McCain closes in on VP. Possibly this week?

[Douglas Carpenter]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/McCain_closes_in_on_VP.html?showall

John McCain has narrowed his vice-presidential possibilities to the point where he considered a decision this week -- but he’s likely to hold off, say sources close to the campaign.

snip:"The window on an announcement is, however, closing. The Olympics begin August 8th and run until the 24th. To ensure maximum news coverage of their pick, neither campaign wants to go public with their decision during the international spectacle. And immediately after, the Democrats begin their convention. McCain, of course, does not want to make his pick during this period, either.

The most frequently mentioned name for McCain in recent weeks has been Mitt Romney. Despite their heated primary, the two have seemed to become more comfortable with one another. McCain has showered Romney and his family with praise in recent weeks and also subjected his old rival to some mild teasing of the sort that suggests more affection than antipathy. In turn, the former Massachusetts governor has become a fixture on TV news shows, seeming to try out for the number two gig and promoting the man he once derided as insufficiently conservative to effectively contrast with the Democrats.

Other potential candidates include former Ohio congressman and OMB director Rob Portman, a favorite of Bush loyalists, South Dakota Sen. John Thune, a reliable conservative and potential compromise pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Florida Gov. Charlie Crist. Former Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge and Conneticut Sen. Joe Lieberman are also prospects, but Ridge supports abortion rights and Lieberman, though elected an independent, hews to the Democratic line on that issue and others.

link to full article:

http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0708/McCain_closes_in_on_VP.html?showall

[snowbear]

1. First sentence says it all.. "Considered a decision -- but likely to hold off"...

Translation: Anything to get the media attention of off the future president of the United States, Barack Obama.



My God, mister mcSame is one jealous old coot!!!

[saltpoint]

2. At some point, McCain is in a bind with anybody he chooses.

The people he could choose who would most help him might not want the job. They can read a poll and the ones they're reading lately suggest they'd be better off where they are and nowhere near the McCain ticket.

Romney is so power-hungry that he'd do absolutely anything to be on the ticket. But if the Far Right is going to smear Obama on his allegedly being a Muslim it leaves the door wide open for fundies to object to Romney's Mormonism.

Romney couldn't be contained either, is my guess. He's too zealously self-invested to be a support for McCain. He'd wind up stealing all the scenes and the old man would come off as a by-gone crank.

Well, McCain IS a by-gone crank, as far as that goes.

Female GOP candidates who would make good public servants -- Olympia Snowe being the only one I can even think of -- aren't acceptable to the base and the ones who are -- Kay Baily for example -- just don't cut it. Kay Baily would be mauled in the vice presidential debate and her skills as an orator are well below that guy who sells Orick vacuum sweepers. She'd be very close to worthless for McCain.

Gov. Palin has a recent-born baby with Down Syndrome and voters might rightly wonder why she would place personal political goals ahead of the child's needs. It checkmates her as an option, IMO.

Huckabee's an unstable yahoo. Ridge would be potent but he's pro-choice, which means McCain could kiss the fundie base goodbye. Fiorina is a failed CEO at a time when workers are hurting badly and she would remind them of just who in the class war is complicit in shipping their families' jobs overseas.

Pawlenty can't even deliver McCain Minnesota and he's a blend of mealy-mouthed jabber and nonsense on any stage I've ever seen him climb onto on C-Span. He's as nondescript as it gets and offers nothing to the strategy of the campaign. Reed, Biden, Richardson, Clark, Clinton, Edwards, Sebelius, or Kaine would slap him silly in the veep debate.

That leaves Lieberman, who's pro-choice and therefore a no-go for the nutbag fundies, and then the string of white guys -- Thune, Portman, and Talent.

I'm leaving Charlie Crist out of it because he makes me sick to my stomach even more than all the aforementioned Pukes up-post.

[snowbear]

3. I'm in Anchorage and I can assure you....

...you're correct. The old coot won't be selecting Governor Sarah Palin.

She's a beautiful young Governor, who -- for a Rethug, has turned out to be a lot more bipartisan than I thought she'd be.

Her popularity stems from two things.. First, that she took over for a governor who had one of the worst approval ratings in the nation (Frank Murkowski) and secondly, that she was known for being a corruption fighter.



Right now though, she's in the middle of a controversy. She fired the Commissioner of Public Safety stating it was because she wanted the department to go in a "different direction".. After a few days of refusing to say what direction was.. it turns out she canned him because she wanted him to fire her sister's ex-husband from his state trooper job; a firing which evidently wasn't warranted.

Not a career ending situation, but she's in a bit of hot water right now.

She'd also be clueless on national policies, national security, and anything that has to do with the "Lower-48 states". And yeah, she just had her 4th child who sadly has Downs.

You pegged that one right... Sarah won't be on that old fart's list.

[ingac70]

4. Her pettiness in screwing with a man's job...

shows she a genuine repuke through and through.

[saltpoint]

5. McCain has very little of import to bring to Minneapolis.

His veep pick at least offers a smidgeon of suspense.

If he announces it now, I think about 37 people, tops, watch the Republican convention Sept. 1-4.

It's the only possible interest point they've got right now.