McCain under pressure to pick running mate

Wednesday 23rd July, 06:40 AM JST

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Latest 15 of 61 Total Comments Show All

Sarge at 10:54 PM JST - 23rd July

The Marion - Ron Paul is not going to be McCain's veep.
adaydream at 12:16 AM JST - 24th July

The republicans could only pray for a real republican like Ron Paul as McCain's running mate. Not someone who says they are a republican and actually goes against the republican values. < :-)
sdmsec at 01:49 AM JST - 24th July

I like Romney. Most Republicans seemed not to.

I think the more conservative vote was split while McCain quickly became the only contender for the moderate-to-liberal GOP voters since Giuliani dropped out so quickly.
Betzee at 09:45 AM JST - 24th July

I think McCain will go with Mitt Romney (who, in contrast to other serious contenders, clearly wants to be on the ticket.) Romney struck out on his own after dropping a wad and realizes that the only route to the top job is through the vice presidency. He would be following in the footsteps of George HW Bush.

Now that means McCain's claims that Obama's lack of military record represents a national security go right out the window. Ditto for charges of flip-flopping. But Romney brings expertise McCain sorely lacks in an election that is rapidly shaping up to be about the economy.
SezWho2 at 09:55 AM JST - 24th July

Betzee,

Romney is the one personality that I am aware of now that could possibly induce me to vote for McCain. However, given McCain's divorce, I wonder how that choice would sit with Christian conservatives.
Betzee at 10:45 AM JST - 24th July

Mitt Romney clearly covets the job while others have backed away, perhaps sensing it would be better to run after the Republicans have been out of power.

During the primaries the source of Mitt Romney's wealth was never put under the microscope. In fact it was "leveraged buy-outs." As he himself explained to the Boston Globe, "I didn't want to invest in start-ups where the success of the enterprise depended upon something that was out of our control," Romney recalled recently, 'such as 'Could Dr. X make the technology work?'."

Leveraged buy-outs entail creating more efficient entities by consolidating smaller ones, resulting in lay-offs and, in some cases, outsourcing of jobs. Huckabee got at this bit when he released an advertisement declaring, "Voters want a president who looks like the guy you work with, not the guy who laid you off."

Whether Romney's business background is what the nation needs at this juncture is debatable. It would work better if he had enjoyed success as a venture capitalist.
SezWho2 at 11:13 AM JST - 24th July

Betzee,

I think the key may be what the voters want their vice-president to look like. Even at that, I'm not sure that Huckabee was correct in his assessment. Those who at heart are even a little bit royalist will always want their leaders to look as though they have a passing understanding of noblesse oblige.

We'll never stop going up, hat in hand, to the big house on the hill and asking the patroon for a boon favor. And we need to know that he's there when we need him. I think that we don't mind if our leaders look like the guys who lay us off as long as they also look like guys who recognize their responsibility to us when they do.

But that may not be Romney.
Betzee at 11:58 AM JST - 24th July

SezWho,

I disagree. I think Romney's looks and demeanor set him too far apart from the Republican Party base, much of which is rural and working class. It really showed when he equated one of his son's driving a Winnebago through every county in Iowa with tours of duty in Iraq. Can they relate to this guy?

I also doubt McCain's divorce will be much of a factor. He, like Ronald Reagan, has enjoyed a long and stable second union. This is quite different from Rudy Guiliani's situation which, moreover, played out in the public eye. Many women, regardless of political beliefs, felt he treated the mother of his children very shabbily. Not to mention the kids. It's fair to ask, can we entrust someone whose private life is such a mess with the top job? The voters rendered their judgment.
SezWho2 at 05:24 PM JST - 24th July

Betzee,

You could be right, but I thought we were discussing a scenario in which Romney becomes the VP candidate. I know what you're saying about his looks and demeanor and the difference between his appearance and the Republican base's perception of its own. I think, however, people will vote for him if he projects "winner". He's kind of like a Dan Quayle with gravitas or a Pat Riley coaching a country instead of a basketball team.

I don't think McCain's divorce will necessarily be a factor in and of itself. I'm not even sure that Giuliani's would have been. However, my question concerned Romney's religion if tied on a ticket with McCain's divorce and his current somewhat morganatic marriage. I come from the Bible belt and a very red state and, while it has been over 20 years since I actually lived there, I can only see this as something that people will have to get past. I'm not sure how easily that can be done.
Betzee at 10:15 PM JST - 24th July

I come from the Bible belt and a very red state and, while it has been over 20 years since I actually lived there, I can only see this as something that people will have to get past. I'm not sure how easily that can be done.

My grandmother was happiest living in a place that was far from shopping malls and traffic and congestion. She was also a die-hard Republican who found it odd former Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill spent decades in Washington while his wife remained in Boston. But a lot of it was, in fact, that he was a Democrat. If he'd been a Republican she wouldn't have given it two minutes thought.

Most people who see John McCain and his current wife, Cindy, will likely conclude he left the first Mrs. McCain for a younger woman. Men who seek youthful female companionship, however, usually continue that pattern. Plus, Cindy McCain opted to return to Arizona after only a few years in DC as a politician's wife. As someone observed during the Gary Condit scandal, "Gee, he's here and his wife lives in the district in California. Is it any great surprise that he fools around?"

If evidence (as opposed to innuendo) surfaces that McCain was involved with anyone while leading a solo life in Washington, then that could be a problem. Nonetheless, while not everyone can accept martial fidelity is unrelated to executive ability, I think we're moving away from campaigns dominated by such a focus on private lives (which have been at the expense of public issues).

Mitt Romney spent months and dropped a wad laying the groundwork for a win in Iowa to position himself as a front-runner. Then he lost to Mike Huckabee who had a much more bare-bones campaign apparatus. Was it due to Romney's Mormon religion? Or Iowa farm folk couldn't relate to him? I don't know.

Nowhere have the economic effects of globalization, promoted by free market Republicans, been felt more strongly than rural America. Other than Wal-Mart, there's little sign of economic vitality. I guess my point is if residents of such communities are not really charged up by the Republican ticket, they simply won't vote.
sdmsec at 09:43 AM JST - 25th July

Mitt Romney...lost to Mike Huckabee who had a much more bare-bones campaign apparatus. Was it due to Romney's Mormon religion? Or Iowa farm folk couldn't relate to him?

IMO when Hackabee made mormonism a hot-button issue he doomed both himself and Romney and the more conservative wing of the GOP. He made the Baptists and thier ilk wary of Romney but simultaneously made himself look more like a preacher than a president. He split the conservative vote leaving McCain with an open path to the finish line.

I suspect Romney pulled out early to save his $'s for a potential future run.
frontandcentre at 10:08 AM JST - 25th July

Mickey Mouse might be an apt choice, given the GOP's chances of success this time
Blue_Tiger at 09:40 PM JST - 28th July

If McCain's goin' to get my vote, he'll hafta' knock my socks off and surprise the daylights out of me with his veep pick. Otherwise, Blue_Tiger's doing a write-in....
FairandBalanced at 05:22 AM JST - 29th July

McCain will pick a great VP.

His judgement is so sound. I trust him as much as i trust Sean Hannitty 100%.

Thank god we have someone who will carry on the great work of GW, and enable our greta country to prosper. Long live the American dream.
Blue_Tiger at 08:22 PM JST - 29th July

He may have your trust, FairandBalanced, but he hasn't mine. Evenr since 2000, when he lost the GOP Presidential Nomination to George W. Bush, he's been acting like a sore loser, opposing the President on many key, conservative issues. When he "won" the nomination, I felt sick to my stomach. Unless he gets a great, conservative Veep, he'll get nothing from me, and neither will Obama.