Posted on 02/17/2008 10:47:05 AM PST by AM2000
Even through the McCain campaigns darkest days in 2007, Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty remained a steadfast ally to the Arizona senator in his bid for the Republican presidential nomination.
As a result, with John McCain as the clear GOP frontrunner and insider talk turning to speculation about his possible running mate, party insiders are now buzzing about the 47-year-old, second-term governors vice-presidential prospects.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
Pawlenty won’t do anything for the Religious-Right....he’s a R that got elected in Minnesota for cryin’ out loud....kind of like an upper Midwest version of Mit.
LOL...yeppers, that is just the strategy to win the South all right. Sheesh...no wonder they call it “The Stupid Party.”
If the first reaction from people is “who is that”, the person is not a good choice as Veep.
I like the idea of Condi Rice as the VP.
Advice to Pawlenty: Keep your day job.
That was my reaction.
As I posted in another forum a short while ago, there is no selection for VP with McCain that would cause me to place my check mark on the ballot for the unindicted co-conspirator in the Keating Five savings and loan debacle. I will go to the polls for the purpose of state and local races but will take a pass on a choice between a Marxist and McCain.
What are Condi's positions on the issues? Do you know? How does she propose to insure an business environment conducive to job creation in the private sector? What are her plans for future of the Middle East? How does she intend to handle the ever-growing social entitlement programs?
People don’t vote for vice presidents.
As long as you understand that your decision will contribute to the cause of the Marxist.
Choosing for the lesser of two evils may not be palatable, but it is often wise.
Just sayin'.
The questions you ask are valid for all potential vice presidential candidate. Condi is not the only potential candidate whose positions on issues isn’t known.
More often than not, it's good for picking up the VP candidate's home state. Also, although he wouldn't necessarily be my choice, Huckabee on McCain's ticket would likely pick up a lot of evangelical Christians who otherwise wouldn't vote for McCain.
Pawlenty on Illegal immigration:
“Beyond that we’ve this issue of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants who are currently in the country. I don’t know of many even hardcore conservatives, there are few, but not many in congress who are advocating for rounding up 12 million people and throwing them out of the country”.
— most of the conservatives are actually saying, they are only really arguing about what is the degree or lever of penalty so that it’s not amnesty and — so I don’t think that’s out of step with — that general line of debate, it’s not out of step with where most republicans are. There you — you see you are hard pressed to find many who are saying lets throw 12 million, lets mount a military offensive, identify 12 million people and round them up and throw them out of the country, it’s not where even most of the republican members of congress are at. They are just talking about — like I said the severity of the penalty for having come here illegally and Senator McCain agrees with that approach and we are just — now we are working out the details.
Correct, however you are ignoring the political reality that VP candidates are there to create an attraction to the overall ticket, i.e. the balancing concept of North/South, Senator/Governor, etc. In this case, my position is there is no VP possibility that can bring any balance to my aversion to McCain as the presidential candidate.
Choosing for the lesser of two evils may not be palatable, but it is often wise.
While it may be wise in your worldview, it remains evil in mine...just sayin'. While I don't make this choice lightly or with any notion that I am a better person than anybody else that makes other choices, I do understand that the world, or at least the US, is likely to be a very different place on 1/20/09 and I shall have been a part of how it got there, for good or ill. I have carefully considered this matter and know that for all the consequences I can envision for this choice, there are multitudes of consequences that never even came to my mind and I shall also have to live with those.
That will no doubt enhance Pawlenty's chances.
I have mixed feelings about this guy. He started out brilliantly, IMO, particularly with the no taxes, concealed-carry and anti-abortion positions in what is essentially a Soviet republic (Reagan never carried MN, for crying out loud).
However, he eventually went with increasing "fees" (taxes by almost any measure), and his position on global warming is right in line with Algore's.
Charismatic guy, though...no two ways about it.
That's the way to think! Send a message!
According to his Wikipedia biography, he won re-election in 2006 by a very narrow margin (1% over his main opponent, both of them getting less than 50% because of a third candidate in the race), and he was raised a Catholic but later became a Lutheran. Years ago that would have been political poison but probably does not matter nowadays.
For good reason, McCain has plenty of Democrats who are steadfast allies, but any Republican making that claim should examine whether or not he is in the right party.
I may be persuaded to vote McCain depending on who he chooses as a running mate, but McCain and Huckabee would be one ticket I would NEVER support. I like Huck even less than I like McCain.
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