One Way McCain Might Run for VP

[salonghorn70]

Craig Crawford suggests that Bush would be smart to dump Cheney and pick McCain.

http://www.cq.com/corp/show.do?page=crawford/crawford_current

Would this be a blockbuster ticket for the Republicans? Would this alter the race in the same way that some were saying it would if Kerry picked McCain? Would Bush be unbeatable? Would it make any difference at all?

[Frodo]

1. I would not be as big a deal as Kerry picking him, but

it would certainly help Bush.


It ain't going to happen though.

[still_one]

2. It will never happen

After what bush did to McCain in 2000, there is no way McCain would run with this white house trash

[WI_DEM]

3. why it will never happen

McCain hates Bush even though he is technically supporting him (but I'll bet he won't vote for him in the privacy of his voting booth) and he is a good friend of Kerry's even though he is technically opposing him in this election. He will never join a ticket with Bush because he doesn't really want to help Bush win. And Bush doesn't want a maverick like McCain as his VP.

4. This idea doesn't surprise me at all

I posted weeks ago on a Kerry/McCain thread that we should be careful what we wish for because the Repubs might just pick McCain to replace Cheney and then all those Democrats suggesting McCain as Kerry's VP would certainly have egg on their face.

As to the idea that McCain wouldn't run with Bush after 2000? Ha! of course he would. Bush ran with Reagan just to cite one example.
Plus McCain says he supports Bush.

Be afraid, be very afraid.

[WI_DEM]

6. there is one big difference between '80 and '04

McCain is a man of some principles and he is a good friend of John Kerry's--they share this military man type of bond that he certainly doesn't share with Bush. McCain thinks Kerry is a real man--I doubt he believes the same of Bush. Yes, Bush I could run with Reagan but that was slightly different in that Bush I didn't have any rapport with Carter--unlike McCain who does have a good relationship with Kerry.

10. I think you're probably right.

Hopefully you are & my worst case scenario (because that's what it is) won't transpire.

[Kid_A]

5. Republicans feel about McCain...

...the way we feel about Zell Miller. McCain will never run with Bush, not even as a means to an end.

[chimpymustgo]

7. It is ALL about the END. McCain will do it.

He's already had his face smeared in Chimpy's sh*t everyday, by publicly supporting him. This would actually be payback to McCain (and pay-off) to get him to play ball. And then McCain gets a clear shot at the Presidency in '08.

Except of course, the BFEE will pull a doublecross and run Jeb against him.

All these people care about his winning the next election. And they'll make McCain an offer he can't refuse...

[WildClarySage]

8. Except that McCain doesn't hold the strings

on *. Cheney does. Cheney would rather replace * than lose his cushy pad in Joe Liberman's house, but * has (what Cheney believes is) the charisma to get the votes. Besides, they would lose all the momentum of "Don't change horses in the middle of the apocalypse" thinking if they altered the ticket. They won't do it. Besides, they aren't worried about votes, they're only worried about machines.

[progdonkey]

9. good for Bush, but just as unlikely

I think it would be good for Bush, but McCain is such a maverick in his party that the conservatives probably wouldn't stand for it. Also, McCain and Kerry are very good friends and I honestly just don't think McCain has it in him to criticize Kerry very harshly, or stand idly by while Bush does the same. Case in point: when Bush and Cheney were saying Kerry doesn't value our national security, McCain (along with a few other moderate Republicans) broke ranks to state adamantly that Kerry is among the strongest senators on national defense. (This also would be excellent political ammo against McCain were he to run as VP.)

McCain may be a Republican, but he's not a friend of the neocons. If McCain were to be added to the ticket, I'm sure he'd demand that Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, and Tenet were all removed from office in a new administration, or at the very least call for severe restrictions on the authority of same. He would also put an end to these insane tax cuts, since he's a real fiscal conservative. Basically, the changes that would have to made by Bush for McCain to join are so numerous that a Bush-McCain administration would be radically different from a Bush-Cheney administration. Of course, that wouldn't be a bad thing, but it would prove completely that Bush has no leadership position in his administrations: everything is defined by his VP, be it Cheney or McCain.

Lastly, Cheney has been an anomaly, as far as VPs go (though, of course, it's easily explained by his being the actual president). The Office of Vice President has historically been a political death sentence: the VP doesn't vote, unless there's a tie in the Senate, and he doesn't take a leadership position on anything (everything is of course determined by the president). The VP basically just sits around waiting for the President to die or resign (A. Johnson, Arthur, T. Roosevelt, Truman, LBJ, Ford). Also, as we saw with Gore, when a VP wants to run for president, he is defined by the previous president, for good or for ill (Bush I was the only person in the 20th century who was elected president immediately after serving as VP--not counting Gore, of course).

McCain is too prominent in the Senate and popular as a Senator that I don't think he'd want to condemn himself to political suicide, and his reputation as a maverick would be severely curtailed were he forced to match all of his rhetoric to Bush's. (Let's also not forget that McCain obviously hates Bush; he's just loyal to the Republican president.)

[beyurslf]

11. I think McCain on Kerry's ticket is more likely... and I don't think that

is likely to happen either. I just can't see McCain with Bush after 2000.

[Leilani]

12. Bush asked McCain in 2000 if he wanted to be Veep

He did not offer it, but asked if he wanted to be considered & McCain said NO.

He would say NO again.

McCain is a great story for bored journalists, but he is NOT a veep kind of guy. He is not a 2nd banana. He chairs the Commerce Committee & is in line for Chair of Armed Services.

And as far as McCain in 2008...forget about it...he will be too old.

[Claire Beth]

13. Ain't gonna happen. n/t

[robbedvoter]

14. Cheney is the one who puls the strings - can't be dumped. mcCain

would chomp at the bit. (Doesn't he work already for W "reselection"?

[GOPBasher]

15. McCain run with Bush? hahahahaha

Yeah, right. That'll happen. Really, it will. Hey Repubs, hold your breath waiting for this one to happen. McCain likes Bush about as much as I do.

[TNMOM]

16. No way. Cheney won't give up power.

Cheney picked himself to be VP. What makes you think he'll step aside?