Romneys VP

[AZGrizFan]

WSJ has a good article on Condi. Read it i fyou can.

There may not have ever been a more obvious correct choice. In fact, perhaps the only chance Romney may have of unseating Obama would be if Rice were his VP choice.

[Ibanez]

WSJ has a good article on Condi. Read it i fyou can.

There may not have ever been a more obvious correct choice. In fact, perhaps the only chance Romney may have of unseating Obama would be if Rice were his VP choice.

I think Condi is his best shot. You can divide the black vote, you can capture the female vote. I think Condi would be a strong asset.

[Skjellyfetti]

There may not have ever been a more obvious correct choice. In fact, perhaps the only chance Romney may have of unseating Obama would be if Rice were his VP choice.

You don't have a very good record on these sorts of things.

AZGrizfan re: Sarah Palin in 2008:

She's the perfect choice, in my opinion.

Sarah Palin absolutely blew AWAY the audience tonight. If there was any doubt as to whether she was savvy enough, tough enough or smart enough to carry the mantle of Vice President, she put those fears to rest tonight. She took on Barack Obama DIRECTLY on every issue and exposed every weakness he has and every hypocrisy that he represents. She did it with warmth and humor, and came across as the every-person....it's becoming mroe and more clear that she was a genius pick for McCain. She's energized his campaign, energized his fundraising, and energized the conservative right. I wouldn't be surprised to see McCain close the gap and start pulling away in the coming weeks.

[Ibanez]

That's just a bit over the top, Mark. Not once have I played the race card on the President. Why would I have to? I've voted for an African American before. He just so happened to be Republican. I have no problem with the color of a man (or woman's) skin if s/he can do the job. It just so happens that the one in office now has been an epic failure. That has NOTHING to do with skin color. It has EVERYTHING to do with presenting oneself as Messiah, finding rather spectacularly that one is NOT, grasping at straws that don't work, and playing the blame game LONG after any logical person would have dropped it. President Obama simply got in over his head because he didn't have the training for the job. He his platform consists of THREE things: EVERYTHING is Bush's fault, I jammed ObamaCare through (and that's not even done yet), and I got Mr. Osama. The problem is that every step of the way, he has trampled on the Constitution, and that just doesn't cut it.

Yes, I'd love to have Sarah Palin in the White House. But Condi would make a great choice, too. She would do a MUCH better job, IMO, simply because she is familiar with what's going on in the White House before she steps foot into the office. She also has the educational credentials to ensure that she actually understands what's going on. Unlike the incumbent....

You missed the point. You give stupid names to people instead of stating thier name.

But yes, Condi would be 10000000000000000000000000 times better than Palin. For one, she's qualified. Another, she has foreign policy expierence and has been in the White House before.

[AZGrizFan]

There may not have ever been a more obvious correct choice. In fact, perhaps the only chance Romney may have of unseating Obama would be if Rice were his VP choice.

You don't have a very good record on these sorts of things.

AZGrizfan re: Sarah Palin in 2008:

She's the perfect choice, in my opinion.

Sarah Palin absolutely blew AWAY the audience tonight. If there was any doubt as to whether she was savvy enough, tough enough or smart enough to carry the mantle of Vice President, she put those fears to rest tonight. She took on Barack Obama DIRECTLY on every issue and exposed every weakness he has and every hypocrisy that he represents. She did it with warmth and humor, and came across as the every-person....it's becoming mroe and more clear that she was a genius pick for McCain. She's energized his campaign, energized his fundraising, and energized the conservative right. I wouldn't be surprised to see McCain close the gap and start pulling away in the coming weeks.

Yeah, I get that. I don't think that I'm going out on QUITE as unstable of a limb on this one though.

[LeadBolt]

Rice is the obvious and best choice for Romney, but the question still remains, why would she accept the VP nod?

If Rubio could bring along Florida, that would be a great plus for the Republicans, but probably not enough.

I am afraid to say this, but the electoral map does not look nearly as encouraging for the Republicans as it does for the Democrats, as long as nothing momentous happens between now and Nov.

[andy7171]

There may not have ever been a more obvious correct choice. In fact, perhaps the only chance Romney may have of unseating Obama would be if Rice were his VP choice.

I think Condi is his best shot. You can divide the black vote, you can capture the female vote. I think Condi would be a strong asset.

The black vote ain't getting split. She may peel away 5-7% though. And I think she would be able to articulate away the fake war on women.

[CitadelGrad]

Looks like Pawlenty or Portman. Condi won't do it, and Rubio has some baggage. I had hoped it would be Rubio, because he might have helped get some Hispanic votes for Romney in swing states like FL and NM.

Florida, yes. NM, no. The Hispanics in NM are Mexican. Mexicans and Cubans don't have much use for each other. The only thing they have in common is their shared belief that Puerto Ricans are trash.

[AZGrizFan]

Looks like Pawlenty or Portman. Condi won't do it, and Rubio has some baggage. I had hoped it would be Rubio, because he might have helped get some Hispanic votes for Romney in swing states like FL and NM.

Florida, yes. NM, no. The Hispanics in NM are Mexican. Mexicans and Cubans don't have much use for each other. The only thing they have in common is their shared belief that Puerto Ricans are trash.

Well, all except J-Lo...

[AZGrizFan]

Juan Williams (whom I respect a lot) writes this opinion piece:

This summer’s favorite guessing game — speculating about the vice presidential pick — is getting more serious. Next month Republicans will gather in Tampa to officially nominate Mitt Romney and his still to be determined running mate.

Thursday night word leaked out – to the Drudge Report – the former Bush administration Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is on Romney’s short list.

Romney’s wife Ann has also hinted that a woman could be on the ticket.

And Rice got a royal reception at Romney’s donor retreat in Utah. She also got a standing ovation this week at a fund-raiser for GOP women in Washington, D.C.

I said it in May and I’ll say it again: the biggest move Romney can make to change his image is via an eye-catching pick for the number two slot on the presidential ticket.

Rice would be a political game changer for the 2012 race.

Yes, she would be the first African-American woman to be on a major party’s presidential ticket, at a time when the GOP is losing ground with minority, female voters and single women. So let the Condimania begin!

But she is more than just a fad because — unlike some other prospects — her selection can never be dismissed as racial tokenism. She is an experienced political player who has scars from previous battles; former Vice President Dick Cheney and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld are still taking shots at her in their latest books.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2012/07/ ... z20XBn0YIx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

That last sentence alone should speak volumes to the Bush-haters about how she was viewed by those most hated by Donks...

[BigSkyBears]

That's just a bit over the top, Mark. Not once have I played the race card on the President. Why would I have to? I've voted for an African American before. He just so happened to be Republican. I have no problem with the color of a man (or woman's) skin if s/he can do the job. It just so happens that the one in office now has been an epic failure. That has NOTHING to do with skin color. It has EVERYTHING to do with presenting oneself as Messiah, finding rather spectacularly that one is NOT, grasping at straws that don't work, and playing the blame game LONG after any logical person would have dropped it. President Obama simply got in over his head because he didn't have the training for the job. He his platform consists of THREE things: EVERYTHING is Bush's fault, I jammed ObamaCare through (and that's not even done yet), and I got Mr. Osama. The problem is that every step of the way, he has trampled on the Constitution, and that just doesn't cut it.

Yes, I'd love to have Sarah Palin in the White House. But Condi would make a great choice, too. She would do a MUCH better job, IMO, simply because she is familiar with what's going on in the White House before she steps foot into the office. She also has the educational credentials to ensure that she actually understands what's going on. Unlike the incumbent....

You're absolutely insane.

[GSUAlumniEagle]

President Obama simply got in over his head because he didn't have the training for the job.

Yes, I'd love to have Sarah Palin in the White House.

[GannonFan]

I think Condi is his best shot. You can divide the black vote, you can capture the female vote. I think Condi would be a strong asset.

The black vote ain't getting split. She may peel away 5-7% though. And I think she would be able to articulate away the fake war on women.

Agree with this - the GOP isn't about to start getting a significant number of Black votes, especially against a Black candidate.

[AZGrizFan]

President Obama simply got in over his head because he didn't have the training for the job.

Yes, I'd love to have Sarah Palin in the White House.

That's the funniest cat pic I've ever seen. A stoned cat. How appropriate...

[Skjellyfetti]

I doubt Romney is seriously considering Rice, because it seems so obvious that she would be a disastrous pick. Just in case there are people who do not see this, let me run through some of the reasons.

1) Her selection would seriously offend many social conservatives — possibly enough to depress their turnout. In general, I think claims that conservatives will stay home in this election are overblown: Opposition to President Obama is running pretty hot. A vice-presidential nominee who is “mildly” in favor of letting a million unborn children be killed every year, though, would be one of the few things that would make this scenario plausible. Keep in mind, she would be the first pro-choicer on a Republican ticket since Roe v. Wade — unless she flipped and made herself look like a political hack just as the country was being introduced to her as a candidate.

2) Related: Her selection would require Romney to go back on his word. During the primaries, he committed to picking a pro-life vice president. (See the South Carolina forum held on September 5, 2011.)

3) Further related: Her selection would reinforce doubts conservatives already have about him.

4) He might get a convention fight. It only takes a majority of six states’ delegations to force a floor vote on an alternative vice-presidential nominee. Imagine what a mess that would be for Romney.

5) We have no idea where she stands on, or how much she knows about, or how comfortable she is discussing, a lot of issues. Where does she stand on same-sex marriage? If the press challenges her on the Ryan budget’s “draconian” cuts to Pell Grants, what would she say?

6) She has never run for anything. Yes, she has been in the public eye. Running for office, let alone the vice presidency, is a very different experience — one she may not be ready for.

7) Her foreign-policy views will draw opposition from some segments of the party without drawing enthusiastic support from any of them. I’m neither a Paulite nor a neoconservative on foreign policy — though I’m closer to the latter — so it doesn’t bother me that she too belongs to neither camp. As a supporter of the Iraq War who opposed the surge, though, she is in something of a political no man’s land in the Republican party.

8) We’d get to relitigate the foreign-policy decisions of the Bush years. Remember the “sixteen words” controversy, which led to Plame-gate? You will by the end of a campaign with her on the ticket.

9) Any attempts to distance Romney from the Bush years in general would instantly be undone.

10) Romney puts a great deal of stock in his experience as an executive and a manager. How good is Rice’s track record in this respect? My understanding — and I could be wrong — is that one of the main things a national-security adviser is supposed to do is manage the national-security apparatus of the executive branch so that it’s working as one. This is something that famously did not happen during Rice’s time at the NSA, when the Pentagon, State, and the CIA were working at cross purposes. (“Unity in the executive” was something the Bush administration believed in theory.)

11) Meanwhile, I don’t see the upside. Are there uncommitted voters who really miss the foreign policy of the Bush years? The notion that picking Rice will help Republicans make inroads against Obama with black voters is a pathetic fantasy.

Romney would be nuts to pick Rice. He’s not perfect, but he’s not nuts.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/30 ... sh-ponnuru" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[Trapped in CA]

I saw some reports touting Cain and a member of the House, as well as the Rice reports. I've seen ZERO on Pawlenty and even less on Queen Amidala. Haven't seen much on Rubio in recent weeks, either.

If he picks Cain, I will vote for for Obama. Then buy a abandoned missile silo to serve as my bunker.

I would prefer Jindal or Halley. Or possibly Gov Rick Snyder of MI. I worked for him at Gateway 2000 (RIP). Smartest mother f---- I have ever meet. And I am saying that after living next door to a Rhodes scholar in college, and am good friends with a nuclear bomb scientist at Laurence Livermore Labs.

[AZGrizFan]

I saw some reports touting Cain and a member of the House, as well as the Rice reports. I've seen ZERO on Pawlenty and even less on Queen Amidala. Haven't seen much on Rubio in recent weeks, either.

If he picks Cain, I will for for Obama. Then buy a abandoned missile silo to serve as my bunker.

I would prefer Jindal or Halley. Or possibly Gov Rick Snyder of MI. I worked for him at Gateway 2000 (RIP). Smartest mother f---- I have ever meet. And I am saying that after living next door to a Rhodes scholar in college, and am good friends with a nuclear bomb scientist at Laurence Livermore Labs.

Romney picking Rice may be the ONLY thing that would get him my vote. There isn't another VP candidate out there (except perhaps Christie) who moves the meter as far as I'm concerned...otherwise, I'm voting Gary Johnson in all likelihood.

[BigSkyBears]

I have respect for Rice, but he still won't get my vote. He has no foreign policy so picking her would be a great choice and make sense. However, making sense is not what the GOP does these days.

[Ibanez]

Yeah, saw an article on Yahoo. She says no way.

[kalm]

I have respect for Rice, but he still won't get my vote. He has no foreign policy so picking her would be a great choice and make sense. However, making sense is not what the GOP does these days.

Rice? Foreign Policy? Oh dear god memories are short.

[Trapped in CA]

Jindal vs Biden in a debate? Ouch.

sent from my Samsung Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk for one percenters

[dbackjon]

I have respect for Rice, but he still won't get my vote. He has no foreign policy so picking her would be a great choice and make sense. However, making sense is not what the GOP does these days.

Rice? Foreign Policy? Oh dear god memories are short.

no doubt

[Grizalltheway]

Rice? Foreign Policy? Oh dear god memories are short.

no doubt

She'll be invaluable when MItt and Co. decide to put a boot in Mahmoud's ass.

[kalm]

no doubt

She'll be invaluable when MItt and Co. decide to put a boot in Mahmoud's ass.

And that right there is one of the big issue concerns that Greenwald was talking about in the piece I posted a few months ago comparing Ron Paul to Obama and Romney. Obama has shown the potential for military intervention and Romney is rhetorically sounding like a neo-con. If he choses Rice or appoints the likes of a John Bolton to a State or DOD position, war becomes a very real possibility.

Decisions on war have a lasting affect and should be one of the very top priorities when voting. No self respecting conservative would chose Romney over a Paul or Johnson because of this alone.

[Ivytalk]

I doubt Romney is seriously considering Rice, because it seems so obvious that she would be a disastrous pick. Just in case there are people who do not see this, let me run through some of the reasons.

1) Her selection would seriously offend many social conservatives — possibly enough to depress their turnout. In general, I think claims that conservatives will stay home in this election are overblown: Opposition to President Obama is running pretty hot. A vice-presidential nominee who is “mildly” in favor of letting a million unborn children be killed every year, though, would be one of the few things that would make this scenario plausible. Keep in mind, she would be the first pro-choicer on a Republican ticket since Roe v. Wade — unless she flipped and made herself look like a political hack just as the country was being introduced to her as a candidate.

2) Related: Her selection would require Romney to go back on his word. During the primaries, he committed to picking a pro-life vice president. (See the South Carolina forum held on September 5, 2011.)

3) Further related: Her selection would reinforce doubts conservatives already have about him.

4) He might get a convention fight. It only takes a majority of six states’ delegations to force a floor vote on an alternative vice-presidential nominee. Imagine what a mess that would be for Romney.

5) We have no idea where she stands on, or how much she knows about, or how comfortable she is discussing, a lot of issues. Where does she stand on same-sex marriage? If the press challenges her on the Ryan budget’s
“draconian” cuts to Pell Grants, what would she say?

6) She has never run for anything. Yes, she has been in the public eye. Running for office, let alone the vice presidency, is a very different experience — one she may not be ready for.

7) Her foreign-policy views will draw opposition from some segments of the party without drawing enthusiastic
support from any of them. I’m neither a Paulite nor a neoconservative on foreign policy — though I’m closer to the latter — so it doesn’t bother me that she too belongs to neither camp. As a supporter of the Iraq War who opposed the surge, though, she is in something of a political no man’s land in the Republican party.

8) We’d get to relitigate the foreign-policy decisions of the Bush years. Remember the “sixteen words” controversy, which led to Plame-gate? You will by the end of a campaign with her on the ticket.

9) Any attempts to distance Romney from the Bush years in general would instantly be undone.

10) Romney puts a great deal of stock in his experience as an executive and a manager. How good is Rice’s track record in this respect? My understanding — and I could be wrong — is that one of the main things a national-security adviser is supposed to do is manage the national-security apparatus of the executive branch so that it’s working as one. This is something that famously did not happen during Rice’s time at the NSA, when the Pentagon, State, and the CIA were
working at cross purposes. (“Unity in the executive” was something the Bush administration believed in theory.)

11) Meanwhile, I don’t see the upside. Are there uncommitted voters who really miss the foreign policy of the Bush years? The notion that picking Rice will help Republicans make inroads against Obama with black voters is a pathetic fantasy.

Romney would be nuts to pick Rice. He’s not perfect, but he’s not nuts.

http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/30 ... sh-ponnuru" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Actually, Ponnuru is probably right about why Rice won't get picked. Juan Williams cam cream his jeans all he wants, but it won't happen.

And I'm pleased to see that JellyBelly is reading National Review Online!