We like David French, but come on

David French is more than just a good guy. He's a great guy. He enlisted in the Armed Forces in his 30s because it didn't seem right to him that others were making that sacrifice for their countries and he wasn't. He's that good a guy. He's also a faithful Christian who knows his Bible and, according to all available evidence, lives it. French and I are Facebook friends, and I've let him know that I love all his work except for his #NeverTrump screeds - not because I think his criticisms of Trump are entirely without merit, but because I think stopping Hillary is the more crucial imperative. He doesn't respond to that with anger. He just vows to try to win me over.

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So sure. David French is great. Big fan here. But when Bill Kristol sought to quelch talk that a #NeverTrump third party effort was crumbling, I was expecting a more compelling payoff to this tweet:

Just a heads up over this holiday weekend: There will be an independent candidate--an impressive one, with a strong team and a real chance.

— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) May 29, 2016

That was last weekend. It wasn't long before we learned that Kristol was referring to none other than National Review's own French - an Iraq veteran of distinction and a really good writer. An impressive man, to be sure. But an impressive presidential candidate? With a real chance? As much as I like the way Bill Kristol thinks philosophically - sometimes I think he and I are among the few remaining neo-cons who still believe in the Bush vision for transformation in the Middle East - he does have a habit of believing things will happen just because he really wants them to. Kristol's reputation for delusional predictions is pretty legendary, much to the delight of his leftist and libertarian critics, so I suppose he's just the guy to believe that David French could be elected president.

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Apparently, not even the other #NeverTrumpers are sold on this idea:

“But let’s be realistic about this. David French has, charitably, 0.1 percent name ID. He will have to raise at least $250 million, dedicating almost all of that to ballot access fights and potential legal challenges to extend deadlines,” Erickson wrote. “I’d vote for David French,” he added. “Ultimately, however, I suspect the ballot access hurdle will be too much. I suspect it really will be an insurmountable improbability.” Conservative activist leaders held a conference call Wednesday to plan their next steps, on which Erickson did not participate, although he was part of a conversation Tuesday evening. Another conservative leader familiar with the recent discussions said, “We’re still continuing our recruitment effort.” Only a few in the group have even met French, whom Kristol floated as a possible pick on Tuesday. It met with a decidedly mixed reaction. “I just wanted to go pound my head against the wall,” said Judson Phillips, founder of Tea Party Nation, a conservative group with about 100,000 members. “I’m sorry. David’s a great guy, but he’s not impressive as a presidential candidate. Where’s the team? I haven’t seen anything about a team. “Bill Kristol jumped the shark on this one,” he added.

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Realistically, there are very few people compelling enough that they could launch a third-party bid and have any sort of chance. I'm not even sure Mitt Romney is one of them despite the constant efforts to talk him into it. Given the attitude of conservative activists toward just about every high-ranking elected Republican, who could you choose? They think Paul Ryan is a sellout. Everyone associated with the Bush Administration is persona non grata. We had some very impressive governors running in the early part of the primary season, but none of them gained any traction whatsoever. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio can hardly be expected to win a three-man race against Trump and Hillary for the presidency when they couldn't even beat Trump for the nomination. There's really not a choice that makes sense, but that surely doesn't argue for someone like David French - who is completely unknown outside the ranks of those who like to read conservative journals of opinion (which, I hate to tell you, is a very tiny segment of the population). If Bill Kristol wants to hold onto this dream, I wish him well. I don't really know if French is on board, but he strikes me as a sufficiently level-headed guy that the he would surely understand he'd be strictly a protest candidate and not someone who should be taken seriously as having a real shot. And if that's the case, why bother? I understand the #NeverTrump crowd has convinced itself a Hillary presidency is no worse than a Trump presidency, but not many of the rest of us are buying that idea, and we'd really like to keep Hillary out of the White House if it's OK with them.

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