NYTimes reporting that John McCain is going to meet Friday with Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal as possible running mates. Romney may be flying in on the weekend.
What think ye? Crist is only 51, but he's got snow white hair, and I can't imagine that the image he would project with the septuagenarian McCain is what the GOP nominee wants when going up against Barack Obama. Shallow? Maybe. But this kind of thing matters.
Romney? Boy, that's a leaden ticket. What, exactly, would Romney bring to the table? Crist at least stands a chance of delivering Florida.
Jindal? Now that's interesting. Everybody knows I've got a man-crush on Gov. Bobby, and he would be a real boost to McCain, especially going up against Obama, for obvious demographic reasons. He's young. He's Asian. He's personable. He's brilliant. He's dynamic. And he's unquestionably conservative (his devout Catholic faith could revive conservative Christian enthusiasm). And in terms of policy, he's an expert on health-care reform, which McCain could and should make a top priority if elected.
I don't see any downside for McCain, but I see a huge downside for Jindal. McCain is probably going to lose this year, in what is shaping up to be a massive Republican wipeout. If McCain loses, Jindal will be associated with that, and with the badly damaged GOP brand.
Then again, Jindal is young -- 36 -- and without question has a bright future ahead of him in GOP national politics. Even a losing run as veep in '08 would set him up as the heir apparent in 2012. Should McCain win, Jindal would be set up as the party's nominee in 2012 if McCain does as many expect him to, and decides not to run for a second term. Aside from Mike Huckabee, Jindal is the only Republican official I can think of who is poised to be the bridge to the next conservatism. Win or lose, John McCain is the end of something. Jindal is the beginning.
McCain desperately needs to bring some excitement to the ticket. In that case, Jindal's the one. Given the political and media dynamics of this year, can you think of a single other potential VP nominee who could even touch Jindal in this regard?
Big red flag: When John McCain was Bobby Jindal's age, Bobby Jindal was in Pampers. Is a man who would be inaugurated as VP at age 37 ready to be the most powerful man in the world if his elderly boss drops dead? Will voters think so?
My heart hopes McCain offers Jindal the slot on the ticket, and that he takes it. As for my head? Well...
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There may be no solid evidence of this, in terms of a poll, but the personal accounts I get from white Clinton supporters in Florida (I know about a dozen) is that they'd rather vote for John McCain than Barack Obama.
It has become more and more apparent that a notable percentage of Clinton supporters are, to put it bluntly, lunatics. (Of course, that doesn't prove that a percentage of Obama supporters aren't also.)
Clinton lost. In a fair election, by the rules. Obama didn't play dirty, there was nothing to get outraged over, there were no dirty politics aimed at her from him, or even from others. It's not like there's something she can point at and state that voters in X were tricked. But she keeps dragging it out, so she, and a bunch of absolute lunatics, are continuing to damage the party by not getting behind the person who is actually going to win the primary. (Even if the damn states that shouldn't get seated, do get seated, he's still going to win. And they shouldn't get seated by any objective measure...a vote without all candidates is not a vote at all.)
I started out as an Edward's supporter. He lost. I got over it, and started supporting Obama, although I was iffy about his health care plan, he seemed best on everything else. (And the president usually doesn't decided the specific wording of legislation anyway, just points the direction.) If Obama had lost I would have gotten over it and supported Clinton.
Yes, we know her supporters feel pissed that the Clintons have been continually dumped on, but that isn't why she lost, and it's not like Obama hasn't been attacked either. Clinton lost because she ran a bad campaign. Deal with it. Clinton supporters need to get over themselves, and if they think John 'Bush 2.0' McCain is a better choice than Obama, I have to wonder what the hell they were doing in the Democratic party in the first place. What specific policy of Clinton and McCain do they support that they don't of Obama? (Possibly that gas tax stupidity?)
Anyway, you guys don't care about this, but it's just incredibly annoying. Sometimes I, to paraphrase Will Rogers, wished I belonged to an organized political party instead of the Democrats. (The Republican party would have, at this point, issued an ultimatum to Clinton to get out of the damn race right now or be in the doghouse quite a long time.)
It has become more and more apparent that a notable percentage of Clinton supporters are, to put it bluntly, lunatics.
Clinton supporters need to get over themselves, and if they think John 'Bush 2.0' McCain is a better choice than Obama, I have to wonder what the hell they were doing in the Democratic party in the first place.
DavidTC, I probably should have added in my comment that the dozen or so white Floridians who I knew were backing Hillary Clinton are not all reliable Democratic voters. They are not "in the Democratic party" at all. Neither are they reliable Republican voters. They don't like Bush (didn't vote for him in 2000 or 2004); they do like McCain, but HRC was their first choice.
I realize that your comment was probably directed to Democrat partisans in general who say they will vote for McCain instead of Obama. My point was only that if these people with whom I am acquainted are representative of a critical mass in Florida, then I see the state going to John McCain in November.
It's just my prediction, based on a non-scientific personal poll, and it could easily be wrong.
And this wisecrack on ageism, from Mr Obama who
This election cycle is the demographically the "over-55 communities" party, but the sentiment of the candidate is charming non-the-less, and credits him with the ability to put himself in another's shoes. Comparisons with the family members of the other candidates leaves him in credit, them in debit!
Citation URL
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/27/us/politics/27reggie.html?pagewanted=2&ei=5087&em&en=bffe5833f91edc72&ex=1212033600
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