GOP Rep. Says Republicans Incapable Of Nominating ‘Electable’ Candidate

UNITED STATES - APRIL 18: Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., attends a Joint Economic Committee hearing in Hart Building titled "The Fed at 100: Can Monetary Policy Close the Growth Gap and Promote a Sound Dollar." (Photo B... UNITED STATES - APRIL 18: Rep. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y., attends a Joint Economic Committee hearing in Hart Building titled "The Fed at 100: Can Monetary Policy Close the Growth Gap and Promote a Sound Dollar." (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call) (CQ Roll Call via AP Images) MORE LESS
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Rep. Richard Hanna (R-NY) on Tuesday lamented the prominence of “extreme” members of the Republican party, noting that favoring those candidates in the primary will keep a Republican from winning the White House.

“The Republican Party is not capable of nominating anyone who is electable nationally,” he told New York newspaper The Daily Star.

Hanna added that Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) emerged as the presidential frontrunners due to “the discontent of the electorate.”

“I think the orthodoxy of the Republican Party is really hurting the party and pushing it to the extreme,” he said. “These are people I never imagined would gain national prominence, and yet here they are.”

Hanna has a tendency to buck his party — he supports same-sex marriage and has opposed certain measures restricting abortion.

He told The Daily Star on Tuesday that he “can’t support a candidate who doesn’t support women’s health care.” He said that he did not vote for any of the three remaining Republican presidential candidates in the New York primary election.

However, he said that he respects Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s demeanor.

“Kasich has carried himself like a gentleman,” Hanna said. “He has stayed out of the name-calling and the juvenile comments. I don’t think anyone else has tried to be a gentleman at all.”

H/t Political Wire

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Notable Replies

  1. If you’re upset with the the party’s direction, what’s keeping you in it, congressman?

  2. It’s true that Kasich has been the gentleman of the bunch. It’s also true that he’s the guy grabbing mics from reporters and telling women not to go to parties with alcohol if they don’t want to get raped. Gentleman, like everything else, is relative.

  3. IOW: Anyone who is even remotely electable on the federal level, cannot possibly have the principles of today’s Republican Party.

  4. Today’s Republicans are actually pretty much incapable of anything except being a bag of dicks.

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