Meg Whitman - Republican VP

Olan Barnes · Joined: 17 May 2004 Posts: 1175 Location: Michigan

McCain's Pending VP Choice

Speculating on who exactly John McCain is going to announce as his running mate on Friday is a bit of a fool's errand. The tightly held nature of the process means the details of it often don't leak out until months or years afterward...if that. And of course, John McCain is famous for making decisions on his own.

Nonetheless, we can deduce a few conclusions based on where things stand today:

1) The Republican VP nominee better be a good debater. Joe Biden is a lot of things, but when he's on his game he can wield a verbal knife like Davy Crockett could use a Kentucky long rifle. Look out. Of course when he's not on his game...

2) Biden was not a gutsy, avant garde selection. That frees McCain from pressure of having to do likewise. Concurrently, the fact the race is a statistical dead heat going into the conventions (imagine saying that in the spring!) means McCain is likewise absolved from the need to throw a long-shot, hail mary pass with his pick.

3) Frequent reports that Sen. Lindsey Graham is one of the main proponents of Joe Lieberman for the VP slot simply seals the deal that the GOP base will never trust Graham again. It's not like he had much of a reservoir to begin with after his conduct during the immigration debate in 2007, but there is absolutely none now.

4) Speaking of Lieberman, it seems clear that a notable portion of the pundit class, including some conservatives (see Kristol, Bill) really don't understand how poorly received a pro-choice nominee would be at the Republican Convention. Under any circumstances such a move would cause problems. Given that McCain is the nominee, that's a bridge too far for many conservatives.

5) Say or think what you will about Mitt Romney, the guy has been doing the job of the VP nominee for months now: raising money, speaking at GOP events, and serving as a mega-surrogate in the press for the McCain campaign. And he's doing it well. Whether McCain picks him or not is, however, a separate question.

6) Just as some observers seem to be missing the boat on the potential damage of a Lieberman pick, some will probably be surprised at the reaction to a Romney pick. Much of the conservative and Republican establishments will be very pleased. Many prominent leaders in those communities - including a healthy number of Evangelical and social conservative stalwarts - will have plenty of good things to say in support of such a move.

But a vocal minority of the Evangelical community (read: some ardent Mike Huckabee supporters) will be intensely angry - and they'll be loud about it. Granted, those same folks really don't seem to grasp why it was that a much larger majority of conservatives and Republicans didn't embrace Huckabee in the primary season to begin with, but their reaction to a Romney pick will still be visceral.

7) Tim Pawlenty is still the safest pick. Only question now on that score: can he handle a debate - and constant indirect media sparring over the course of the campaign - with Biden? That's not an unimportant question to answer.

Cool

Besides Pawlenty and Romney, Bobby Jindal and Sarah Palin, seem to be the only options that meet McCain's needs while still mollifying enough of the GOP base. The latter two, however, remain less likely because of issues that are by now already much discussed.
http://soundpolitics.com/archives/011368.html

deltajudge · Joined: 05 Nov 2007 Posts: 287

The fact that he is McCain himself, leaves one to wonder what he will do. Look what Obama did with Biden. Romney would be the logical choice, but who knows.Both tend to shoot themselves in the foot.l Shocked

David Traver · Posted: Thu Aug 28, 2008 12:10 am Post subject:

I heard that it is going to be C. Rice. You know, the one that Chevron named a tanker after.

http://tinyurl.com/ahsfh