McCain and Obama both need running mates.
McCain needs to find someone to balance out his age, and someone to placate the religious base, preferably a Southerner.
My prediction: McCain/Huckabee.
The running mate he should pick: Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. A young female VP would be a great addition to the ticket. (It’d be even better if she was the governor of Arkansas instead, to cover the Southern vote, but alas.)
Obama needs to find someone with the experience people think he lacks, and someone to get him the votes in the South, as well as the white vote. Unfortunately, the Dems cannot afford to alienate the Hildemort supporters, so I think we’ll see a joint ticket, even if that compounds the weaknesses of both candidates, because the Dragon Lady will not go quietly into that good night…especially not considering that she’ll be a mere heartbeat away from the brass ring.
My prediction: Obama/Clinton.
The running mate he should pick: Senator Jim Webb. War veteran, moderate, well-known author, not a Washington fixture, Southerner, and just the right age for the job.
What say you?
38 Comments
June 5, 2008 at 4:56 pm
Didn’t it used to be part of the Constitution that the second-placer in the nominations Would Be the Veep? Or is my brain playing tricks on me?
June 5, 2008 at 4:59 pm
No, the loser of the election became the Veep. There are no nominations, no provision for political parties, in the constitution.
June 5, 2008 at 5:01 pm
PS: A McCain/Huckabee ticket. Now THERE is the worst of both worlds for you. I mean, about the only good thing you can say about McCain is that at least he’s not a moralizing jeezo-nazi…
June 5, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Thanks for that, Tam. That sounds like an entertaining practise, I can see why it got canned.
The more I think about it, the more I’m getting a serious case of A Plague O’Both Your Houses on this one, even if it is really tempting to buy a Hopey Changey ticket just because the current outlook’s so… so….. so icky.
June 5, 2008 at 5:21 pm
Here, here on Jim Webb. To his credit in addition to having sons in the fight, he had the moxy to snub the CIC(might be rude behavior, but is demonstrative of big brass balls,) and someone who’s kicked Ollie North’s ass can’t be all bad. (His writing is better than Col. North’s as well)
Nothing against Col. North though. He’s walked the walk.
June 5, 2008 at 5:31 pm
MarkHB,
The “Change” Obama’s promising is the same “Change” you guys got after Thatcher…
June 5, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Tam,
I’m getting that, yeah. I tastes so much less powdered tooth-enamel before I got interested in politics.
June 5, 2008 at 5:41 pm
Tasted less, even.
June 5, 2008 at 6:01 pm
I like Obama/Edwards. Is this a possibility?
June 5, 2008 at 6:24 pm
same thing i said at tam’s:
if the colonel has the good sense to place condi rice in his second chair, he will have not only stolen bo/hils thunder re black/female but will also have chosen, from all i have observed, someone extremely capable of taking over guidance of our ship of state when that last tickerbeat ticks…and with mccain, who knows how many ticks are left?
but i think i would agree with you that even he stands a better chance of keeping the beat longer than bo in that little marriage of convenience with hill…
jtc
June 5, 2008 at 6:28 pm
btw, mw: that looks like will’s old typewriter in the logo…glad you got a pic before the break-in…jtc
June 5, 2008 at 6:29 pm
jtc,
Condi carries the taint of the Bush 43 administration. McCain will not want to cultivate the impression that his White House would be like a third term for Dubya, so no way in hell is he going to ask her.
In principle, she’d be a good choice (hey, she’d be a twofer as a black female), but her association with the unpopular sitting President makes her radioactive as far as this election goes.
June 5, 2008 at 6:34 pm
Linda,
it’s a possibility, since Edwards is a Southerner popular with the working-class folks that Obama needs to attract, but it may look like a bit of a wimp ticket. He needs someone with a no-bullshit reputation and military experience, preferably someone with the age to convey experience and maturity.
June 5, 2008 at 6:39 pm
Obama would be a fool not to tap Gen. Ricardo Sanchez. Anti war street cred, honorable .mil service, Yet Another Minority… what’s not to like?
June 5, 2008 at 6:44 pm
pdb,
I really don’t think that’ll happen. He’ll have a hard enough time getting the white vote in Dixie without loading his ticket with a Black/Hispanic combo. He needs a cracker on his ticket, plain and simple, or he doesn’t stand a chance.
June 5, 2008 at 6:50 pm
Jim Webb as VP might actually make me vote Democrat for the first time in my life. I’m impressed. I didn’t imagine anyone could have said anything to make me even think about voting for Obama. Well done.
June 5, 2008 at 7:12 pm
I hope you are correct and Obama picks Hillary. That will surely lose the election for him. I completely agree on your pick for the McCain ticket. Huckabee is the last thing McCain needs.
One can only hope and pray Marko. How are things in Europe these days? If the Dems gain total control for the next 8 years I see two options. Civil War in the USA once again or we jump ship and find a nice little European country to take over.
I’m not much of one for running from a fight. On the other hand I am getting old, tired and hornery. I’m sick of “Rainbow Warriors and “Bliss Ninnies” as J.R. calls them.
Joe
June 5, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Maybe it’s my circle of toothless, redneck, backwards hicks, but in my experience, they’d be a lot more impressed with a beaner that had honest military experience, than a slick honkey lawyer.
June 5, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Richardson would be a good pick for Obama. Clinton would be a suicidal pick.
Assrot, don’t be so pessimistic. If we didn’t have a civil war over the current crop of Constitution-shredding fascists, we won’t over Obama.
The folks on the Right had better consider this: They fell in line behind every move Bush made to gut the Bill of Rights and to have an elected tyrant system with the Executive having nearly unchecked powers. Well, those powers may soon be in the hands of a Democrat. If the folks on the Right are uncomfortable with that, they only have themselves to blame.
June 5, 2008 at 8:33 pm
on the contrary, mw: that taint doesn’t transfer to mccains stated expectation of a reviewed continuance of current military policy, and who better to oversee that review and continuity and desirable conclusion of current activities than rice?
and beyond that, this is a person with the demonstrated intelligence and ability to manage our affairs in the world community post-iraq, if not post-terrorism, as i’m not sure there will ever be such a thing.
and that twofer factor is powerful, if not primary, and goes a long way toward antidote to any perceived radioactivity.
jtc
June 5, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I’ll take a shot in the dark:
Obama/Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, and may god help us if I’m right.
Kathleen is:
1. Pretty worthless. She can be counted on to be a do-nothing VP
2. A Kennedy, that brings in a lot of cash
3. A female white feminist, brings back those pissed off white women
4. Not Hillery
That doesn’t get the bitter clingy people back of BO’s side, but basically nothing will at this point.
June 5, 2008 at 8:40 pm
Oh yea, she just flipped sides, endorcing Obama now.
She’s a super duper delegates. Pure Democratic Royalty.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nation/politics/bal-kkt0604,0,7105572.story
June 5, 2008 at 8:58 pm
Yeah. You gotta love the principled stand the Democrats took against the Patriot Act, and the way they’ve been passing pro-civil liberties legislation since they took control of Congr…
…Cong…
…Con…
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry. Just couldn’t keep a straight face anymore.
The Patriot Act wasnt a victory for the GOP or the Democrats, it was a victory for the Bureaucrats. That monster bill wasn’t spun out of whole cloth overnight; it’s an assemblage of Justice Department wish lists dating back as much as 25 or 30 years. All the various bills that had been opposed and shot down by Republicans or Democrats during the Clinton and Reagan administrations came back in one omnibus piece of legislation that was passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority.
June 5, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Late to the party here, I’m still hoping McCain picks Fred Thompson!
June 6, 2008 at 12:03 am
McCain/Lieberman – Lieberman, as a Jew, makes the Republican ticket a ‘historic’ one as well as the Democratic one, and having the freight train of the Jewish vote is not insignificant. Since Lieberman is also an Independant it helps distance McCain from Bush.
Obama/Wes Clark – Clark is a cracka from the south with military experience, everything Marko ordered.
June 6, 2008 at 12:32 am
Bottom line, with Palin as VP, McCain WINS.
Without Palin, McCain likely does not win.
Case closed.
June 6, 2008 at 12:50 am
I’m going to throw in an odd one that I’ve been wondering about.
Obama/Schwarzenegger
There’s that whole reaching across party lines thing…
June 6, 2008 at 2:47 am
I have disliked Jim Webb since he was SECNAV.
June 6, 2008 at 6:10 am
Regarding Tam’s comment, that’s really what’s starting to honk me off about the whole thing. Nobody who’s got a shot at the Oval seems to be happy working within the constitutional limitations of the Presidency. Even given the bloat of Executive powers in the post-9/11 years, it still seems like the Bill of Rights and the Constitution are “those unfortunate documents” to everyone who wants power.
Anti-gun? Unconstitutional.
Wiretapping and surveillance? Unconstitutional.
Free Speech Zones? Give me strength.
McCain and Obama both seem to be the same thing: to be the very King of America that Washington refused to be.
June 6, 2008 at 7:16 am
Gregg,
Schwarzenegger is not qualified for the job constitutionally…the VP needs to be a natural-born citizen as well.
June 6, 2008 at 7:47 am
i second EB-Misfit on the folly of Obama/Clinton. that’s academic, anyway; Obama’s not stupid enough to pick her, and she’s too proud to accept even if he did.
Wes Clark, Jim Webb, and Edwards would all be good, realistic picks. i’m betting Edwards, myself, although it would be nice if Obama had the smarts to pick a military man. Richardson would be good, too, if it weren’t for the racist vote — i sadly agree with Marko on that point.
no republican (to include Lieberman) should be veep to a democratic president, not in this day and age. bridging the chasm is one thing, but that’d just be foolish when — as now — the chasm is brimming with the very flames of hell. country’s too polarized yet for that, let’s calm the political divisions down for a decade or so first.
June 6, 2008 at 8:26 am
How’s about McCain/Obama? Experience plus mushy diversity.
No, well then what about Obama/McCain? Hope plus wacky strength.
Both tickets would enhance government power and grow bureaucracy, which is what Americans want.
Heck, we wouldn’t even need to waste our time having an election.
June 6, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Part of me actually wants to see McCain/Clinton, but this is the same part that thinks a big crashes are the only thing that make NASCAR interesting.
It’d be centrist! It’d be the ticket of uncharismatic policy wonks! It’d make sure that those disaffected Hillary supporters really DO get picked up by the GOP! And when McCain croaks early, it’ll be a lot less suspicious than if Obama did!
June 6, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Ok, I take it back. LabRat found something else that would make me vote for the Senator from Change-n-Hope.
I’d possibly even throw in on an Obama/Richardson ticket.
June 6, 2008 at 9:15 pm
Tam, I agree. When the Bush Administration rammed through the Patriot Act (you have to give them propaganda points for the name), damn few Democrats had the spine to stand up.
Up until very recently, the Dems have been spineless. And I’m not too sure about now. While I have no compunction about kicking Bush while his approval ratings sink towards single digits, objecting earlier would have shown some courage. At the present time, the Dems seem more to me like the little weasel thief who stabbed the dead monster at the end of the second Conan flick.
June 7, 2008 at 4:18 am
I’m thinking Obama / Chriss Dodd would be ideal…
On the republican side I guess McCain / Ron Paul would be too much to hope for…
August 29, 2008 at 10:16 am
McCain must be reading your blog.
September 3, 2008 at 1:27 am
[...] also worth noting that Marco got the VP prediction all wrong, both cases, and yet he also got one right. 2008-09-03 02:27 by Standard Mischief, Filed under:deranged rants No Comments [...]