Run, Condi, Run: Here’s a candidate all Democrats can rally around — Condoleeza Rice appears to have unofficially signaled that would she would agree to be John McCain’s running mate.
To win in the fall, just as the Democratic nominee must suddenly pivot to the right, McCain will have to move left in order to appeal to Independents in the vote-rich center.
Rice has said she doesn’t “do” politics. We know from the record that she also doesn’t “do” national security and or international diplomacy, at least not well — but, as we learned during the six years of the GOP ascendancy, Republicans don’t put much stock in competence.
Rice’s supporters say she would bring two things to the GOP ticket: Name recognition, which would mean the McCain campaign would not have to waste time in the fall introducing the VP pick (as Bush I did with Dan Quayle); and, as an African-American woman, she would trump the barrier-breaking of the Democratic nominee, whomever she or he turns out to be.
In the kabuki dance of D.C. rituals, Rice unofficially tossed her hat in the ring late last month when she spoke at a weekly meeting of lobbyist Grover Norquist’s conservative anti-government group, Americans for Tax Reform. In a Q&A after her presentation, Rice answered “no,” but apparently meant “yes,” when asked if she would consider the VP nomination, according to Steve Clemons at the Washington Note:
Others still argue that one does not talk serious foreign policy matters with the Wednesday Group Meeting without wanting to also telegraph that one might be interested in political futures. In other words, though saying she is not interested in the vice presidential slot on a McCain ticket, Condoleezza Rice might be convinced at some point to give up her near California dreams if “necessity” required it…
And by all accounts I have heard, her performance was stunningly good, very well received by one of the major bastions of American conservative power players, and that she “won them over,” according to one source.
Clemons also said Condi told the group she planned to go back to California and write a book about her time in Washington and work in the Bush administration. Let’s hope it’s a novel.
Condi’s bio is a bit problematic however. GOP operative Roger Stone was quick towarn Florida Gov. Charlie Crist last year that if he wanted to be on the GOP ticket, he’d better get hitched, but quick. Stone insinuated that Republican voters would be suspicious that a bronzed, perfectly coiffed, unmarried candidate in his late 40s was gay. The same might also apply to an never-married candidate in her early 50s.
Speaking of vice-presidential candidates who would hobble the McCain candidacy this fall, far right “social” conservatives appear to have had a change of heart about Mitt Romney:
Paul Weyrich, co-founder of the Moral Majority, made a splash last November when he endorsed Mitt Romney for president. Now he’s part of an organized campaign urging the man who bested Romney in the Republican primaries and caucuses, John McCain, to not make the former Massachusetts governor his running mate…
McCain was campaigning in Prescott, Ariz., on Saturday, where a full-page ad planned in the local newspaper declared Romney “utterly unacceptable” as a vice presidential pick to those who signed the open letter — social conservatives all, including Weyrich.
The ad, which those paying for it say will shadow McCain in papers in various towns in visits to come, expresses skepticism about candidate Romney’s sincerity in embracing a host of conservative positions on social issues that previously he had rejected.
The ad copy says:
“To be clear, we all welcome anyone who has come around to the cause of life and family. However, Romney’s actions as governor flatly contradict both the values widely associated with his faith as well as his pro-life and pro-traditional marriage campaign rhetoric.”
To win in the fall, just as the Democratic nominee must suddenly pivot to the right, McCain will have to move left in order to appeal to Independents in the vote-rich center, so he probably will pick a rightwinger as ballast. In that case, Democrats would like it if he chose Mike Huckabee, or former Virginia Sen. George “Macaca” Allen, who is reportedly tan, rested and available.
The only place Condi Rice should be VP is in her prison cell block.
That is, unless the jury that tries Rice for her war crimes decides to replace the always present string-of-pearls around Condi’s neck with a necklace made from hemp.
Oh please, pretty please! Put Condi on the GOP ticket!
The racist White Male voter’s heads will explode given the choice between Obama/? and McCain/Rice
The racists from BOTH parties can stay home in November.
Set Condi aside for a minute.
Democrats have a problem. We Pubs have known for about, say, 30 years that about 15-20 percent of white Democrats are stuck in the Klavern. That means that they say they’ll vote for Obama, but when they get in the booth, they’ll either vote downticket races only or they’ll punch the space for McCain. The angle about the angry, alienated Muslim daddy doesn’t help Obambi’s cause, either.
Look, in normal times, Obama should win this race going away. He’s run a much better campaign. But he won’t, because the Democrats have a huge, hidden racist vote that you won’t see until November.
Funny thing is, McCain is a stand-up guy who won’t run a Rovian campaign, even if it risks him coming in second. So expect Obambi to fight dirty to try and beat the Old Guy. It’s his only shot to try and overcome his own party’s Klan Vote.
I disagree with the opinions stated in this article. It diplays the media’s disconnect with at least 40,000,000 voters.
McCain himself already leans left so picking left for vp would mean grave consequences for the GOP.
It’s not a secret, Section 9. It’s called the “Bradley Effect,” after Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley, who was leading George Deukmajian, a walking, talking human cipher, in polling in the governor’s race in the 1980s — until election day, when Deukmajian won easily.
You’re wrong about the percentages, though. It’s more like under 5% of Dems. And what must be stated is that Klan members today, along with proud bigots and haters of all kinds, are 100% Republican. And if 5% of Dems are crypto-racists, then 60% of Republicans are racists, and proud of it.
But McCain won’t have to fight dirty. The Republican 527s will run racist ads against Obama like the “Call me, Harold” ad against Harold Ford, morning, noon and night.
You are right that McCain will probably win in November. But it won’t be racist Democrats that defeat Obama. That’s just silly. It will be racist Republicans.