Politics

Coulter gauges 2012 GOP field: High marks to Bachmann, best bet Christie

Jeff Poor Media Reporter
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It’s only a year and a half from ultimately determining who will be sworn in as president in January 2013 and although anything can still happen, gauging the field of Republicans candidates lining up to challenge President Barack Obama is proving to be a difficult task.

But on Tuesday’s “Follow the Money” on the Fox Business Network, conservative columnist Ann Coulter, author of the upcoming book “Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America,” went through the field top to bottom and offered an assessment of the various contenders.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul:

Excellent on domestic policy – if I could make czar of domestic policy, that would be magnificent. Not so good on foreign policy. I agree with his larger points, we don’t want to be slinging the military around on humanitarian missions, but I don’t understand the Ron Paul-Pat Buchanan-Bob Novak point that, you know, we can be an island unto ourselves as long as there’s international travel.

Donald Trump:

Donald Trump, well, first of all, I would vote for any of the people that you could throw up there, any of them, Bozo the Clown over the current president. Donald Trump, I just wanted to get that in as a general disclaimer. Donald Trump, pros – viciously attacks the media, which is fantastic and stands up to the president and he did get the president to produce the long form. Downs, cons are – Linda McMahon. We’ve been through this before — we’ve been through it a million times. Just because you are flashy and successful business person – Linda McMahon if you don’t remember is the one who ran in my home state, Connecticut against an absolutely abominable Democrat for senate last time and you know, everybody said she is a successful businesswoman. She is a tough talker, yes, let’s run her, but then you see the poll numbers go down.

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty:

Pros are that he does not particularly have any cons and that’s because cons – not very interesting. I’ll give you a more serious con. He was Governor of Minnesota as Al Franken stole the Senate election from under his nose. And while, I believe Michael Barone, definitely John Lott, definitely me and a little bit [Sean] Hannity are screaming from the rooftops this election is being stolen. Every night, I turn on Fox and see Pawlenty saying everything is fine. That’s a serious con.

Watch:

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann:

Fantastic. Oh, I love her so much. She is very well spoken. She’s so carries the conservative message to the people. She has been over-working too much and made silly mistakes, but I think she won’t do that anymore. I love Michele Bachmann. I say the con is she is a congresswoman and I don’t think you get to be president from the House. So I like to have her in the race, keep – push Republican primary candidates to the right and make great points, but she has to go back and run for governor before she can run for president.

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin:

Similar to Bachmann in that I think that – she’s sort of soared beyond the entire cast of candidates there. She is a powerhouse. She’s a shooting star. I think she’s more powerful doing what she is doing now. So for my purposes, I wish to keep going around the country giving speeches, going on Fox. I mean, she says one thing, the death panels and you know, shoots around Twitter and it totally changes the debate. She is so powerful and of course, for good right now, I would prefer that she does not run and have to worry about you know, the economic policy of Uganda or this or that idiotic civil war around the world. I suspect she will come to the same conclusion. She’s having fun. She has power. Why bother running for president?

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich:

Well, look he’s like what I just said about Michele Bachmann, you cannot run from the House. He was in the House. Yeah, he was good 10 years ago and maybe like 80’s music it will come back, but I do not see a lot of enthusiasm.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee:

I love his TV show as I’ve said before and he has me on his TV show to argue with him about this. I think he finally is the one that is like the unicorn – I’ve always been told that existed and I never believed it, a liberal Christian. I think he’s really is a Christian, and yet, he has all these crazy liberal ideas, which you do not recognize at first because he really is a Christian. So I am not wild about him politically and also I happen to really like his TV shows. So a little like Sarah Palin, I hope he doesn’t run.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney:

I think — if the truly stellar candidates, as my Chris Christie does not leap in as I think he will do by Labor Day, I think Romney, my guess is he’ll be nominee largely based on […] but what – are Democrats going to attack him? He did to a single state what our guy did to a whole country.

Coulter offered a compelling reason for Christie to run this cycle – the 2016 field will be a lot tougher, she explained.

“At this point he is the only one left standing, so please Chris Christie jump into the race,” Coulter said. “The other reason a few years out of the Republican talent, it’s unbelievable. We have Alan West, Marco Rubio, we have Rand Paul. Chris Christie is going to face a lot of competition in five years.”

Despite what will be a likely surge from Obama after the events surrounding Osama bin Laden, Coulter still thinks Obama is beatable.

“I think it is possible now,” she added. “I mean, Obama has made such a hash of things. I think if we can run somebody who can put two sentences together and talk without wetting himself, we have a shot. I think if it’s not Christie it’s going to be Romney. And Christie could definitely beat Obama. Romney falls into the category of ‘is he better than Obama?’  Yes.”