Is Jim Webb Set to Run Against Hillary Clinton as an Independent?

Is Jim Webb Set to Run Against Hillary Clinton as an Independent?

Is Jim Webb Set to Run Against Hillary Clinton as an Independent?

There’s no doubt that Donald Trump has thrown the GOP presidential sweepstakes into a tizzy. But is former Democratic presidential candidate Jim Webb about to do the same to the Democratic party?

Webb dropped out of the contention for the Democratic nomination in October after the first presidential debate, saying the process was rigged towards a nomination win for Hillary Clinton. Now the former Virginia senator has taken to social media to bash Hillary Clinton’s ‘inept leadership’ in Libya, due to the debacle in Benghazi on September 11, 2012. Furthermore, he is now pondering an independent bid for the presidency.

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On December 19, Webb tempted political followers by tweeting the possibility of an independent run.

Then on Saturday, December 26, Webb castigated Hillary in this tweet, citing her ‘failed leadership’ in Libya and the Arab Spring, calling them ‘foreign policy leadership at its worst.’

He also took to Facebook to rip her in a lengthy post.

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In his Facebook condemnation, Webb wrote that “Hillary Clinton should be called to account for her inept leadership that brought about the chaos in Libya, and the power vacuums that resulted in the rest of the region.”

He continued: “She’ll need better answers than the recent nonsensical comment that she advocated taking out Muammar Qadaffi in Libya in order to avert a situation like Syria,” he said. “The predictable chaos in Libya was bad enough, but it also helped bring about the disaster in Syria. Who is taking her to task for this?”

President Obama also came under sharp criticism by Webb for his handling of Iran and TPP, as well as his use of powers without Congress on December 14:

Jim Webb is not your typical left-wing Democrat. A former Republican, he had served as President Reagan’s Secretary of the Navy before running for Senate in Virginia as a Democrat in 2006. He is also a decorated Vietnam War veteran. Some of his attacks on Hillary Clinton sound more Republican than not, and he has called the Democratic National Committee ‘nothing more than an arm for the Clinton campaign.’

In reality, Jim Webb has very little money left in his campaign war chest, having left the race in October with a mere $700,000 in funds. He has said he will decide his campaign future before the end of the year.

But while Webb would be highly unlikely to win the presidential election as an independent, he could be a spoiler for Hillary Clinton in what appears to be a tight race between top Republican candidates and her. And while Webb is talking about a decision at the end of 2015, he still has until May 9 to get on the ballot in Texas as an independent, which is the first state to require signatures for an independent run. Most filing activities for independent candidates actually occur in August.

If Jim Webb decides to launch an independent bid for the presidency, it will certainly further complicate a race already muddled by the candidacy of Donald Trump. The 2016 presidential sweepstakes just might be the most confusing — and entertaining — race in recent history.

Written by

Kim is a pint-sized patriot who packs some big contradictions. She is a Baby Boomer who never became a hippie, an active Republican who first registered as a Democrat (okay, it was to help a sorority sister's father in his run for sheriff), and a devout Lutheran who practices yoga. Growing up in small-town Indiana, now living in the Kansas City metro, Kim is a conservative Midwestern gal whose heart is also in the Seattle area, where her eldest daughter, son-in-law, and grandson live. Kim is a working speech pathologist who left school system employment behind to subcontract to an agency, and has never looked back. She describes her conservatism as falling in the mold of Russell Kirk's Ten Conservative Principles. Don't know what they are? Google them!

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