Barbour comments on GOP presidential candidates
January 26, 2015 |04:20 PM
BOCA RATON, Fla. — Former Mississippi Gov. and Republican National Committee Chairman Haley Barbour said here Sunday that “there will be a much higher quality field” of Republican presidential candidates for 2016 than in 2012, but he then made critical comments aabout several GOP candidates and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.
During the question-and-answer period of a speech to the International Dairy Foods Association, Barbour said it is really too early to tell how the Republican presidential candidates will perform because “none of these guys are fully developed yet.”
Of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: “there is still a bunch of Bush fatigue out there.”
Of 2012 GOP candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: “You don’t learn much from the second kick of a mule.”
Of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: He noted that Christie, a Republican, got a high percentage of the vote in a Democratic state, but that Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also a Republican, had also done well in a Democratic state.
Of Texas Gov. Rick Perry: “He’s a great governor but you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: He “not only has a starting place,” but the early states of Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada all have large religious conservative Republican voting blocks.
Of retired conservative Ben Carson: “He is impressive but don’t think he can win the nomination.”
Barbour said he is not as sure as some people seem to be that Clinton will run.
“Tell me any country that held us in higher esteem before she was secretary of state,” he said.
Barbour also said that “history is against her” because the country usually does not leave the White House in the hands of one party for more than eight years.
The Republicans’ job in the next two years, Barbour said, is to prove they can govern by passing bills and sending them to President Barack Obama.
Passing bills on issues such as tax reform won’t be easy because the Republicans will need to attract six Democratic votes in the Senate to come up with the 60 needed for cloture. Republicans will not have the votes in the Senate to override vetoes, Barbour said, but sending bills to Obama even if he vetoes them will still be the best way to demonstrate leadership.
The reason so little has happened in Washington in recent years, he said, is not just that the country is split but that Obama has not been a leader on the scale of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who managed to pass important laws even though Congress was in the hands of the opposite party.
“The president has to lead America,” Barbour said.
During the question-and-answer period of a speech to the International Dairy Foods Association, Barbour said it is really too early to tell how the Republican presidential candidates will perform because “none of these guys are fully developed yet.”
Of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush: “there is still a bunch of Bush fatigue out there.”
Of 2012 GOP candidate and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney: “You don’t learn much from the second kick of a mule.”
Of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie: He noted that Christie, a Republican, got a high percentage of the vote in a Democratic state, but that Ohio Gov. John Kasich, also a Republican, had also done well in a Democratic state.
Of Texas Gov. Rick Perry: “He’s a great governor but you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression.”
Of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee: He “not only has a starting place,” but the early states of Iowa, South Carolina and Nevada all have large religious conservative Republican voting blocks.
Of retired conservative Ben Carson: “He is impressive but don’t think he can win the nomination.”
Barbour said he is not as sure as some people seem to be that Clinton will run.
“Tell me any country that held us in higher esteem before she was secretary of state,” he said.
Barbour also said that “history is against her” because the country usually does not leave the White House in the hands of one party for more than eight years.
The Republicans’ job in the next two years, Barbour said, is to prove they can govern by passing bills and sending them to President Barack Obama.
Passing bills on issues such as tax reform won’t be easy because the Republicans will need to attract six Democratic votes in the Senate to come up with the 60 needed for cloture. Republicans will not have the votes in the Senate to override vetoes, Barbour said, but sending bills to Obama even if he vetoes them will still be the best way to demonstrate leadership.
The reason so little has happened in Washington in recent years, he said, is not just that the country is split but that Obama has not been a leader on the scale of former Presidents Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton, who managed to pass important laws even though Congress was in the hands of the opposite party.
“The president has to lead America,” Barbour said.
