NOT Jeb Bush

Written by Chad Groening

A conservative icon says while it appears many in the establishment GOP are already rallying around Jeb Bush as their choice for 2016, he thinks it would be better to nominate a “good, principled conservative” to run against someone like Hillary Clinton.

During a recent luncheon in San Antonio, U.S. House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said he has “nudged” former Florida Governor Jeb Bush (above) to run for president in 2016. Bush has already indicated he is considering a run; and both his brother, George W. Bush, and his father, George H.W. Bush, have made positive comments in that regard.

“It looks like he’s going to be the person that the establishment gets behind – those who want to expand government, those who want to put our children in more and more debt,” says Richard Viguerie. “They are going to probably get behind Jeb Bush because it looks like Chris Christie, the Republican governor of New Jersey, is too damaged politically to carry their water.”

But the longtime conservative activist warns the GOP should take into account that Hillary Clinton, the consummate Washington insider, is the probable presidential nominee of the Democratic Party.

“I think we need to go to the states to look for our strongest candidate to run against Hillary,” states the chairman of ConservativeHQ.com. “We’ve got some good governors out there, like Governor Mike Pence of Indiana, Scott Walker of Wisconsin, Bobby Jindal of Louisiana – any number of good principled conservatives could be selected to oppose Hillary. And I think that would make our best choice.”

But Viguerie believes that for the vice-presidential slot, a libertarian like U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) should be on the ticket. “[Having] him on the ticket would bring all elements of the Republican coalition together, which would be a powerful team against the Democrats in 2016,” he suggests.

This article was originally posted at the OneNewsNow.com website.