Pat Buchanan on the GOP Establishment vs. conservative battle and 2016: There's one pol who has 'gotta be taking a look' at getting into the race

In an extensive interview with TheBlaze Books in connection with his new book: "The Greatest Comeback: How Richard Nixon Rose from Defeat to Create the New Majority," we had the chance to ask former senior advisor to president's Nixon, Ford and Reagan, and three-time presidential candidate, Pat Buchanan, his thoughts on the 2016 GOP presidential battle. His view? Mitt Romney ought to be sizing up another run for the nomination.

Pat Buchanan. (Image Source: Fox News Channel)

Buchanan's sentiment -- one shared by Utah Rep. Jason Chaffetz -- came in context of his response to a hypothetical 2016 scenario we posed: that the GOP Establishment will coalesce around one candidate, and encourage multiple non-Establishment conservatives to get into the race, thereby leaving conservatives to cannibalize each other while the Establishment candidate rides the remaining GOP voters to victory.

Here's what Buchanan said in response:

"I could see those groups [Rand Paul, Ted Cruz, potentially Ben Carson, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee]...who are not Establishment people...all of them taking parts of the Republican constituency and the Republican Establishment basically clearing the field for one [candidate] early on, and having that one roll through and beat all the others. I could see that happening, sure.

...I wonder if there's a possibility...Mitt Romney's gotta be taking a look at this. I tell you I wouldn't hesitate if I looked around and saw that the highest [polling] guy had 15%. You know this is not the Kentucky Derby."

You can listen to our whole exchange on 2016 which begins at around 39:50 in our wide-ranging interview below.

During the interview, we also touched on a number of other topics, from what lessons conservatives and libertarians can learn from a non-conservative like Richard Nixon, to the controversial "Southern Strategy" and why Buchanan ended up becoming friends with former Alabama Governor George Wallace, Buchanan's view as to whether or not there is any chance Republicans WON'T ultimately cave on some form of amnesty, President Obama's Cloward-Piven foreign policy and much more including:

• How Nixon toed the line between the GOP Establishment and conservatives
• How Buchanan as a Goldwater conservative dealt with ideological differences with Nixon
• The significance of a Nixon phrase: "We may have to do what is pragmatic but we have to talk in terms of principle"
• Why Nixon revered Woodrow Wilson
• The similarities between America in the mid-1960s and today
• Whether or not America is still a center-right country
• The Middle East and Pat's views on America's stance vis-a-vis Israel