Tom Ridge Slams Michele Bachmann

The Washington Times reports:

Former Homeland Security chief Tom Ridge said Tuesday that fellow Republican Michele Bachmann, the Minnesota congresswoman who has been surging in the 2012 GOP presidential sweepstakes in recent weeks, was unelectable and unqualified to be commander-in-chief.

The former Pennsylvania governor issued the stinging assessment in an interview with The Washington Times on the sidelines of a conference of the U.S. Global Leadership Coalition Tuesday.

“We have a pretty inexperienced president right now,” Mr. Ridge said. “You see the range of issues in the 21st century world: We are interconnected, we are integrated. Our ability to connect for both security and prosperity reasons now and forever more, I think, requires a set of experiences that she just doesn’t have in her portfolio.”

“I think she obviously has great appeal to certain members of the party,” he said. “I’m looking for a winner.”
Mr. Ridge, who said he was “very partial to the governors that are in the race,” leavened his criticism of the three-term House lawmaker with praise, calling her a “very articulate” and “very formidable” candidate with “a level of sophistication” and “a hell of a personal story.”

“There’s much to be admired, but not enough to be endorsed by me,” he said.

The Minnesota Republican, who leads the House Tea Party Caucus, has been rising in the polls lately.