Tom Coburn: ‘I Don’t Think America Will Elect Another Bush President’

AP Photo
AP Photo

Recently retired Senator Tom Coburn doesn’t think that Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush has a chance in the 2016 presidential election.

“I don’t think that America will elect another Bush president,” he opined in an interview on Sirius/XM radio, spotted by Buzzfeed’s Andrew Kaczynski.

Coburn pointed out that liberals still hate George W. Bush, suggesting that Jeb could never win back that part of the electorate.

“They still loath George [W.] Bush. You shut out 47 percent of the electorate with that nomination, so you only get to lose three or four percent. I just don’t think that it’s a possibility,” he said.

With typical humility, Coburn explained why his opinions didn’t really matter.

“Again, these are all personal opinions of a retired US Senator and are meaningless,” he said with self-deprecation. Still, he critiqued much of the field.

The conservative gave a blunt assessment of the 2016 political field so far, suggesting that Sen. Ted Cruz and Governor Scott Walker may not be “not ready for primetime.”

Walker, he explained, couldn’t really take credit for winning his recall election in Wisconsin.

“He didn’t do that,” Coburn said. “The Republicans around the country did it for him … they pulled him out of the fire.”

He was particularly critical of Sen. Rand Paul, admitting that the Kentucky Senator “scares me to death” on foreign policy and was “totally wrong on the NSA.”

“Would not vote for him for president,” he said.

He also criticized Ben Carson for lacking “personal integrity” when he gave his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast that criticized President Obama, even though the organizers who invited him asked him not to.

Coburn said that Sen. Marco Rubio “was probably my favorite” in the race so far.

When asked about Gov. Chris Christie, Coburn admitted that he hadn’t spent much time watching his career, but liked that he “answers questions directly.”

Speaking about Gov. Rick Perry, Coburn said “I don’t think he’s capable at that level” and that Sen. Lindsey Graham should probably stick to talking about foreign policy.

Mike Huckabee, Cobern suggested, was “well-rounded” and could “attract votes from both sides,” while the presidency for Rick Santorum was probably “not within his reach” even though the former Pennsylvania Senator appeared to think he was “called” to run.

Carly Fiorina, he said, was “smart, savvy, and experienced” but faced opposition from her enemies at Hewlett Packard.

https://soundcloud.com/buzzfeedandrew/tom-coburn-on-2016-republicans-on-sirius-xms-andrew-wilkow

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