Mark Sanford is the logical choice.
http://acuf.org/issues/issue15/040703news.asp
He not only acts politically like Ronald Reagan, he gives the same sense in person that he is the real thing. His best friend and campaign manager is his wife, Jenny. He is devoted to his children. He asks all the right questions and wants to know every option. He questions everything and never accepts something simply because it is the way it has always been done. He is a serious, courageous and committed conservative — in fact, the most conservative chief executive in America.
By this criteria McCain himself doesn't qualify.
Regards
Fred Ping!
John McCain might just reach across the aisle and embrace Hillary after Obama trounces her. He would have the best of a bad situation as he could get elected.
I believe the best conservative candidate during the early election cycle was Duncan Hunter and would give McCain the conservative vote.....that being said my second choice would be Fred.....
Sarah Palin.
Condi Rice is obviously the best choice.
In order to win, McCain is going to have to marry the War in Iraq. He has to prove that case, or he is going to lose to the anti-War candidate. He might as well start by putting Condi on the ticket. She has the stature. She has the credibility.
If he puts Lieberman on the ticket, there are not enough noseplugs in the World to get Republicans to vote for this guy. McCain has been successful to this point by spitting in the eye of the base, but at some point that strategy becomes self defeating. VEEP Lieberman is well short of that point.
my long running problem with Fred was that he never had that much experience. You’d want to pair a senator with a governor.
Governor Sanford served in the House and has some foreign policy experience. He also created his own investment firm.
I think he has something to offer to Huckabee, Romney and even Ron Paul supporters (though not the kooky ones).
I don't think McCain has any choice but to go with a younger, vibrant candidate for Veep. Crist or Romney fit the bill. That said, McCain desperately needs to throw a bone to the conservatives and he could go the route of Tancredo for Veep with the specific task of border control and immigration policy reform.
But if the economy is going to be the defining issue in the general election, he could choose Romney and have him tackle the economy.
He has a lot of good choices, but whatever it is he chooses, it better freaking “WOW” this conservative.
First of all McCain isn't a "plausible president" himself, so that suggestion is a stretch for even Fred Barnes.
Secondly, McCain needs someone who won't make him look worse than he already does, and yet bring in a few million votes.
How about that blind, black, socialist New York lieutenant governor David Paterson?
I pretty much agree with Fred Barnes on everything here.
McCain needs a heavy-weight pick, not a Dan Quayle type.
Fred Thompson would turn the McCain ticket into an endlessly running “Grumpy Old Men” joke. I like Fred, I was all for Fred as you know, though I was also not afraid to criticize his campaign where I saw it failing. I think he lost because of the very things I was critical about. I was called all kinds of names here for speaking the truth.
But lets face it, if Fred didn’t want to be president, then he sure as hell doesn’t want to be VP. The Red Pickup has sailed off into the sunset.
I was wrong to support Thompson. Perhaps not at first, but we were all beating a dead horse for months. That old dog wouldn’t hunt. He was much happier sitting on the porch. We all should have gotten behind Mitt sooner. I actually started out supporting Mitt long before Fred even gave entering the race any thought. I let all the anti-Mormon talk scare me. I bought into the garbage that a Mormon couldn’t get elected president. Maybe that’s true for Mitt Romney right now, but I don’t think so. But with 4 to 8 years experience as VP, his religion won’t matter when he runs to succeed McCain.
Romney has the knowledge and drive to win. Everytime I see him speak I am impressed with him. I know his abilities would bring a lot to the GOP ticket. More than anyone else I can think of. He has the personality, fund-raising abilities and economic knowledge that McCain is going to need to win in November. Romney did a good job in the end of rallying conservatives. A much better job than Thompson, as it turned out. McCain will need all of the conservatives he can get, too.
I knew the "obvious winner" would be dumb the minute I saw it was a Fred Barnes column. He's been pimping hard for Romney for a year and can't let it go.
Remember that he and Kondracke were saying in mid-December that only Romney and Giuliani had viable paths to the nomination. So much for Barnes' talent for prognostication.
Romney would be a disastrous VP pick. Where Barnes gets this "Romney is a great social conservative" stuff from, I have no idea. And I'd hate to hear his idea of a social moderate.
I like Romney.
I like Hunter.
But neither did well at all in the primary competitions.
Romney is the best choice.
Unless McCain picks somebody well to the right of him, he’s not getting my vote. At this point, the latest flap over Peter King has me so mad at the Leprechaun from Hell that I have no intention of supporting him. He is despicable.
Let the Rats take over. American needs to be reminded of how aweful Jimmy Carter really was.
Pence, is not overly agressive, so he won't over shadow McCain, something McCain's ego couldn't take.
Pence is a former talk show host, a great debater, fairly conservative. I say fairly because his idea on illegal immigrants is close to Mccains in fact I called Pence's plan "turn style Immigration ".
Illegals would report to a point of entry or processing , pay a fine and step back into the country.
Yeah its amnesty, I don't support it, but I think he compliments McCain and thats what this discussion is about.
The only one that meets any conservative criteria on this list is Thompson, I will make an exception to my remark for Tom Ridge, not knowing much about him. Mitt, Rudy and Joe are not conservatives and will hurt McCain more than he is already hurting in the eyes of conservatives. I find it interesting that Duncan Hunter's name isn't on the list, as well as several other people I could think of.
McPain/Bolton ‘08.
Fred Barnes has been off the mark for months now and still thinks he has all the answers. He needs to get out more (away from inside the beltway).
The majority of the Freeper Nation seems impervious to objective assessment.
Objective assessment is NOT about “Who have I liked all along that didn’t make it to the top of the ticket?”!!!!
Objective assessment IS about:
Who would garner the most votes NATIONALLY?
Who can bring the most money to the campaign NATIONALLY?
Fred will be the man and will come out with guns blazing in full attack anti lethargy mode. When he begins to eradicate the Democrats, the Presidential nominee and the congress, the previous perception will evaporate.
I don’t think it’s so much as what they have against him, at this point. I think it’s more of a lack of confidence in Fred.
And, let’s be honest, Fred did very little to assuage that position. As much as I believed in that man, I have to say, he was a terrible disappointment as a candidate.
If he could cut n’ run, so easily, in the race for the nomination before even super Tuesday, how much intestinal fortitude would he have as VeeP or, if needed, as POTUS?
In that he still hasn’t come out publicly and explained his reasons for dropping out, let alone given me, you, US, the respect and acknowledgment of the customary...”Thank you for your support, you worked so hard, but...” speech, is a real slap in the face and speaks volumes about his suitability for the office, to me.
Sorry, just tryin’ to keep it real...