Dan Bartlett on the GOP Field: A Hick, a "Dud" and a "Flip-Flopper"

[wyldwolf]

One of President Bush's closest advisers has a brutally candid analysis of the Republican nomination battle: Fred Thompson is the campaign's "biggest dud," Mitt Romney has "a real problem in the South" because people will not vote for a Mormon, Mike Huckabee's last name is too hick and John McCain could end up repeating 2000 by winning New Hampshire but losing the nomination.

Dan Bartlett, who stepped down as White House counselor in July after working nearly his entire adult life for Bush, gave those frank assessments of the Republican presidential candidates during a recent appearance before the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that went unnoticed outside the room. Never before has Bartlett opened up in a public setting with such an unvarnished analysis of the race. And while he no longer formally speaks for the president, Bartlett spent 14 years channeling Bush and remains virtually his alter ego, so his views could be seen as a revealing look into the thinking within the president's inner circle.

Bartlett was harshest in his judgment of Thompson, the former Tennessee senator who jumped into the contest a month ago and faces his first televised debate today. Thompson, Bartlett said, was the "biggest dud" because he peaked last spring when he first started talking about running and since then has yet to articulate a compelling vision for why he is running. "The biggest liability was whether he had the fire in the belly to run for office in the first place and be president," Bartlett said. "So what does he do? He waits four months, fires a bunch of staff, has a big staff turnover, has a lot of backbiting, comes out with his big campaign launch and gives a very incoherent and not very concise stump speech for why he's running for president."

Bartlett held out little hope that Thompson could win the nomination. "Unless they really find a way to crystallize his message for why he's different than the other candidates, why people should take a second look now, I don't feel very good that Fred Thompson's going to be the candidate for my party," he said.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2007/10/09/bartlett_waxes_on_gop_field.html

[wyldwolf]

1. I'll just assume Cali beat me by a second...

[cali]

4. Doesn't matter.

It's just such a riot to see. You gotta love it, but you also gotta wonder why- and notice that Ghouliani wasn't included in his assessments.

[Me.]

2. Delicious, We Can Use That

:rofl:

[monmouth]

3. Would love for this to be sent to Fox, Rush and the rest of the whackos..What a slam..

[The Count]

5. But he likes Il Duce which makes his opinions null - still fun when they

attack each other. And McCain winning New Hampshire? Only if there was a patient with this name in the loony bin.

[durrrty libby]

6. Nora O'Donnell and co. were just talking about this on MSNBC's

Super Tuesday. Fineman said that he wished Bartlett

had been this candid while working in the WH. (chuckles all around)

[DinahMoeHum]

7. Hey, he's saying it, not us !!!

:rofl::rofl: