Vice President Tom Harkin 2016... could we make it happen ?

[Bombtrack]

I know we're always thinking about the rising stars, but haven't the tried and true faired better in the second spot in the last several elections?

Harkin strikes me as being the better-than-Biden and the ANTI-Cheney who America needs to meet and fall in love with. His perfect runningmate I'm not so sure or decided on, but Tom deserves the national stage.

[MADem]

1. He'll be seventy six in 2016.

Sometimes, people retire for a reason...like, say, they're TIRED.

[longship]

2. I could not support Harkin.

He was a primary sponsor of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, which has thrown medicine into woo-woo land. We've wasted billions of dollars on studying worthless alternative (so-called) therapies without a single positive outcome. Meanwhile, the quacks have been given Carte Blanche to market whatever quackery without any science to back up their safety or efficacy, at least as long as they don't make disease claims. DSHEA opened the door to abject quackery.

I cannot support anybody for top office who is so scientifically illiterate. I mean, the guy was supporting bee pollen as a cure for everything.

I like Harkin on social issues, but not this. And it is a no vote issue for me.

[femmocrat]

3. I love Harkin, but would like to see an up-and-comer.

Someone who could be elected in his or her own right in 2020 or 2024. God, that sounds far-off!

[Gothmog]

4. According to a friend, Harkin gave a great speech last night at the LBJ dinner in Austin

I heard from some friends that Harkin was great