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No good choices for McCain

Submitted by CJK on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 18:28
in

So I guess the rumors are that McCain veep pick has been narrowed to three people: Lieberman, Romney, and Pawlenty.

All three of these guys are going to inflict damage on him:

Lieberman--It's not just that he's pro-choice. His entire domestic policy platform is, in general, far to the left of McCain's. He'd have to repudiate about half his policy positions to get on the ticket and it won't be pretty. It will look like an act of desperation on McCain's part, an admission that he's too close to Bush. This risky option currently makes zero sense for McCain.

Romney--At first glance this guy makes a great VP, and I say that even though I myself loathed him during the primaries. The idea is that he can help carry Nevada and Michigan and add economic expertise to the ticket. Furthermore, he'd be a great attack dog against Obama. But he has three huge drawbacks: 1) Religious conservatives don't like him 2) The Democrats will slam him for layoffs while he was in the private sector and 3) considering that McCain is using primary material to go after Biden, Obama will almost certainly replay the McCain/Romney fights.

Pawlenty--This man is still unknown outside Minnesota. The only things I myself know about him are that he only narrowly won the governorship of Minnesota and has been a "reformer". That might help him counter Obama's "change" mantra, but I just don't know. Since I have never listened to him speak I can't say if he'd be an articulate veep or a good attack dog. He doesn't have foreign policy cred either. But he'd be my choice by process of elimination.

There are some other names floating around, but I don't think they are seriously being considered:

Ridge--A non-conservative who probably can't carry Pennsylvania.

Palin--Alaska governor but I heard she gave bad interviews or something.

Portman--A Bush guy. Disqualified.

Kasich--He might have said something dumb while he was doing that show on Fox News.

Cantor--Another unknown congressmen.

 

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Comments

And of course Huckabee

Submitted by Rensen on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 19:57.

Never ceases to amaze me how the great communicator, blue collar, Reagan democrat union attracting, values conservative, never gets a piece of the action.

Methinks the pundits doth protest too much.

The man is STILL polling at the highest across the asisle, national favorability rating for veep pick, but the establishment insists on pretending he doesn't exisit. (which is not wiinning any Huckabee fans over to their cause by the way)

Show the man the respect due his base.. even if he's not the pick. Throw a bone to his supporters! The GOP's refusal to acknowlege their social conservative base has done almost irreparable damage to the coalition this go around.

The only way the complete shut out makes sense, is if its the biggest head fake in the history of politics. In May it was leaked out of the McCain camp that Mike was on the shortlist, and pretty much leading it... then they went dark. Maybe this whole song and dance was a ruse all along, and the pundits are about to have a repeat of their 'Super Tuesday' experience.

Trying to analyze why Mike Huckabee is the winner when it was a 'two man race,' and he wasn't supposed to be one of the two.

Romney?!

Submitted by iamse7en on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 22:41.

 You loathed Romney? You were probably a Huck-supporter, and thus a self-righteous populist. There's a reason why Rush Limbaugh, the biggest voice of true conservatism, always criticized Huck and McCain, yet praised Romney, subtly, yet often.

I think this tells me more about you then you're trying to tell us about McCain's VP picks. He, himself, is an absolute disaster. I still feel sick that we have him to represent us.

No good choices for McCain? He wasn't a good choice himself. Give me a break with this crappy article.

Rush was Right to like Romney

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 00:13.

Rush knew that Romney would deliver on the conservative platform he was running on and articulated the Reagan vision well in the campaign. Romney gave the best speech of the primary season, a speech on faith at the Bush library. Rush praised the speech, rightly so. Of the three contenders, Huck, Romney, McCain - the best choice for conservatives was Romney. That doesnt mean that there arent better conservatives out there (they just werent running for President). But it does mean that if McCain picks Romney, he will have a running man on his right flank and one who has appeal with a good portion of the GOP base.

The criticisms of Romney are invalid: "Religious conservatives don't like him"   Untrue! As a prolife catholic, I paid attention to where religious conservatives were, and the fact is that except for certain types of evangelicals, Romney appealed to more religious conservatives than any other GOP candidate. In fact Romney was beating McCain among churchgoing Republicans in most of the early matchups, in particular Michigan and Florida and of course beat McCain among conservatives in many early states. Romney does have a strong well of support amon

"2) The Democrats will slam him for layoffs while he was in the private sector" -  that is a twisted account of his successes 20 years ago turning around companies, it wont have much legs to go after the VP guy. Romney can shove it back in their face by pointing out that his efforts in venture capital created thousands of jobs in companies like staples. Most people in the private sector - like me - know that layoffs are sometimes necessary. 

"and 3) considering that McCain is using primary material to go after Biden, Obama will almost certainly replay the McCain/Romney fights."  - Not much there that would sawy voters to Obama since they were fights about conservative ideology and not really about fundamentals like experience.  "Dont vote McCain because McCain said Romney flipflopped on an issue" is really really really lame.

Last point: Attacking Romney will be a complete and utter waste of time by the Dems. Even a flailing pick like Quayle didnt hurt Bush in 1988, and Romney is far more polished, vetted and "ready to be President" than Quayle was.

 

Dittoheads

Submitted by Rensen on Sat, 08/23/2008 - 23:13.

Rush should establish a commune where you can all go worship at his feet.

At least we 'self righteous populists' are thinking for ourselves, capable of researching candidates and making decisions about those who CONSISTENTLY align with our values.

Rush sounds like a ridiculous hypocrite, berating McCain for thinking about a pro-choice veep, wailing about abortion, and yet turning a blind eye to election season repositioning on the very same issue by Romney. He has no right to critique BO's repositioning, since he has no problem spinning for someone who has done it almost as much, on almost every subject... please...

Rush, Hannity, Ingram et all are the reason we have McCain as the nominee to begin with. Without their artificial building of Romney's base with their unadulterated spin, Huckabee would have probably continued what he started in Iowa. Head to head on the campaign trail Huck destroyed him in politicking.

I suppose its a crappy article because it doesn't elevate you almighty Mitt.

Whatever.

1 star - no gossip in articles

Submitted by Freedoms Truth on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 00:18.

This alone ... "but I heard she gave bad interviews" ... makes it a one star. If you didnt see the interview and/or dont have a source for the statement dont repeat it.

Fact is, her Kudlow interview was a good one. You can check it out on youtube.

Palin would be a good pick.

Romney, Palin, Portman,  Cantor and Palwenty all would be reasonably good VP picks. Of the four, I think Palin and Romney would be the best picks.

 

 

 

 

Cantor is not just another unknown Congressman

Submitted by texicali on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 03:07.

He's the Deputy Whip in the House the 4th post in the GOP Leadership.....he's been campaigning for McCain the past few months....I like him alot and would love to see him get the nod from John....Eric would make VA stay in the GOP column, would also help in FL and some other states as well.....My 2nd choice would be Kasich because of his vast knowledge of the Federal budget as he was Chair of that committee when he served in the house.....it's important for the VP to have a working knowledge of the Hill to help facilitate the administration's agenda...

House members don't have a great track record for this

Submitted by Ironman on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 05:50.

As Barry Goldwater and Walter Mondale found out.

They generally are well known only in a small part of their state for local issues.

A few simple rules

Submitted by superdestroyer on Sun, 08/24/2008 - 05:23.

Anyone in congress while the Republicans were adding five trillion to the national debt has no business being in office let alone vice president.  Also, anyone who worked in the Bush Administration should be forced out of the Republican Party.  They need to go over to the Republican party where  big spending, big government, nanny state types are welcome.

The problem with McCain with his lousy credentials of being a conservative picking a VP is that all of the VP candidates have major flaws.  Of course, since McCain has zero chance of winning, it does not really matter who he picks.  Maybe the few remaining Repubicans will learn the lesson that what you do in office actually matters.  If they want to be big spending politicians they need to move to the Democratic Party.