Thursday, August 28, 2008

Joe Lieberman as McCain's Veep pick?

I understand that McCain is scheduled to announce his Veep pick tomorrow. He'll pretty well have to if he is going to do so before the Republican convention starts Monday, and it is an announcement that can be expected to reduce the Obama bounce from the Democratic Nomination Convention.

My best bet is Mitt Romney, but there is a lot of talk about McCain choosing his old friend and current supporter, Joe Lieberman. This has brought some interesting comments.
  • Bob Novak, who recently retired because of brain cancer, has written a column entitled Avoiding a Lieberman Disaster which clearly advises against McCain choosing Lieberman.
  • William Kristol thinks it's a good idea to choose Lieberman and writes to say so in his column A Joe of His Own?.
  • Karl Rove is reported to have called Joe Lieberman and asked him to tell McCain not to choose Joe. Rove is reported to be pushing for Mitt Romney to be chosen for Veep.
  • Very interestingly, David Brooks stated last night on the PBS commentary regarding the Democratic Convention that "...the OBVIOUS answer to the Dems successful mantra of McCain = Bush is for McCain to choose as his VP, get this, Joe Lieberman." When I heard Brooks say that that I wondered what Brooks was smoking, which appears to be a common reaction. Upon reflection that appears to be something caused by David Brooks status as a big Kahuna inside the Washington beltway pundits who think that by choosing a "Democrat" (even one rejected by his state Democratic Party) McCain can immunize himself from the toxic waste spread by George Bush' ultra-partisan manner of governing.
It looks like we will know McCain's choice tomorrow. McCain Has Made His Pick and Is Set to Tell on Friday.

I'll be extremely surprised if the choice is Lieberman. Surprised and delighted. Joe's pro-choice views will drive away a lot of Republican voters, and his closeness NeoCon-level support of the Iraq war as well as pushing for attacks on Iran is not going to attract many Democrats.

Besides, Joe, with his silly grin, simply doesn't look Presidential.


Addendum 3:32 pm CDT
Mark Kleiman offers an interesting take on the Lieberman-as-Repub-Veep issue.

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