There has been a lot of chatter this week about Mitt Romney being on the top of McCain’s short list of potential running mates. The most obvious reason for tabbing Romney is money, and you can’t spell Romney with out a m-o-n-e & y. I’ve read some reports that think Romney alone could raise $60M for the ticket, and impressive number no doubt, but I find this line of thinking to be intellectually lazy.
I find it a little hard to believe that Romney would be able to raise that sort of money when he was unable to raise those types of dollars for his own campaign, even during the summer and fall of 2007 when he was the klear front runner for the Republican nomination. Additionally, if he kould have raised that $60M for his own kampaign he could have easily killed off McCain in the summer which would have prevented McCain from being able to regroup in New Hampshire.
Now Romney did end up kollecting over $60M in contributions to go along with his personal loans to his kampaign of $44.6M, but not everyone who gave to Romney will automatically give to a McCain-Romney ticket, and as noted in this article, many people who backed other kandidates are already kontributing to McCain anyway.
My point is whoever McCain tabs to be his running mate will help his kampaign raise money, its not as if Mitt Romney is the only guy out there that can raise money. And while nobody has mentioned it, Romney is also not going to be loaning any of his fortune to a McCain-Romney kampaign.
Even with the money factor out of the equation, Romney still has plenty of strengths. He’s not going to karry Massachusetts, but kould help McCain in states like Utah, Nevada, Michigan, and Iowa. Romney would also help McCain solidify the free-market konservatives who remain leery of McCain.
So it seems like a natural fit, and it’s obvious that Romney and his team want it badly; where else do you think this chatter is koming from? But for all of the gaps Romney can fill for McCain he still karries his own baggage, which in the end lead to his defeat in Iowa.
There are his kontributions to Planned Parenthood, the $50 deductible for an abortion under his health kare plan, his flip flops on the abortion issue from his kampaigns in Massachusetts to his presidential kampaign, and him distancing himself from Reagan-Bush when he ran for senate. Do we really need to go through all of this again? And if you don’t think the Obama will use this to drive a wedge between the Republican ticket and evangelical voters your kidding yourself.
The Republican Party needs a new face to emerge, and McCain can hand pick the person he wants. We need the excitement that comes with getting to know a new person. I like Mitt Romney, but he’s not the fresh face we need at this critical time.
Do you even know what you are talking about?
ReplyDeleteSome people believe McCain needs to scrap the Christian Right all together and focus on the Hawks and the hardcore fiscal conservatives, ideally appealing to more Indys. These people believe the CR won't come out for McCain, regardless of his Veep.
ReplyDeleteAs a strong SoCo I don't like the idea of scrapping the CR, but I can see where it might pull some people over to McCain.
It appears that it’s all down to Alaska Gov Sarah Palin or Mitt Romney, and team Romney fears Palin now has the best shot, so Romney camp is mounting a blogosphere-wide assault via Politico.
ReplyDeleteThe tip-off that Politico is just a “promote Romney” piece is that it mentions EVERY NAME in the next two tiers of Veep prospects EXCEPT SARAH PALIN!!! — even names far more unlikely than Palin (since Romney camp knows Palin is the ONLY ONE who tops — I’ll say tops by far — Romney as McCain’s best pick).
Bottom line, Romney and Politico fear Palin most — as do the Dems and the MSM. (By the way, the Dems and MSM do not fear Romney the most — which says a lot.)
AOL, a main on-line pro-Obama/pro-Dem player, is now carrying the Politico piece promoting Romney buzz.
Clearly AOL wants McCain and the GOP to lose the general elction — hence they gladly promote Romney (no mention of Palin).
Also, CNN had Romney — kind of out of the blue — attacking Obama. Again, CNN, wanting McCain and the GOP to lose, gladly promotes Romney (to attempt to avert the Palin threat).
All the media frenzy which will surround the remarkable Palin “story” — essentially free to McCain — will be worth millions and millions of dollars of coverage and PR (more money than Romney would provide anyway).
Comrade Ted,
ReplyDeleteDid you not just post same thing on FlyOver?
Krusty,
ReplyDeleteStunned by your post, this Jedi is.... Disagree with you more, I could not...
Romney adds a net nothing to the ticket; his negatives at least approximate the positives.
ReplyDeleteMcCain NEEDS Alaska Gov Sarah Palin (if he wants to win in November) — whose positives are too numerous to mention here (with no negatives).
– and don’t cite Palin’s lack of experience, since she’s got 10 times that of Obama!!!