Bill Kristol: I Hope a Third Party Candidate Comes Forward Image: Bill Kristol: I Hope a Third Party Candidate Comes Forward (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
By Bill Hoffmann | Friday, 25 Mar 2016 02:09 PM
Bill Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard, tells Newsmax TV he hopes a third-party candidate will emerge if Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are anointed the Republican and Democratic presidential nominees.
"I just don't think [Trump] has the character or temperament to be president of the United States ... [and] we're certainly not going to vote for Hillary," Kristol said Friday to J.D. Hayworth on "Newsmax Prime."
"There are a lot of fine Republicans and conservatives in the country, some of them are retired generals, some of them are businessmen, some of them are civic leaders, some of them are retired or current senators or governors.
"Let's see if anyone comes forward. Maybe it's all just a pipe dream. I'm willing to acknowledge it's possible that this won't happen."
And what would a third party be called?
"I kind of like the Federalist Party. They were a great party for the first 12 years in the republic before they went out of business. The Alexander Hamilton Party, there are a lot of good names," said Kristol, whose publication is a leading conservative opinion magazine.
"Look, I don't want to start a third party, I'm a Republican. I've voted Republican in every presidential election in my adult lifetime and virtually every Senate and governor, gubernatorial election.
So from my view, it would be an independent Republican running. It wouldn't be a third party. It would be a one-off deal...."
For now, Kristol said, he's "fine" with Sen. Ted Cruz, who is in second place behind front-runner Trump, becoming the GOP nominee.
"I've known him a long time and I think he's a good, strong conservative," he said, adding that he would also accept Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who is in a distant third and is resisting calls from some GOP notables to drop out.
"[Kasich is] a little more moderate than I am, but he's within the respectable Republican spectrum. I could live with Kasich, I wouldn't be thrilled," Kristol told Hayworth.
And could he change his mind about Trump, the billionaire developer whose brash campaign style and shoot-from-the-lip way of speaking has alienated many Republicans?
"Trump is a very skillful candidate, more than I expected. Maybe I'll be surprised, pleasantly surprised by his behavior over the next few months," Kristol said.
"I haven't been pleasantly surprised over the last few weeks or months, though. He's had plenty of chances to be more responsible and he hasn't been."
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Poster Comment:
Since the arch-neocon Bill Kristol has come out against Donald Trump, it is my duty to say that Trump is the man to be our next President.