McCain VP: If it came down to the BBQ Trio: Jindl, Crist, and Mittens who does InSane pick as VP?

[book_worm]

I think he goes with Mittens despite his intense dislike for him.

[LSparkle]

1. Crist ... but he still needs to be vetted ...

He's young, he leads an important state ... but
there's still that vetting process ...

[MADem]

10. He isn't young. He's fifty two. And he's gay.

Or at least the rumor mill is saying that. And the GOP can't HAVE that, can they?

http://wonkette.com/362059/florida-governor-victimized-by-even-more-unsubstantiated-gay-rumors

Intrepid New Times reporter Bob Norman writes:


When I got Rick Calderoni, the bar's well-known owner, on the phone, I expected him to stonewall me about it.
He didn't.

Calderoni, who is gay, confirmed that Crist came into his bar quite often and that the two of them became friends.

Getting to the point, I asked him if he knew Crist to be gay.

"Yes," he answered bluntly. "I just wish he would come out and admit it. That would be a great thing if he did."

[LSparkle]

43. Well, he's young by Bomb Bomb standards ...

and yes, I've heard the gay rumors but didn't want to
say that outright (although I don't know why I hesitated).

[MADem]

46. He's older than Obama. But he's not going to be the VP, I don't think.

I'm guessing he thinks "Ambassador Crist" has a swell ring to it.

[ColbertWatcher]

45. Here's a pic of Crist with Foley...

...from Wikiality.com...



...here is a pic of some young man named Jason that good ol' Charlie "doesn't know"...



...and here's a pic of some woman (Kelly Crosby Heyniger) the GOP hooked Crist up with right after he somehow won the election for Florida's governorship...

[MADem]

47. I guess BO DEREK is a little too long in the tooth for him?

She has done Yeoman's Service as a GOP designated beard in the past.

[ColbertWatcher]

48. Yeoman Beard? LOL! n/t

[JI7]

59. yuk, Crist looks like he could be his grandfather

[MADem]

2. Mittens can't carry Massachusetts and NH. He isn't any help to him except in Utah.

I think he'd pick Jindl.

If the choice was just those three.

Crist is gay. Everyone knows it. The GOP can't have that.

I think he's there just to make the FL GOP think they're loved.

[Deja Q]

3. Jindl's ineptitude over Katrina rules him out

He complained about lack of communication. Well, how many people did he try to communicate with? Not enough, and he's the governor of that state. I agree he's NOT the only official who deserves a reprimand, however...

[TwilightGardener]

5. Jindal was not Gov during Katrina--he was just elected to the office this year.

[MADem]

11. WHAT? Who died and left him boss...during KATRINA????

He wasn't the GOVERNOR then...he had no CONTROL over means of communication. He wasn't even in the executive branch of state government. He was in the same boat as any citizen in that circumstance.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Jindal would completely undercut McCain's experience argument against Obama--

he's had exactly 4 months as Gov, and before that he was a Congressman, not even a Senator--not a whole lot of resume there, if McCain should die or become incapacitated in office. So that would be dumb--the VP should be someone who's credible as President. Crist is rumored to be gay--that's a no-go. Mittens has the economic creds McCain needs, and suddenly put his ego away and became a sycophant to McCain as soon as he suspended his campaign, which is party loyalty that the GOP applauds. Mittens has the best chance of the three, and is the most sensible choice. Huckster is no longer a consideration, after his moronic gun joke.

[Catchawave]

13. Disagree n/t

[MADem]

15. Congressmen actually work harder than Senators. It's a more rough-and-tumble

legislative process. You have to scrap harder and throw more elbows as a Congressman.

And he certainly could "earn as he learns." At least that would be the likely argument.

I think Jindl fits better than Mormon Mittsy. Mittsy spent MILLIONS and MILLIONS...and no one voted for him.

He wasn't even a contender. He tried to buy primaries, and even that didn't work. And his record in MA is a DRAG. He didn't run for reelection here in MA not just because he was running for Prez, but also because he wouldn't have won. He never did anything here anyway--he was always gone.

What Jindl has working for him is that he isn't gay, he isn't Mormon, and his record is light enough so that it's hard to criticize him on it. He's also a "minority." A bit brown, but not TOO much for them. The GOP can get down with a LITTLE brown, certainly. All he has to do is memorize the talking points, and he's golden.

[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[MADem]

21. Good grief. I don't "seem dazzled." I am performing a political analysis.

Sometimes, and particularly in this particular era, NO RECORD, or a scant one, is BETTER than a long one.

McCain's argument would be that his VP has MORE executive experience than OBAMA. Which he DOES. And he has a similar experience prior to Obama getting elected to the Senate and immediately spending most of his time running for the Presidency.

Please grow up and stop shopping bullshit on this board. I do not "hate Obama with a passion." You have to be inattentive in the extreme, or deliberately perpetuating falsehoods, to say that.

But then, that's what you do, isn't it?

I've already stated without reservation how I'm casting my ballot here. But that was a real smooth move, that entire vicious post of yours.

You should be ashamed of yourself. Of course, that would take self-awareness.

[TwilightGardener]

24. I'm sorry, but you're nutz. I've read most of your posts. You knock Obama and

defend Hillary AND Republicans at every opportunity. I don't know why you hang out on a Dem message board.

[MADem]

26. Ah, I don't wear rose colored glasses. I look at issues realistically.

And that makes me "nutz?"

You are one pathetic and immature individual. All you seem to be able to do is insult people who don't worship your candidate unconditionally. And you follow me around like a hangdog, constantly up my ass with personal insults.

This is a political discussion board for Democrats and other progressives. I am one of those, even if you don't fucking like it.

If you are looking to be a cheerleader, the Cowboys squad might be hiring. Or you can go to the RAH RAH boards at your candidate's website. That's not the PURPOSE of this website. Discussion, not ADORATION, is the purpose here.

[TwilightGardener]

28. I don't follow you. You responded to MY post, not the other way around.

You spent months bashing Obama relentlessly, for everything the man says and does, as well as his wife, yet you try to make a case that a GOPer is more qualified than Obama, who is even younger than Obama and has even less relevant experience (Comparing the House of Reps to the Senate? Please. Anybody can be a Congressman. And four months as Gov is NOT relevant "exec experience", sorry). But hey, anybody but Obama, right?

[MADem]

31. You fail to be civil at every opportunity. You go out of your way to be a jerk.

And you do it eagerly.

FWIW, I don't "bash."

I engage in political commentary--NOT idol worship.

You might try it sometime.

"Devil's Advocate" commentary is useful to people who aren't Kool Aid drinkers or worshipful fools. You are overconfident, as well as rude.

You can whine that "four months is NOT relevant" but he's going into his SIXTH month, and He will be in his NINTH before they announce the nominee's name. And so far, he's well received. There's enough "there" there to suit those who say "Some is better than NONE."

And Jindal satisfies a bunch of other demographics, too. He's highly educated. Ivy league. Rhodes scholar. He's CATHOLIC. He's a 'minority' which pleases some. He's southwest Asian, and that's helpful in some demos, too. He's the child of immigrants, an American success story. If he is chosen, it is cause for concern.

[TwilightGardener]

32. Oh my, he's WONDERFUL! Far better than Obama.

edit to add: I can see why you weren't impressed with Obama, and constantly argued against him being the nominee. He's fairly uneducated, he's not the son of an immigrant, he's clearly not very bright, he's not a minority, and he's not an American success story...oh, wait.

[MADem]

36. Well, I don't say that sort of thing. But you excel at making things up.

I point out public perceptions. VALID public perceptions.

You take things "personally." You don't win elections with DENIAL. It isn't possible to put half the nation on "IGNORE."

You also, as you just demonstrated in your most recent post, engage in binary thinking. If someone says something about one candidate, you have to assume, or believe that someone else assumes, that the OPPOSITE must be true about the other candidate.

It's an immature outlook on your part. REALLY. It's also academically unrigorous, to put it kindly.

But then, if we want to move forward with your latest complaint, I was talking about Jindal as a VP candidate. Ergo, you must be talking about OBAMA .... as a VP candidate.

[JI7]

52. hahah, they said Obama is an elitist for the same reasons

and Jindal grew up Hindu. that's worst than being a Muslim to many wingnuts. even though he converted to Catholism(imo for political reasons)wouldn't the morons who claim Obama is Muslim do the same to him. or are the Obama haters going to defend JIndal while attacking Obama.

[Feron]

57. However Jindal was also absent often.

Jindal was the 8th most absent congressman and supposedly three of the guys ahead of him were dead. When you said light record you are saying a mouthful.

As someone who lives in his district, trust me when I tell you that he ran for governor his entire term. He's a climber and not someone who is committed to finishing a job.

[napi21]

6. My guess is Crist too. I understand he's very popular in Fl., is a

Governor, and on it's face the only problem I see is that you'd have two white haired men standing beside one another all the time. I don't think that helps McNut's age problem.

[MADem]

16. He's gay. And everyone knows it. It won't be him, unless the GOP is going to suddenly embrace

civil unions or something.

[napi21]

37. I honestly didn't know that! I know Lindsey Gram is rumored to be

gay by damn near everybody here in Ga. but I never heard any comments about Crist. Interesting.

[MADem]

38. I tossed a link up about it somewhere in this thread. Scroll around, you'll see it.

He had a McGreevey marriage there, once upon a time.

I do think those rumors are true. The idea here is to get the "love" from FL. Not the running mate, though--unless he's an anti-Castro Cuban who somehow has magical crossover appeal to the Mexican and Puerto Rican and other Hispanic voting blocs.

Maybe Crist wants to be an Ambassador--why not? Great job, your assistant does all the hard work, and there are countries where being gay doesn't matter! After all, Bush's gay college roommate got a swell ambassadorship from George....why not McCain doing the same for his political pal?

[JI7]

55. Crist is openly gay

[OhioChick]

7. My guess is Mittens...

Repubs are going to want a man "of religion" in there.

[Fridays Child]

8. I didn't see Mittens but Turncoat Joe was there.

[Muttocracy]

22. and wasn't Cheney head of Bush's VP search committee... hmm... nt

[stray cat]

9. Crist is my guess

[JDPriestly]

12. Mittens is being courted for his money and for the slave labor of his Mormon friends.

But Mittens does not sell well to evangelical Christian fundamentalists, and will sell even less well when the fundamentalists get an even closer look at the Mormon religion -- which has a pretty shocking history in the midwest.

Jindl was invited to show that McCain is not racist. Jindl is one of the few prominent Republican politicians who is not white. In fact, he just may be the only prominent Republican elected official who is not white. He just barely won in Louisiana, so it would be premature to run him as VP. Besides, he is untested, kind of a potential Dan Quayle who could turn out to be very trustworthy but could also turn out to be a kook. He has not passed the political stress test yet.

Crist -- probably quite happy to be governor of Florida. But he is the most likely VP candidate because Floridians like him, and Florida will be a key state this year. Problem with that strategy is that strategy is that, thanks to the banking crisis, the low interest rates, the low Social Security benefit rises, and the stress on pension funds, the economy is going to be especially cruel to retired voters. The Republicans seem to be oblivious to what is going on with the elderly population who look at the interest rates they are getting on their savings accounts, tighten their belts another notch, but are too proud to raise a fuss in public. Not even Crist is going to be able to salvage their votes.

McCain is the Republican presidential candidate not because he can win or even has any qualification whatsoever for leading the country but because the field of candidates that the Republicans chose from was the worst ever for any party ever in the the history of our nation. The same holds for the vice presidential field in the Republican Party. They are a bunch of no-good losers. Crist is the best of the lot, but Floridians like him mostly because Jeb Bush was just so bad, he could make any successor look good.

[LTR]

14. I'm guessing Pawlenty

He was invited this weekend but had other plans. Same with Huckabee.

Romney adds nothing to the ticket. Empty suit.

Crist is likely gay, which would really freak out the fundies.

And Jindal is the GOP version of Obama (young golden boy who they see as their future), and would negate anything they could possibly attack Obama with (lack of experience and military service, ethnicity, etc.).

And Pawlenty is pretty much a tool, and he had his own Katrina moment (the I-35W bridge collapse). Still, they're desperate to win Minnesota, for some reason. Likely, they won't. And he's bland enough to not ruffle any feathers.

[MADem]

18. Interesting!

I don't have a clue who he'll pick, but I think Mittsy the Shittsy is a horrible choice, Crist is out for the reason you mention, but I do think they could make Bobby J. work. After all, he's just the understudy.

These are McCain's "cabinet" interviews, too...

Holy Joe wants SECDEF, I've heard. Boy am I glad I am retired--I'd have hated working for him.

And on edit--considering the LOCATION of the convention, too, that would be quite the pick!

[BlueManDude]

17. Smokesceen - he won't pick either of these clowns.

I'd say it will be Ridge.

[MADem]

20. You might be right--he's waving the red flag to distract the media bulls from his medical records.

And Ridge would help in PA.

[LTR]

23. That's a safe pick

I remember he was heavily rumored as Dumbya's running mate in 2000.

Only, at 63, he's probably a bit older than the GOP would like, and they have a serious problem with nurturing up-and-comers. Too many old folks, not enough youth.

Here's a dark horse for ya - Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Ryan_%28politician%29

RWers love the guy. Big fiscal conservative. Robert Novak is hyping him for the VP slot. He's from a swing state they want badly to win (also a strong Obama state). And, even at 38, has quite a bit of experience. Now, don't get me wrong - I'm not trying to hype the GOP ticket, I'm merely examining the opposition.

[RB TexLa]

25. The WASP

[MADem]

27. Why not "The Hispanic?" That would throw a wrench in the gears. nt

[RB TexLa]

33. The GOP candidate for vice president will be a anti-choice WASP

They are not going to nominate a woman, or an ethnic minority, or a pro-choice Jew.

[MADem]

35. Well, I rule Lieberman out. I don't rule out a woman OR a minority.

We'll see.

I'm not making bets, though. I'm simply speculating. Jindal has the advantage of being a Catholic, so he's a two-fer.

[KharmaTrain]

29. Follow The Money...

I'm sure the guy Gramps would love for his VEEP is Goober Graham. But, his choice is going to be based on money more than anything else. He needs someone with deep pockets and friend with deeper pockets to try to buy hearts and minds this fall.

The mindset in the GOOP hive, not unlike how the beltway Democrats feel, is that the fringes...the fundies and neo-cons have no place to go. They can either get with the program or get left aside. The pick of a VEEP rarely does much to help a candidate...and their egos want the focus always to be on them...especially Gramps.

The pick will be someone who can play bad cop and money man. Crashcart was the perfect example. My radar points to Mittens more to his money and "crashcart" qualities. He'll feed the kitty while Gramps can do the stumpin'

[CK_John]

30. The real question is who will Cheney approve, Jindl or CJ J Roberts. n/t

[QC]

34. Too many skeletons in Crist's closet. n/t

[MADem]

39. Those aren't skeletons, they're special friends...with benefits. NT

[QC]

50. A real cute little twinky skeleton was widely discussed in the gay press last election

when he told a few too many people of his relationship with Charlie.

[Blue_In_AK]

40. If it goes to Mitt

McCain will have a better chance of picking up Alaska. Mittens got over 40% of the vote here in the Republican presidential preference poll, while McCain came in dead last. I hope he'll pick somebody else.

[hokies4ever]

42. I know you're from Alaska and all

but it's not exactly a big swing state. :rofl:

The big geographical advantage with Romney is with Michigan. Romney's father was governor of Michigan and apparently was pretty popular, and that's part of the reason why Romney won Michigan.

[Blue_In_AK]

49. Well, of course, I know that...

But I could conceive of a situation where three electoral votes would make a difference -- and I can only speak of Alaska because it's all I know. I don't care what you guys do down there, but I do care how my state goes.

[hokies4ever]

60. I know, just playing with you

:patriot:

Obama won Alaska pretty handily too, so I'm not sure that it's clear that putting Romney on the ticket gives the GOP a huge edge with Alaska.

[Blue_In_AK]

61. I hope you're right.

Obama did lead all comers here, and it seems to be a good year for Democrats in Alaska, so I've got my fingers crossed.

[hokies4ever]

41. Romney

He will help McCain on the economic front and provide an inside track to getting Michigan. The GOP thinks that Florida is a lock (Hillary is helping right now on that issue too), so Crist will be less important.

[Disturbed]

44. The Bush Crime Family wanted Mitt as Pres. Now they are

pushing him for VP. Of course, they would love to have Jeb as VP but they aren't
that stupid to know that the Bush name is poison now.

[spanone]

51. cheney

[BigBearJack]

53. doesn't matter who

He's toast anyway.

[JI7]

54. what this shows is the Right Wing Reached it's peak and is going downhill

with the constituency they had in 2004 and before.

McCain considering an openly gay man, a mormon and an indian american. they know they have to reach out to others. they can not count on the wingnuts to carry them nationally.

[papapi]

56. Gay or not, Crist wouldn't make me even consider....

...voting for the repugnantcans. And openly gay? I don't think so.

http://www.browardpalmbeach.com/2006-10-19/news/crist-denies-trysts/

And McClueless on Ellen? Give HIM a friggin' brake. Hypocrite.

[Neshanic]

58. The ambiguiously gay guy. The others, one looks like a robot, the other a perv.

[klook]

62. Zell Miller.

Crazy old white guy ticket.

[tsuki]

63. He can have Crist. Good riddance. nt