Posted on 05/15/2004 10:58:02 PM PDT by hope
Times: Kerry Still Considering McCain for VP
NewsMax WiresIn a page one, top-of-the-fold story in the New York Times this Saturday, the paper reported that many senior Democrats still view Republican John McCain as their number one choice as John Kerry's running mate.
Sunday, May 16, 2004
Such a ticket would "instantly transform the presidential race," the Times said.
As late as last Friday, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said about joining the John Kerry Democratic ticket for the White House: “I have totally ruled it out.”
But despite that ring of finality, enthusiasts of the match -- including operatives close to John Kerry -- won’t stop touting it up as a lightening bolt that would make Kerry-McCain a "dream team."
Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida said, “There’s a collective sigh that says, ‘This feels right.’ I think it’s very plausible that, with Iraq still in chaos, that if offered to him, he would say it’s time for me to go serve my country again in another capacity, where I can do some good.”
Former Nebraska Sen. Bob Kerrey, who now serves on the 9/11 Committee, has even hammered out some possible compromises to make the scenario work:
“Senator McCain would not have to leave his party. He could remain a Republican, would be given some authority over selection of cabinet people. The only thing he would have to do is say, `I’m not going to appoint any judges who would overturn Roe v. Wade.’”
Meanwhile, political observers are working overtime to crank out hyperboles about the dream team.
A Democratic strategist who once worked for Mr. Kerry, Chris Lehane, said the ticket “would be the political equivalent of the Yankees signing A-Rod [star third baseman Alex Rodriguez].”
For his part, Kerry, who has kept his veep search low key thus far, “continues to be interested in” McCain.
According to the Times report, the two close friends and fellow Vietnam vets talk on the phone periodically. And while on the stump, Kerry often invokes McCain’s name.
And while McCain has not endorsed Kerry, he has frequently come to his defense. Most recently, McCain has urged Republicans not to criticize or question Kerry's Vietnam war record or his anti-war activities afer he was discharged.
In return, Kerry has gone out of his way to cite and praise McCain.
Last Friday, for instance, when asked whether he thought pictures of abuse at Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison should be released to the public, Kerry said:
“I think John McCain really had the right formula, personally,” referring to McCain’s suggestion that the pictures would eventually find their way into public view, and should be put out in an organized fashion.
Furthermore, when Kerry started his drumbeat to oust Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, he was asked about possible replacements. “Our good friend John McCain” was his immediate response.
Pundits suggest that in the mix for the Kerry-McCain pairing is not only the close friendship between the two men but what has been described as the cool relationship between McCain and President Bush.
Although McCain is co-chairman of President Bush’s re-election campaign in Arizona, he reportedly is still smarting from the attacks on him during the 2000 Republican presidential primaries.
But the “dream team” is not without its distracters.
Donna Brazile, who ran Al Gore’s campaign in 2000, opined, “McCain has not been pro-choice; he’s not been out front on affirmative action. He’s not been out front on core issues that have defined the Democratic Party.”
Some suggest that McCain would upstage Kerry.
Meanwhile, if the dream team fails to materialize, the list of possible Democratic contenders is now brimming with usual suspects ranging from senators John Edwards of North Carolina and Bob Graham of Florida -- to governors Bill Richardson of New Mexico and Thomas J. Vilsack of Iowa.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
106-101
Well as I said I made that prediction 2 months ago and got all of the arguments I am seeing on this thread. It is odd that McCain is the ONLY one being prominently mentioned in the media recently. I see a lot of short term poll boosts by doing this and it would be THE main story for weeks leading up to the Democrats convention.
No. Not in 10 million years.
McCain is a bastard, but he would not run for a Dem ticket ever.
On a side note, my word does he look unprofessional in that picture slouching like that.
LOL In politics never say never.
Question: Is McCain a big enough flake to take the Veep slot?? Lately, it looks like it.
As much as I would like to see McCain gone, Kerry or rather the clintons will pick Richardson before a McCain.
What better way to get back at those who he feels unfairly disparaged him in 2000?
Democrats are good at knowing how to push the buttons of certain GOP congressmen. Like McCain, they know his fatal flaw is his ego. They stoke it at every opportunity and the Democrats who operate the media boost his status every time he bolsters Kerry. It's sad that our representatives, like McCain, debase themselves by falling for these tactics.
Geesh, does the Jr. Senator from NY know this too?
Uh, that's not the only way a Vice President becomes President. Think Truman. Think Johnson. Think Ford. Remember that Reagan was almost assassinated. Clinton was impeached and might have been forced to resign if Gore had turned on him instead of supporting him. And every future President will be a high-priority target for Al Qaeda.
Just wondering if his wife's health might be a contributing factor to his decision to say no.
"Such a ticket would "instantly transform the presidential race," the Times said."
Yeah - instantly transformed from a piece of excrement into a bad dream about a piece of excrement.
(Sorry for the rude language - it's just that none other will suit.)
If McCain picks this, he loses all his power. Dems will never trust him, and no republicans will have a thing to do with him.
I was going to say, Mccain will be Kerry's VP like Roy Jones will lose to Antonio Tarver.
Looks like I was wrong.
Sunday, May 16, 04
Tarver Shocks Jones With Knockout Win
By TIM DAHLBERG, AP Boxing Writer
LAS VEGAS - Antonio Tarver's left hand out of nowhere stopped Roy Jones Jr. in the second round Saturday night, giving him the light heavyweight title and handing Jones the most crushing defeat of his illustrious career.
Kerrey himself would add more to the ticket than McCain or anyone else. Kerrey has the colourful character that Kerry lacks, he has the mental quickness and toughness needed to best Cheney in the VP debate, and most of all perhaps, he comes across as someone voters can relate to in a way they cannot relate to Kerry. A Kerry/Kerrey ticket has a ring to it and it also gives the ticket two war heroes for the price of one, something that, in a time of war, will appeal to independents who are dubious about the incumbent Prez and VP. A Kerry/Kerrey ticket is the one the GOP can expect to face off against in 2004.
I agree. Plus I can't believe the dims wamt to put a Republican on their ticket, one heartbeat away from the presidency. If Kerry/McCain won, and Kerry becomes ill with cancer, bingo, instant Republican administration. Are Bill Clinton, Terry McAwful, Ted Kennedy, James Carville, et.al, going to go for this? Hard to believe.
Somewhat misleading title. It should read:
The Times Hoping Kerry Is Still Considering McCain for VP
Not at all. They are just using a standard presidential campaign tactic of mentioning popular individuals as potential VP's in order to give their candidate an aura of centerism. They don't really want a McCain to run as their VP; what they want is to convince swing voters that Kerry is a moderate, neither liberal nor conservative, like McCain.
If the Democrats were worried about their base, they would instead be pushing, in a purely verbal sense, the possibility of a black VP. This year, their base is secure, so they can symbolically move to the center by talking up McCain.
Now, if Kerry wins, which I don't think will happen, McCain can, if he wishes, top off his career with a few years as Secretary of Defense.
McCain knows that, if he does this, all the stuff in his past about banking scandals and calling Asian reporters "gooks" gets dredged up immediately.
Kerry knows that, if he picks a Republican, even a RINO, as VP, he risks PO'ing enough of his far left base that Nader tips the election to Bush.
Aint gonna happen. This is just trial ballooning to keep us off the scent of his actual picks.
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