Slappy Statist Candidates for US President 2016

[Chef Ramsay]

Chef, all of candidates of the two major parties will work for more centralization and more state. Idealism is misplaced here, every president these days is under immense pressure by both lobbyists paying his campaign and ever increasing administrative apparatus. One person wont stop it, if (s)he really tried.

I believe Rand to be cut from the same cloth as his dad and it's evidenced by his votes and leadership on certain topics: more restrained foreign policy where war has to be voted on by Congress, criminal justice issues, audit the fed, pro-civil liberties/anti-NSA measures just to name a few. Rand has more going for him than his dad and not just his way of framing issues in ways that the media can't demagogue him to hell over. They will ignore him up to a certain point but he's got decent relationships w/ certain tv and radio hosts to be able to put him in front of certain audiences that make up the GOP base where he can say his piece. I like supporting people that are up to doing good things in the face of troublemakers and miscreant thieves. That's why I have my Rand thread to promote him to the Bitcoin community and have been doing so for well over a year. And for those around the world that can't donate to help him, I provide a one stop shop for interested parties to find all relevant, daily news and info on Rand w/o having to search for it. It's on the house.

[Chef Ramsay]

Mike (Sc)H(m)uckabee calls on senators in 2016 race to resign their current seats

Newly-minted presidential candidate Mike Huckabee on Wednesday doubled down on his call for presidential candidates who currently hold public office to resign their positions, suggesting they're wasting taxpayer dollars.

“I think people have to choose. I just believe it’s a matter of integrity to say, ‘I don’t want this job that I just got elected to. I think I want a different job.’ Ok, then resign the job you have and go out there and seek the one you want,” he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos Wednesday on Good Morning America. “t's not that I’m going after anybody. I'm speaking the obvious. If a person has a job that the taxpayers are paying for, shouldn't that person do that job?”

Although Huckabee didn’t name any names, there are currently three 2016 GOP candidates who hold elected positions – Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. Other potential candidates currently in office include Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, though they have yet to formally declare their candidacies.

The former Arkansas governor also forcefully made that point during his presidential announcement speech Tuesday.

Of course, as several observers immediately noted, Huckabee himself launched a U.S. Senate bid while he was still serving as lieutenant governor of Arkansas. (He suspended that campaign when then-Gov. Jim Guy Tucker resigned in 1996, elevating him to the governor's mansion.)

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2015/05/06/mike-huckabee-calls-on-senators-in-2016-race-to-resign-their-current-seats/

This guy was a big spending former preacher governor of a Bible belt state, same place where the Clintons came from.

[Chef Ramsay]

Jeb Bush leads GOP pack in New Hampshire

Jeb Bush leads the pack among Republican presidential hopefuls in New Hampshire, according to the latest WMUR Granite State Poll.

The former Florida governor nabbed 15 percent among likely Republican primary voters, with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio close behind with 12 percent. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker follows with 11 percent, and Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul attracted 10 percent. Others in the mix include Texas Sen. Ted Cruz (6 percent); Donald Trump (5 percent); and Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina and Rick Perry (4 percent each).

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has pinned his presidential hopes on New Hampshire, picked up just 3 percent.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/poll-jeb-bush-gop-new-hampshire-117726.html#ixzz3ZTL9UYJD

[Chef Ramsay]

Carly Fiorina Is Not the Anti-Hillary

As an advocate of a stateless society, I don’t want anyone to be president. Nevertheless, someone will be chosen to live in the White House next year. Will it be a woman?

Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina hope so. But these two women are essentially indistinguishable from each other and from their male rivals. Style must not overshadow substance. Really, what’s the point?

Clinton is a well-known champion of the all-state. To her the U.S. government is the source of order both domestic and foreign. Her fondness for social engineering is indisputable. Domestically, she likes corporatism, which comes down to bureaucrats and big business—with input from big official labor unions—running "the economy." [That’s in quotation marks because an economy is just people: we’re the economy the ruling elite wants to regulate.] Little is to be left to the spontaneous process that arises from peaceful social cooperation and mutual aid in the marketplace and the wider society. In foreign affairs, Clinton has a preference for military intervention. She certainly demonstrated this as secretary of state under Barack Obama. She is an enthusiast for the conceit known as "American exceptionalism."
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How about Fiorina? If you’re looking for the anti-Hillary, you'll have to look elsewhere.

Fiorina will play up the fact that she comes out of the world of (big) business. She ran Hewlett-Packard (unsuccessfully by many accounts) and held executive positions in other large companies. This may thrill fans of "private enterprise," but beware. Corporate America is no place to find advocates of freed markets, as opposed to capitalism or corporatism. When have you heard the CEO of a major company call for laissez faire—that is, the radical separation of the people and state?
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Fiorina sees a world full of enemies—Russia and Iran head the list—and shows no understanding that the U.S. government has gratuitously created enemies for the American people. [She’s been on the CIA External Advisory Board.] At this late date she still does not know—or more likely, mind—that free markets don’t coexist with an interventionist foreign policy, and she thinks the world is in turmoil because the U.S. government is not interventionist enough under Obama: "American leadership matters in the world. American strength matters in the world."
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http://reason.com/archives/2015/05/07/fiorina-is-not-the-anti-hillary

[Chef Ramsay]

Santorum to make campaign announcement May 27 in Pittsburgh

Santorum attended school in Pittsburgh and spent several years there as a lawyer before being elected to Congress.

Santorum set up a testing-the-waters campaign account earlier this month to help finance his trips to the early-voting states, where he’s been meeting with local activists and party leaders to gauge support ahead of what appears to be another run at the Republican presidential nomination.

Last week, Santorum attended three events in South Carolina, and he held three events in Iowa the week prior. He’ll head back to Iowa on May 16 for one of the state party’s biggest fundraisers, the Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines.

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Santorum is currently buried in the polls in 11th place nationally and taking only 2 percent support, according to the RealClearPolitics average. He’s only doing a little bit better in Iowa, pulling 2.7 percent support, according to RCP.

http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/gop-primaries/241288-santorum-to-make-2016-announcement-may-27

[Chef Ramsay]

Marco Rubio Campaigns on His Immigrant Story, Cautiously

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As Mr. Rubio has introduced himself to curious, and overwhelmingly Caucasian, Republican audiences from Iowa to New Hampshire, he has vaulted to the front ranks of the early pack of likely presidential candidates, partly because of his natural political talent. But it may owe just as much to the combination of his personal story and the balm it offers to a party that has been repeatedly scalded by accusations of prejudice.

He says he is highlighting his background only to share his own twist on the American dream — not out of any desire to make history on behalf of Hispanics. But Mr. Rubio and those around him are also acutely aware of the sometimes raw tensions in his party, between those unsettled by an increasingly diverse society and those who say Republicans must embrace the multihued America of 2015.

To the party operatives and donors who have placed long bets on him, and to the rank-and-file primary voters he has impressed, Mr. Rubio’s candidacy seems to affirm the idea that in a free market, anyone can rise without the benefit of connections or wealth. That he did so as the child of Latin American parents who fled an autocratic government and toiled in the humblest of jobs — maid and bartender — has sent some Republicans swooning.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/08/us/politics/marco-rubio-campaigns-on-his-immigrant-story-cautiously.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Billionaire Lifts Marco Rubio, Politically and Personally

MIAMI — One day in the State Capitol in Tallahassee, Marco Rubio, the young speaker of the House, strayed from the legislative proceedings to single out a lanky, silver-haired man seated in the balcony: a billionaire auto dealer named Norman Braman.

This man, Mr. Rubio said in effusive remarks in 2008, was no ordinary billionaire, hoarding his cash or using it to pursue selfish passions.

“He’s used it,” Mr. Rubio said, “to enrich the lives of so many people whose names you will never know.” As it turned out, one of the people enriched was Mr. Rubio himself.

As Mr. Rubio has ascended in the ranks of Republican politics, Mr. Braman has emerged as a remarkable and unique patron. He has bankrolled Mr. Rubio’s campaigns. He has financed Mr. Rubio’s legislative agenda. And, at the same time, he has subsidized Mr. Rubio’s personal finances, as the rising politician and his wife grappled with heavy debt and big swings in their income.

More...http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/us/billionaire-lifts-marco-rubio-politically-and-personally.html?_r=0

[Chef Ramsay]

Marco Rubio Outlines a Liam Neeson Foreign Policy in South Carolina

Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio summed up his hawkish foreign policy in a speech at the South Carolina Freedom Summit on Saturday with a reference to the 2008 thriller Taken.

“On our strategy on global jihadists and terrorists, I refer them to the movie Taken. Have you seen the movie Taken? Liam Neeson. He had a line, and this is what our strategy should be: 'We will look for you, we will find you, and we will kill you,'”  the Florida senator said to thunderous applause in Greenville, S.C.

The line—referring to Neeson's character, a CIA operative threatening a human trafficker who had kidnapped his daughter—earned the top-tier candidate thunderous applause.

The rest of Rubio's rhetoric on foreign policy was familiar, as he spoke about the need to “prevent Vladimir Putin from re-drawing the lines of Europe”; work with allies to “confront Iran's ambitions to dominate the region”; stand firmly with Israel, “the only pro-American, free-enterprise democracy in the Middle East,” and work “not just to contain radical jihadists, but to defeat them.”

More...http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-05-09/marco-rubio-outlines-a-liam-neeson-foreign-policy-in-south-carolina

This is exactly the type of hoorah that these miltary hawks like to hear and SC has lots of them. As you can tell, this guy has many plans for the rest of the world and is foaming at the mouth to be commander of this large offensive force aka the US military. Better get all your friends and family on the Rand bandwagon.

[Chef Ramsay]

Marco Rubio: A Demographic on Steroids

Senator Marco Rubio spoke for the Council on Foreign Relations yesterday, staking out his position as the GOP super hawk, announcing that he would not be afraid to go to war. Presumably, he will have to compete with Senator Lindsey Graham for that role. And they both will have to find a suitable target.

Recent polls show him climbing. A Quinnipiac Poll has him tied with Rand Paul for second place in Iowa, behind Scott Walker. And a recent Bloomberg poll has him second only to Rand Paul in New Hampshire.

He is a fascinating candidate popular with the media. I call him a “demographic on steroids.”

First, he is Hispanic and that is the wave of the future for this country.

Second, he is from Florida, a key battleground, must win, state for any Republican.

Third, he is a Roman Catholic, with an LDS heritage, who regularly attends a Baptist church. Believe me, that is a highly evolved creature perfectly fitted for a modern, GOP primary process in an age of the Fox News Channel.

And finally, although he is young, he is the insider, big business, Wall Street, money alternative to Jeb Bush. In fact, Rubio’s people are right now telling donors that a dollar given to Jeb Bush is a dollar given to Hillary Clinton since Bush will never win a head to head contest with her. The national media and major corporations will never allow three of the last five presidents to come from the same immediate family. Bush, we are told, is only insurance in case Hillary slips.

These above are the four major positives of a Marco Rubio candidacy. But he has one major negative.

Marco Rubio, like most of the other candidates in this race, has no raison d’etre. There is no purpose in his candidacy other than naked ambition. For too many candidates in this race it is all about them and not the voter. Hillary Clinton says, “Vote for me I am a woman.” Marco Rubio says, “Vote for me I am Hispanic.” Even Scott Walker’s argument says nothing about what he would do. Walker says, “Vote for me I am a governor. I know how to be an administrator.” It is meant to contrast the ineptitude of the current president.
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This may be why Senator Rand Paul is now leading these early swing state and battleground state polls. He is a fount of ideas. Young people have a reason to vote for him. African Americans have a reason to vote for him. Born again Christians have a reason to vote for him. Waitresses have a reason to vote for him. He doesn’t just raise the defense budget, he shows how he will do it while balancing the budget.
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https://dougwead.wordpress.com/2015/05/14/marco-rubio-a-demographic-on-steroids/

[Chef Ramsay]

John Bolton will not run for president

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Thursday that he will not run for president in 2016, pledging he would nevertheless ensure those who do focus on his top issue: national security.

Bolton is a longtime Republican foreign policy hand who was considered a significant long-shot in the GOP field.

"While I'm not a candidate, I am certainly not going to sit this election out," Bolton said in a video to his supporters. "I'm also going to focus on the 2016 presidential race, to make certain that foreign policy is critical to winning the nomination."

The mustachioed neoconservative diplomat said he began to consider a presidential run in order to push national security to the top of the Republican agenda. With much of the early presidential debate centering on how potential candidates would tackle foreign policy challenges, Bolton said he believed his mission has been accomplished.

Bolton barely registered in national opinion polls and has never before held elective office.

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http://www.cnn.com/2015/05/14/politics/election-2016-john-bolton-george-pataki-announcements/

[Chef Ramsay]

Marco Rubio Struggles With Question on Iraq War

Senator Marco Rubio of Florida struggled on Sunday to give clear answers about whether it was a mistake for the United States to go to war against Iraq in 2003, becoming the latest Republican presidential candidate to trip on the wisdom of the military invasion.

Under a barrage of questions from Chris Wallace of Fox News, Mr. Rubio repeatedly said “it was not a mistake” for President George W. Bush to order the invasion based on the intelligence he had at the time. But Mr. Rubio grew defensive as Mr. Wallace pressed him to say flatly whether he now believed the war was a mistake. Mr. Rubio chose instead to criticize the questions themselves, saying that in “the real world” presidents have to make decisions based on evidence presented to them at the time.

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At one point Mr. Rubio, in discussing the importance of hindsight on the Iraq war, raised a recent boxing fight to make a point. “Based on what we know, a lot of things — based on what we know now, I wouldn’t have thought Manny Pacquiao was going to beat, uh, in that fight a couple weeks ago — — ” Mr. Rubio said before Mr. Wallace interrupted.

The back-and-forth resulted in a two-minute video clip that Republican opponents could use against Mr. Rubio in the future, given that he came across as a politician used to debating fine points and nuances in the United States Senate — a problem that then-Senator John Kerry faced in his presidential run in 2004 — rather than as a seasoned leader used to giving clear statements and sound bites. Mr. Rubio’s readiness for the presidency has been questioned among some Republican voters, given than he is a 43-year-old first-term senator, and moments like the boxing reference seemed discordant on a subject like the Iraq war.

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http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/05/17/marco-rubio-struggles-with-question-on-iraq-war/?_r=0

[Chef Ramsay]

Huckabee will be skipping Iowa Straw Poll

2016 hopeful Mike Huckabee announced on Fox & Friends Thursday morning he intends to skip the Iowa Straw Poll, becoming the second GOP candidate-type to do so.

But Huckabee’s decision is far more surprising than that of Jeb Bush, a so-called moderate who routinely polls fifth in the state. Huckabee, a religious conservative, won the Iowa caucus in 2008 and is likely pinning the momentum of his campaign on a repeat.

To do so he intends to marshall all his resources on the caucus, not some stupid straw thing. “It’s been a great political theater,” he said. “But every candidate ultimately has to decide how to use resources and the goal is not to win a straw poll which doesn’t mean anything.”

Huckabee also worried the poll could divide the conservatives in the field. “I just don’t want to see conservatives split up, get into a deep fight, and make a way for someone to come around the edge from the middle and take out a conservative,” he said “That’s not the best way for us to win the election.”

Huckabee pointed out that Michele Bachmann won the dealie in 2012 only to finish sixth in Iowa. Huckabee placed second in Iowa in 2008.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/huckabee-skipping-meaningless-iowa-straw-poll-just-political-theater/

The Establishment got burned when Ron Paul nearly won the Iowa Straw Poll. If that had not happened, I have no doubt that we'd be still be hearing all the Establishment candidates and pundits yapping about how important the IASP is, if only as an indicator of organizational strength.

But the Establishment can't tolerate the risk of being shown up, and the word has gone out: the IASP (or any other venue they cannot manage or control) has to be dissed, downplayed and relegated to irrelevance ...

[Chef Ramsay]

Hillary’s agribusiness ties give rise to nickname in Iowa: ‘Bride of Frankenfood’

Hillary Rodham Clinton’s ties to agribusiness giant Monsanto, and her advocacy for the industry’s genetically modified crops, have environmentalists in Iowa calling her “Bride of Frankenfood” — putting yet another wrinkle in her presidential campaign’s courtship of liberal activists who are crucial to winning the state’s Democratic caucuses.

The backlash against Mrs. Clinton for her support of genetically modified organisms (GMO), which dominate the corn and soybean crops at the heart of Iowa’s economy, manifested itself at a recent meeting of the Tri-County Democrats, where members gauged support for the former secretary of state.

A large faction of women voiced strong support for Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy until the GMO issue came up, prompting them to switch allegiances to Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, a liberal stalwart challenging her for the Democratic nomination.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/may/17/hillary-clinton-gmo-support-monsanto-ties-spark-ba/#ixzz3aoujACaX

[Chef Ramsay]

Rubio Demands More Foreign Workers

Rubio’s “I-squared” bill would triple the number of temporary guest workers businesses could bring into the country every year, and allow for a virtually unlimited number of university-based green cards.
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The big businesses backing this bill and clamoring for more guest workers insist they can’t find enough Americans willing or able to fill certain “high-skilled” jobs. Rubio obviously agrees, and has argued more guest workers and immigration generally will result in more jobs for Americans.
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“Its only purpose is to please the corporate interests that are very heavy campaign contributors,” he added. “That is literally the bottom line.”
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Nearly 75 percent of Americans with STEM degrees are not working in STEM Fields, according to Census data, and only 3.8 million Americans with STEM degrees actually hold STEM jobs.

More...http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/19/as-floridians-are-displaced-rubio-demands-more-foreign-workers/

[tvbcof]

Rubio Demands More Foreign Workers

Rubio’s “I-squared” bill would triple the number of temporary guest workers businesses could bring into the country every year, and allow for a virtually unlimited number of university-based green cards.
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The big businesses backing this bill and clamoring for more guest workers insist they can’t find enough Americans willing or able to fill certain “high-skilled” jobs. Rubio obviously agrees, and has argued more guest workers and immigration generally will result in more jobs for Americans.
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“Its only purpose is to please the corporate interests that are very heavy campaign contributors,” he added. “That is literally the bottom line.”
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Nearly 75 percent of Americans with STEM degrees are not working in STEM Fields, according to Census data, and only 3.8 million Americans with STEM degrees actually hold STEM jobs.

More...http://dailycaller.com/2015/05/19/as-floridians-are-displaced-rubio-demands-more-foreign-workers/

To be fair, this could be a reflection of the worthlessness of most degrees.  A degree seems to prove that one has a certain level of intelligence and drive, but as the standards relax to where a majority of Americans can obtain one (usually be going into debt slavery or having their parents participate in a transfer-of-wealth scheme) then necessarily the holding of one does not mean a lot.  My experiance In the tech sector where H1-B's were common is that people doing the hiring want to make money.  Period.  If you can help them do that, you are in.  China and India with a billion people form a rich vein of talent.  I can hardly believe that the governments of China and India will let them go so easily.  As far as I'm concerned as a national policy, we should not stare a gift horse in the mouth.  The alternate which suites most industries just fine is to export the jobs themselves overseas.

But ya, Rubio is a fuck-head no matter what.

[Chef Ramsay]

Scott Walker: I Don’t Stand With Rand

Likely 2016 presidential candidate Scott Walker said on Wednesday that if he were in the Senate, he would not have supported Rand Paul’s protest against the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and the the NSA’s domestic surveillance programs.

Paul held the Senate floor for almost eleven hours earlier this week to object to the ongoing collection of Americans’ telephone records.

Speaking to talk radio host Michael Medved, Walker said it was “incredibly important” for national security that the government retain the legal authority to collect Americans’ metadata en masse.
...

More...http://www.buzzfeed.com/ilanbenmeir/scott-walker-i-dont-stand-with-rand

[tvbcof]

Scott Walker: I Don’t Stand With Rand

Likely 2016 presidential candidate Scott Walker said on Wednesday that if he were in the Senate, he would not have supported Rand Paul’s protest against the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and the the NSA’s domestic surveillance programs.

Paul held the Senate floor for almost eleven hours earlier this week to object to the ongoing collection of Americans’ telephone records.

Speaking to talk radio host Michael Medved, Walker said it was “incredibly important” for national security that the government retain the legal authority to collect Americans’ metadata en masse.
...

More...http://www.buzzfeed.com/ilanbenmeir/scott-walker-i-dont-stand-with-rand

The more people who DON'T 'Stand with Rand', the more I, as a reformed Liberal, hold out some hope for him as a potentially worthwhile candidate.  This is especially the case for mainstream bottom feeders like Scott Walker and his (many) counterparts on the so-called 'progressive' side of the equation.

[Chef Ramsay]

Scott Walker: I Don’t Stand With Rand

Likely 2016 presidential candidate Scott Walker said on Wednesday that if he were in the Senate, he would not have supported Rand Paul’s protest against the reauthorization of the Patriot Act and the the NSA’s domestic surveillance programs.

Paul held the Senate floor for almost eleven hours earlier this week to object to the ongoing collection of Americans’ telephone records.

Speaking to talk radio host Michael Medved, Walker said it was “incredibly important” for national security that the government retain the legal authority to collect Americans’ metadata en masse.
...

More...http://www.buzzfeed.com/ilanbenmeir/scott-walker-i-dont-stand-with-rand

The more people who DON'T 'Stand with Rand', the more I, as a reformed Liberal, hold out some hope for him as a potentially worthwhile candidate.  This is especially the case for mainstream bottom feeders like Scott Walker and his (many) counterparts on the so-called 'progressive' side of the equation.

It sure would be nice if more liberal types would crossover in the GOP primary to vote for Rand. The disingenuous ones would likely realize that Rand is the real threat to their lefty chosen one vote for a weaker candidate in the GOP primary so it's easier on them in the general election. Furthermore, many Rand supporters won't support anyone but him so that will drive down republican turnout in the general. Some care about the issues and the others have blind allegiance to the party.

[Chef Ramsay]

Santorum: "Load up the bombers and bomb Iran back to the 7th Century"

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Republicans wooing Iowa's most active party members called Saturday for a stronger presence in the world but ran the gamut in tone and just how tough to get with America's enemies.

On Armed Services Day — and a day the Obama administration reported killing a senior Islamic State leader in Syria — most of the nearly dozen GOP presidential prospects at a state party dinner called for a more confrontational stance toward Iran.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum's answer for handling Iran, one of four countries on the U.S. list of nations accused of repeatedly supporting global terrorism, was to "load up our bombers and bomb them back to the seventh century."

Earlier in the day, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush praised U.S. commandos who had reportedly killed the IS leader, described as the head of oil operations for IS. Bush gave no credit to Obama, whom Bush accused of allowing the rise of IS by pulling back U.S. forces from Iraq.

"It's a great day, but it's not a strategy," Bush told reporters in eastern Iowa.

Although Bush joked lightly about the confused statements he made in recent days about whether he would have ordered the attack in Iraq in 2003, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul told the GOP gathering Saturday night that it was a "valid question" to ask presidential candidates whether they would have invaded Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul speaks during the Iowa Republican Party's Linco …
"We have to question: Is Iraq more stable or less stable since Hussein is gone?" asked Paul, who espouses some of the hands-off foreign policy of his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul.

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham tried to reject any assertion that the existing problems in Iraq were the result of the Republican president who ordered the invasion, Bush's brother George W. Bush.

"The person I blame is Barack Obama, not George W. Bush," said Graham, who criticized Obama for keeping a campaign promise to withdraw combat troops from Iraq. Of George W. Bush, Graham said, "He made the best decision he could."

More...http://news.yahoo.com/among-rivals-iowa-bush-tries-bounce-back-remarks-215022287--election.html

[Chef Ramsay]

Former Governor George Pataki announces 2016 bid, says he would back 'boots on the ground' to fight ISIS

Former New York Gov. George Pataki, announcing Thursday that he'll seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016, told Fox News that he would authorize American "boots on the ground" to go after Islamic State targets in Iraq.

The former Republican governor weighed in on a debate that has divided the party. Pataki insisted he does not want to see a "trillion-dollar, decade-long war," but said the U.S. cannot allow ISIS to have "recruiting" and "training" centers.

"If necessary, we will send in American boots on the ground to destroy those training centers, destroy those planning centers and then get out," he said. The U.S. has more than 3,000 troops in Iraq to train and equip Iraqi forces, but they are not technically in a combat role.

Pataki, meanwhile, pledged to run on a "reform agenda" as he joins a crowded field seeking the GOP nomination in 2016.

"My whole life has prepared me for this moment," Pataki told Fox News. "I am running."

Pataki formally announced his campaign shortly afterward at a rally in Exeter, N.H., which served as the state capital during the Revolutionary War and claims to be the birthplace of the Republican Party. "Let the next decade be the decade where America proves to the world, you ain't seen nothing yet," Pataki told the crowd.

More...http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2015/05/28/former-new-york-gov-pataki-announces-run-for-2016-gop-presidential-nomination/