Bill Kristol meets with Romney, tries to convince him to make a third-party run

Donald Trump is a boorish, horrible, human being who fails to live up to even the dismal behavioral standards of Bill Clinton. He's also not a "true conservative" - whatever that is. This is the message being offered by the #NeverTrumpers who are hell-bent on handing the election to Hillary finding a "real dyed-in-the-wool conservative" who will run as a 2016 third party candidate. Because Trump is so odious, someone with honest-to-God "right-wing credentials" simply must be dragged into the race. To that end, "real conservative" and Weekly Standard editor Bill Kristol has been meeting with the ultimate conservative candidate. His name is... Mitt Romney.

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From the WaPo

In spite of his insistence that he will not run, Mitt Romney is being courted this week by a leading conservative commentator to reconsider and jump into the volatile 2016 presidential race as an independent candidate. William Kristol, the longtime editor of the Weekly Standard magazine and a leading voice on the right, met privately with the 2012 nominee on Thursday afternoon to discuss the possibility of launching an independent bid, potentially with Romney as its standard-bearer. “He came pretty close to being elected president, so I thought he may consider doing it, especially since he has been very forthright in explaining why Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton should not be president of the United States,” Kristol said in a phone interview Friday, during which he confirmed that he and Romney had a “little meeting in Washington.”

This, of course, is the same Mitt Romney who:

• Gave us RomneyCare, the template for ObamaCare.
• Introduced the world to ObamaCare architect Johnathan Gruber - and praised his work.
• Was occasionally pro-choice.
• Demanded action on climate change.
• Wanted to hike the minimum wage.
• Signed an "assault weapons" ban in 2004.
• Endorsed Obama's trade policy, albeit reluctantly.
• Was a two-time loser who couldn't turn out the vote when he was the only candidate.

Kristol says he knew Romney would be reluctant to jump in - probably because he's not completely insane - and the pair also discussed Romney's support for other potential indie runs.

“Obviously, if there were to be an independent candidacy, Romney’s support would be very important,” Kristol said. “I wanted to get his wisdom on whether it was more or less doable than I thought.”

No one is saying Trump is perfect - not by a long shot. But the fact that anyone within the establishment is still chasing Romney as a potential Trump usurper should indicate just how out-of-touch they really are. Mitt couldn't close the deal in 2008, he couldn't close it again in 2012, and he won't make any positive difference in 2016. …Unless, of course, you're trying to put Hillary in the oval office.

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