Would Do Better

[Attorney in Texas]

Source: New York Times

Bob Dole, the former Kansas senator and 1996 Republican presidential nominee, has never been fond of Senator Ted Cruz of Texas. But in an interview Wednesday, Mr. Dole said that the party would suffer “cataclysmic” and “wholesale losses” if Mr. Cruz was the nominee, and that Donald J. Trump would fare better.... “I don’t know how often you’ve heard him say the word ‘Republican’ — not very often.” Instead, Mr. Cruz uses the word “conservative,” Mr. Dole said, before offering up a different word for Mr. Cruz: “extremist.”

“I don’t know how he’s going to deal with Congress,” he said. “Nobody likes him.”... The remarks by Mr. Dole reflect wider unease with Mr. Cruz among members of the Republican establishment, but few leading members of the party have been as candid and cutting.

“If he’s the nominee, we’re going to have wholesale losses in Congress and state offices and governors and legislatures,” said Mr. Dole, who served in the House and Senate for 35 years and won the Iowa caucuses twice. He described Mr. Cruz as having falsely “convinced the Iowa voters that he’s kind of a mainstream conservative.”... He said he had met Mr. Trump only once, 30 years ago. “But he has toned down his rhetoric,” he added. As for Mr. Cruz, he said: “There’ll be wholesale losses if he’s the nominee. Our party is not that far right... We are conservatives, we are traditional Republican conservatives. And then, of course, he doesn’t have any friends in Congress. He called the leader of the Republicans a liar on the Senate floor.”... Mr. Dole’s comments came a day after the governor of Iowa, Terry E. Branstad, said in an interview that Mr. Cruz’s opposition to federal ethanol mandates would erode his lead in polls heading into the state’s caucuses on Feb. 1.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2016/01/20/bob-dole-warns-of-cataclysmic-losses-with-ted-cruz-and-says-donald-trump-would-do-better/?_r=0

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[iandhr]

1. Bob Dole Bob Dole

[trof]

6. Bob Dole says "Bob Dole doesn't like Ted Cruz."

[7962]

11. Ha! Memories......

[emulatorloo]

2. Sounds like the Republican establishment has found their 'lesser of two evils'

[Still In Wisconsin]

4. Are they thinking Rubio is too far back?

I hope so because I think we beat Cruz and destroy Trump.

[Xipe Totec]

7. Too Spic & Span nt

[Still In Wisconsin]

8. Ah, OK. So Cruz is OK because, why, he doesn't "look Hispanic?"

[Xipe Totec]

9. He doesn't even speak Spanish. He Speaks Canadian. nt

[MrScorpio]

3. Because, if there's any GOPer who knows how to win a presidential election, it's Bob Dole…

Right?

[Yupster]

10. That was my thought

It must be conceded that on the subject of cataclysmic losses, Bob Dole is an expert.

[mpcamb]

5. Never liked Bob Dole but considered him a decent guy and a patriot.

Hated his politics.
Contempt for his Nixon-like use of the third person when talking about himself.
Still, liked that he never made any deal out of extensive WWII injuries and wanted the best for the US.

[niyad]

13. a decent guy, who could say this (note the pejorative use of "democrat" long before current usage)

In 1976, Dole ran unsuccessfully for Vice President on a ticket headed by President Gerald Ford. Incumbent Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had withdrawn from consideration the previous fall, and Dole was chosen. Dole stated during the Vice Presidential debate with Walter Mondale, "I figured it up the other day: If we added up the killed and wounded in Democrat wars in this century, it would be about 1.6 million Americans — enough to fill the city of Detroit".[17] The remark backfired.

[lastlib]

12. STFU, Dole!

WE want Raffi as the GOP nominee! Bring on those cataclysmic losses!!

[milestogo]

14. Wow, is he still alive?

[Attorney in Texas]

16. sorta ..

[L. Coyote]

17. Especially given Trump is off to the right of Barry Goldwater!

Excellent choice, crazier than Goldwater and no experience too > > > > Can't wait until the Fall! [center]