Posted on 11/26/2002 6:15:36 AM PST by GraniteStateConservative
It's the ultimate inside-the-Beltway fantasy, a political tease too titillating to surrender, because it ends with the prospect of two women running against one another for president of the United States in 2008.
[snip]
Scenario One: Democrats rally around Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) as their presidential candidate in 2008, after she is reelected in a roar from New York in 2006.
President Bush attempts to preempt Hillary's expected star-power run with a trump card of his own, naming national security advisor Condoleezza Rice as his vice presidential running mate in 2004.
Bush-Rice triumphs at the polls, making Rice the first woman and the first African American to be vice president. Then in 2008, it's Hillary vs. Condi.
Never mind that Rice, a Soviet scholar from Stanford University who is Bush's top advisor on foreign policy, has never held elective office, has little policy portfolio on domestic issues and claims not to be interested in the position. Or that the job she says she really hungers for after life in the White House is commissioner of the National Football League. Or that she is believed to be pro-choice on abortion in a party where that is a hurdle to high office. Already, a new web site is urging her to run, and chat rooms regularly dissect the prospect.
[snip]
Groan if you must, but political junkies love this stuff. They have already handicapped the odds, and, depending on who is talking, Hillary's run is a sure bet and Condi's is a longshot.
President Bush seemed to dash hopes for the first scenario. "Should I decide to run," he intoned recently during a press conference, "Vice President Cheney will be my running mate."
But this being Washington no one believed him. Cheney's health problems (he has had four heart attacks starting at age 37, a quadruple heart bypass operation and now wears an implant), only fuel the speculation.
And Tony Blankley, editorial page editor of the conservative Washington Times, is convinced that Republican Party elders will force Cheney off the ticket.
"Cheney will want to stay on and Bush will want him to stay," he explained. "But national Republicans will implore Bush to put on the ticket somebody who can be the standard bearer in 2008. To give up that advantage would be painful."
Blankley admits that Bush will resist the pressure. And Cheney himself is perhaps the first vice president in history who actually likes his job, which John Nance Garner, FDR's first veep, once likened to a bucket of warm spit (actually he said something a bit more graphic).
Still, the scenario beckons.
"I'm betting on a Bush-Rice ticket in 2004," said William Kristol, editor of the conservative Weekly Standard, who has been pushing the idea since March. "Bush is a bit of a gambler politically."
To Kristol and other Republican cheerleaders, a Rice candidacy is enticing because it offers promise of crossover appeal to black voters who would otherwise vote Democratic. No one is really sure if this will work -- it did not seem to help Democrats win more Jewish votes than usual when Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.) was Al Gore's vice presidential candidate in 2000 -- but pundits who play the fantasy game love to toss this one around.
"It depends on the issue mix," said Kristol.
"Generally black conservatives in the past have not been able to attract black Democratic votes. It suggests that ideology really is more important than race identity."
Maybe, but some Democrats worry that Hillary Clinton's high negatives and a Condi Rice candidacy bathed in the aura of historic destiny could combine to give Republicans the edge.
"I don't like that matchup," said Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, a Democratic pollster. "We lose."
Pollster John Zogby thinks the Condi-Hillary matchup is "a stroke of genius" because it removes any voter unease about voting for a woman as commander in chief.
Hillary Clinton's negatives, he calculates, are irrelevant, since she has mastered the art of winning even though one-third of voters "hate her guts." And Rice could pull in enough blacks, Zogby thinks, to embarrass the Democrats.
"She doesn't have to bring too many," he said. "Now Republicans have about 10%. She could probably build that into 18% to 20%, just enough to embarrass the Democrats. The Democrats can't win without 90% of the black vote."
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Mention the irony of the fact that the first black President and the first woman President are likely to be GOP.
Won't happen. President Bush has stated that Cheney will be on the ticket for reelection in 2004. When this President Bush says something he means it. GW is not taking his marching orders from Kristol (even though McCain supporter Kristol wishes overwise).
I've been thinking of this for months. If you want to watch a liberal stammer, choke, and come up at a loss for words, mention that this is your fervent desire. Include Colin Powell in a Rice administration in 2008, and the go positively spastic. I have a lot of fun with it
Me too. I'm thinking Bush is running a huge misdirection play aimed at the Clintons. He knows who his real enemies are in Washington, and is aware of Hillary's ambitions. I also believe that his brother doesn't really want to run for the Presidency.
Bush and Rove know how central Condi is to their plans. She's being held in reserve for a huge surprise.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Yup. But the way to get her on the Trail in '08, and NEGATE hillary!ous' attacks on her, is to run Cheney in '04, and have him step down in '06, and make the Senate Confirm her two months before the 06 midterms.
It puts the Dems in a No win Position, Either attack a Black Woman on her way to the White House, or Give the President, the Biggest PR move in the history of American Politics, since Geo. Washington turned down the Crown.
See Above.
Hitlery is up for re-election in 2006. Pataki's governorship ends in 2006. I believe that Pataki will run for the senate, and crush Hitlery. That's why I think she will have to run for prez in 2004. She won't be a senator in 2008.
Hyenas packs are fully matriarchal and all female hyenas are equipped with a pseudo-phallus.
Possible, but consider the possibility that the RNC is protecting Dr. Rice from early exposure to the Clinton slime machine. Hillary's group has already began taking pre-emptive strikes against her. eg. Belafonte's recent ridiculous statements. Watch the "negatives" increase in 2003. Carville will start his supplemental diet of gunpowder and the "Smear Rice Show" will take to the road.
Precisely. He could say, "Gee, Big Time is a great guy and all but his heart condition makes me question his ability to handle the rigors of a campaign. So I'm going to dump the old bastard and bring on a vivacious, intelligent black conservative female to replace this old baggage!" Yeah, sure he will.
Bush keeps his opponents, and his friends, guessing. Condi's stepping out party will be the Iraq war. Rumor has it she'll be front and center on briefings, much like the way Powell starred in the Gulf War.
My prediction? Cheney actually hangs around, but Bush gives him Rice's NSA job. This way, Cheney gets to stay in the game, gets to be Bush's international "enforcer", Powell keeps his hands clean, and Rice gets the services of "Scooter" Libby and all of Cheney's domestic people. This will help her immensely as she preps for the Big Girls Chair and the campaign against the Hildebeast.
Rice's libertarian instincts and her kill them before they kill you approach to national security will go over like gangbusters with white males. You watch!
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Now I'm warning you all in advance! Tuco Troll will show up to start his nonsense. Please don't feed the Troll.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
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