Day: June 3, 2008

Clinton Says She Would Accept V.P. Nod – Unity Ticket Could Be Strongest Since JFK-LBJ

Jon Ponder

Clinton and Obama supporters have bruised each other up pretty badly over the past few months, but the surest path to a Democratic victory in November may well be a unity ticket:

Hillary Rodham Clinton has told congressional colleagues she would be open to becoming Barack Obama’s vice-presidential nominee, saying she would consider it if it would help Democrats win the White House.

Clinton, a New York senator, made the comment during a conference call with other New York legislators today.

The word comes from one of the participants on the call.

Clinton’s remarks were in response to a question from Democratic Representative Nydia Velazquez.

She said she believed the best way for Obama to win over key voting blocs, including Hispanics, would be for him to choose Clinton as his running mate.

Clinton replied that she is “open to it” if it would help the party’s prospects in November.

Successful unity tickets have come out of bitter rivalries before. Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush joined forces after a hard fought primary campaign in 1980, for example. But the race that may be the most instructive today is the 1960 race when Sen. John F. Kennedy, a young wealthy Yankee insurgent, usurped the Democratic nomination from the powerful Senate Majority Leader, Lyndon Johnson of Texas, and then had the audacity to offer Johnson the vice presidency to Johnson.

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Quote du Jour

Buck Banks

All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and human affairs.

— Enoch Powell (1912-1998), British politician, linguist, writer, academic, soldier and poet

At S.C. GOP Convention, Cue for Applause at Mention of Bush Met with Silence

Jon Ponder

There are few states that are more Republican than South Carolina. Just a few years ago, George Bush was the object of a near cult-like worship among the Palmetto State’s GOP true believers.

But during an address to the state GOP convention on Saturday, when Sen. Lindsey Graham — a leading supporter of John McCain — mentioned Bush and waited for the cheers and applause, all he got was, as Keith Olbermann put it on “Countdown” last night … crickets:

Graham used his remarks to embrace President Bush, just hours before he was to meet Bush at Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and accompany him to Furman University for a presidential commencement address that has divided the campus.

At his first mention of Bush’s visit, Graham paused, waiting for applause. When it didn’t come, it took a slight nod from Graham to prompt a round of applause.

“President Bush is my friend,” he continued, “and I’m not going to run away from the friend.”

Graham may want to reconsider not running away from Bush. He is up for reelection in November and faces a primary challenge from Buddy Witherspoon of the benighted town of Irmo. Witherspoon has been attempting to raise Graham’s negatives by calling him the worst name imaginable in South Carolina: “liberal.” In fact, outside the convention hall, Witherspoon supporters had decorated the grounds with signs reading, “Lindsey is too Liberal for South Carolina.”

While George Bush may no longer be popular in South Carolina, the state can still be expected to vote overwhelmingly for McCain, and thus a de facto third term for Bush, in November.