It seems to me that Mike Huckabee would be a smart VP choice for John McCain. Friday night, I pitched the idea to some libertarians at the same conference with me and they thought it was a terrible idea. Not just substantively frightening, but politically deadly as well. Indeed, some accused me of arguing in bad faith, dreaming of Huck sinking the GOP ticket. To me, this only makes the case more compelling. As a guide to cynical electoral politics "do what the libertarians are telling you not to do" seems like a pretty sound rule of thumb.
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McCain-Huckabee
04 Feb 2008 11:16 am
Comments (55)
Because McCain is old, there will be an increased expectation that his running mate (1) is capable and competent enough to be President, and (2) generally reflects at least some of the same ideological principles as McCain. I don't think it would be smart, therefore, to pick someone in order to appeal to certain states or to appease a certain wing of the party.
And it gives the dittoheads an out: "Well, now that a man of real values will be there to keep McCain on the straight and narrow we can support the ticket".
I'm pretty sure the dittoheads hate Huckabee. Limbaugh certainly seems to hate him.
Um, didn't Rush Limbaugh (King Ditto) say that if either McCain or Huckabee was the nominee it would destroy the Repbulican party? Why would ditto heads accept a two-fer?
--Jay C. Smith
The dittoheads and their ilk don't like Huckabee. Though, they'll support a Repub no matter who it is, so it is wiser for McCain to choose someone the evangelicals can rally behind. I recall sometime back hearing Haley Barbour's name as a likely VP choice, but I can't remember where or why?
Huckabee's been running for VP this whole time, and McCain kind of owes him. That said, SCMT is right that Huckabee's support seems to have a hard ceiling even among social conservatives. I think Huck will get the nod, but he's no Rick Warren.
Better to pick a real movement Conservative, to shore up the NRO/Talk radio base. Santorum would have been good, except that he endorsed Romney last week.
Huckabee is hated by the Movement Conservatives, the wall street conservatives, and what's left ot Rockefeller Republicans. He's only in the race now to be crowned "King of the Evangelicals" leader of his own ethnic tribe for the next four years, and beyond.
He's the white version of Jesse-Jackson-in-1988, but the punditariat can't get past his skin colour and recognize that.
"I'm pretty sure the dittoheads hate Huckabee. Limbaugh certainly seems to hate him."
Hate isn't the right word, but Limbaugh opposes Huckabee because he doesn't feel that he is a real conservative. And Limbaugh's right: Huckabee is a wittier, more politically agile, Republican version of John Edwards.
If Obama gets the nomination, I don't think the GOP will want to run two white guys on the same ticket. Maybe we could get Michael Steele to run as VP, or if our nominee is the dreaded McCain, maybe he could talk Kenneth Chenault of Amex into running (assuming Chenault is a Republican). A Dow component company CEO would be the perfect compliment to a candidate who hasn't spent a day in the private sector.
I understand that McCain would want to solidify his evangelical support. But he's also going to need to solidify his support among non-evalgelical conservatives. And Huckabee would not do that at all.
I don't understand why Romney hasn't been talked about as a potential VP. That would make sense to me. Romney's picking up the endorsements of many of the solid conservative crowd - Rush, National Review, etc. So he would seem to solidify the base more than Huckabee would.
Exactly. It WON'T be Huckabee, but it definitely will be somebody who has an in with the "Christian" Right (and has a reputation with the corpocrats as a safe man on tax cuts for the rich and such.)
BTW I was responding to Fred F.; the "exactly" certainly doesn't apply to Romney. He's really not liked enough by evangelicals, who are still suspicous of his Mormonism.
If McCain's only problem spot was religious conservatives, Huckabee might be a good pick - but it's not. He's weak with movement conservatives generally, so he needs to pick a plain vanilla representative of the Reagan coalition - someone palatable to the theocon, neocon, and moneycon branches. The best one out there I can think of is Jeb, who's not going to run for anything until his last name gets a little less radioactive (like, say, in 2012, when the stab-in-the-back meme is widespread enough to blame the liberals for Iraq).
There are a lot more Southern Baptists than libertarians in this country -- a whooooooole lot more.
It would be an immigration double-whammy. You might see a Dobbs-Gilchrist third party run.
I vote for the only remaining PVSC: that former South Carolina governor. Sanford?
If it's Huckabee, there'd be so much frothing from the anti-immigrant right we'd see a Dobbs-Gilchrist ticket.
Huckabee gets the nod not just because he can bring White evangelicals not only in the South but nationally, and because McCain owes him, although both things are true. It's because he's the best campaigner. He's still a knockout on live tv in a way McCain's not, and putting the two together will be a welcome opportunity for moderate Republicans to bring the loudmouths down a notch or two. Rush and the Ditto's are going to vote for Hillary? Please.
Do you think Cheney would take the job?
It'll be Huckabee as McCain's VP, because it's the pick that will preserve as many GOP seats in Congress and down the rest of the ticket as possible. Given that no Republican can win in '08, even against Hillary Clinton, because the economy is teh suck and the war in Iraq has long since passed its political shelf life, it's best for the GOP to go into preservation mode rather than worry about winning.
I don't get it. Huckabee would help McCain with the Christian Right, but picking him would also force McCain to disassociate himself from all of Huckabee's crazy ideas, most notably the 30% national sales tax and massively amending the Constitution to make it conform to God's plan. Plus the tax-cutters are already somewhat skeptical of McCain and they really, really hate Huckabee. It would help McCain with evangelical Christians, but would hurt him with everyone else who might vote for him, both Republicans and independent voters.
I'll admit, I've been hoping for a Huck VP spot specifically as a spoiler. I realize he is a good campaigner, but I also think he makes a terrific target for the Dems. His policy knowledge is very poor, I think his extreme religious beliefs could turn off a lot of voters, and the Wayne Dumond story is a gift from the oppo research gods. Just one opinion.
Don't you guys think putting Huckabee on the ticket would cost McCain a lot of votes from independents?
I mean, sure, Huckabee helps him with the Christian right, but I would think that a lot of moderate voters (like the one's who turned out for McCain in New Hampshire) are going to think twice about putting a bible-thumping lunatic from Arkansas a heartbeat away from the nuclear launch codes.
At least I hope they think twice about it.
Petraeus is the only logical choice for VP for McCain. Anybody else can't be trusted to continue the U.S. occupation of Iraq for the next 100 years.
Maybe McCain should try to get a Republican governor, since McCain has mostly foreign policy credentials. Which governor would be the best?
Also, do people think that McCain would have a more aggressive foreign policy than Bush? I've seen some pretty warlike statements from McCain, but I don't know for sure. Anyone have some links?
The libertarians are right this time. A Southern Baptist preacher from Arkansas would be death in a general election. Only a small fraction of the Republican electorate was buying Huckabee's bullshit, and I doubt he'd have an ounce of crossover appeal.
Mike Huckabee one heart attack or stroke away from having the ability to bring about the Rapture? Thanks, but I'll pass.
but i've been running for VP since forever?!!?!?!
-tim pawlenty
Huckabee would be a frightening choice as McCain's VP. This is where McCain's age IS a factor. Despite his hale 95-year-old mother, McCain needs a VP who's insurance. Do we really want to run the risk of Huckabee having to step up? Then we're stuck with a President woefully short on real foreign policy, a champion of the flat-tax, and who believes we need a Constitutional amendment holding up Biblical principles?
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Since so-called conservatives really want to nominate Romney, a man who puts Mississippi into play, I don't quite know what to think of their campaign strategies any more.
But I do know that that particular ticket would send the wingnut blogosphere reaching for their oxygen tanks, and that is enough to make me support it.
Friday night, I pitched the idea to some libertarians at the same conference with me and they thought it was a terrible idea.
Well, it conflicts with the "Ron Paul for God/King" ticket they've been pushing.
John Thune is the VP nominee. He's the closest thing they have to Obama (midwestern, youthful, highly telegenic, strong communicator, popular among movement conservatives).
I have to respectfully disagree: I think Huckabee would be a terrible choice for McCain (well, except from a contrarian Progressive/Dem point of view):
1. The Religious Right and a large subset of authoritarian "Social Conservatives" absolutely *hate* John McCain because he committed the one unforgivable sin in the Republican Party: He failed to drink his Kool Aid consistently and actually dared question a few Bush Administration actions.
He is not going to win over these people no matter what he does or who he adds to the ticket. If Jesus himself was named to the VP slot, these people would not overcome their hatred enough to vote for McCain.
2. The Corporatist wing of the GOP hates/loathes Huckabee. Adding Huck to the VP slot *would* alienate the powerful Corporatist wing, most of whom presently prefer Romney but would be OK with McCain. Having an Economic Luddite like Huck in a position "a heartbeat away from the Presidency?!?" Not to be tolerated.
Petraeus for veep. Media likes him even more than McCain. McCain's strategy: Make it all war all the time. Of course, a couple of years ago I thought Jeb Bush would be the Republican candidate.
I am reasonably convinced that the managers of the Republican Party have given this one up for lost and are working on 2012. That implies a lot of things, but one of them is that McCain will essentially be on his own - for good and/or ill. I don't think McCain is going to be too terribly concerned about what the self-appointed representatives of various pressure groups who tend to vote Republican are saying to him; I think he will take his own polls, make his own calculations, and add his own dose of "screw'em".
But if he wants to take a real shot at it I don't see any choice other than Huckabee. For all the messing around with the voting system that did occur in 2004 it was the Monday evening/Tuesday morning calls to the churches to get people out to vote against godless gay libruls that put Bush 2004 over the top.
Cranky
Why isn't anyone mentioning Thompson as McCain's running mate? I'd think the movement conservatives would like that, he doesn't really alienate any big chunks of the party, and the fact that he's not much of a campainer wouldn't be that big a deal.
Why isn't anyone mentioning Thompson as McCain's running mate? I'd think the movement conservatives would like that, he doesn't really alienate any big chunks of the party, and the fact that he's not much of a campainer wouldn't be that big a deal.
Joe Lieberman. Conservatives love him on foreign policy and "culture" issues.
McCain/Thompson: Reagan's Dead, But We're Nearly There Too!
No way. Since McCain's older then dirt, whoever he chooses has to be reassuring to a broad swath of the population, someone people believe could step-in at a moment's notice and not screw things up too bad. The VP has to essentially be presidential. Huckabee just doesn't cut it. Besides, his support is just too narrow. Evangelicals will come out to oppose Hillary, who they view as Satan, or Obama, who Human Events calls the most pro-abortion presidential candidate EVER. The base won't be a problem. But it's too small now to be enough. Look to McCain to find a non-frightening conservative from outside Washington who isn't a mimbo. I can't believe I'm writing this, but Romney actually looks like a reasonable choice for him. I need a break.
I vote for the only remaining PVSC: that former South Carolina governor. Sanford?
Mark Sanford would be a very good choice for McCain. Conservatives like him (at least they did when I lived in SC), and his appeal fits with McCain's -- he also has a reputation for "straight talk" (e.g., he quit a safe congressional seat because he had promised when first elected to serve no more than three terms). You can't become governor of SC without some appeal to evangelicals. He doesn't have the obvious problems that any of the presidential contenders would. And I doubt he (unlike Huckabee) would scare independents away.
Newt Gingrich. Jeb Bush. Bob Martinez.
Um...Charlie Crist anyone? Governor of Florida, major swing state? Endorsed McCain at the last minute to propel him to the nomination?
Only if his name was Jesus, it would be a no brainer.
Rob Portman. Telegenic, popular, Conservative from swing state with massive economic credentials.
Santorum.
As Matt pointed our earlier, Bloomberg could add his billions to the ticket. Bloomberg should be on the short list for anybody except Romney.
But coda seems to have the obvious answer.
Don't you guys think putting Huckabee on the ticket would cost McCain a lot of votes from independents?
I agree that Huckabee wouldn't get much support from the isolationists or the plutocrats, but in the general election, I think he'd be a net positive with independents. I'm assuming that independents who aren't "leaners" tend to be low-information voters. If so, that's good for a ticket with Huckabee on it, because his whole thing, except for the theocracy, is that he's such a charming speaker and all that.
And: Jeb Bush? Not even I am pessimistic enough to think that name will have stopped being radioactive in time for the 2008 election.
David Broder came out in favor of the McCain/Huckabee ticket. In that light, the libertarians' accusation of bad faith looks more plausible than ever.
Romney's picking up the endorsements of many of the solid conservative crowd - Rush, National Review, etc. So he would seem to solidify the base more than Huckabee would.
You seem to think that Rush, NR, etc. *are* the base. They're not.
Check out who tipped the scales in the last two GOP presidential wins. It was the gay hating, brown people fearing, prayer in school rapture fans.
The Republicans have made this bed, they have to sleep in it.
Bill Owens.
John Thune would be a good fundy pick, much better than Huckabee.
I want to find out more about John Kline, who would seem to have a storybook (or potboiler) Republican national security resume--not only did he pilot "Marine One" but he carried the nuclear football for President Reagan. Obscure? Sure. But I think McCain's best shot is to run really hard on national security and "honor," and Kline (or at least his bio) reinforces both of those points quite well.
Why isn't anyone mentioning Thompson as McCain's running mate? I'd think the movement conservatives would like that, he doesn't really alienate any big chunks of the party, and the fact that he's not much of a campainer wouldn't be that big a deal.
Posted by Barry
1. Thompson did not impress on the campaign trail as having the fire and gumption to want it.
2. He is 66 with a mostly treatable form of cancer not expected to affect his lifespan but possibly affecting his energy level.
3. His main expertise is in law and foreign policy. He is far better informed on foreign policy than McCain...But he would not compliment McCain like a Governor would.
I can't believe I'm writing this, but Romney actually looks like a reasonable choice for him. I need a break.
Posted by NHCt
Romney and McCain hate each other. The only way that would happen is a shotgun marriage with shotguns trained on the whole wedding party..
Mississippi governor Haley Barbour is well regarded conservative who was even thought of as a possible Presidential candidate for a minute. He is young and vigorous enough to be good insurance if McCain kicks the bucket-unlike Dead Fred.
McCain is on the fecal roster of half the GOP base, and if it's for reasons Democrats don't think reasonable, well, he's not running for the Democratic nomination. He's going to have to come up with one awfully brilliant VP pick to get the party behind him. Frankly, if there were such a person, he'd have run for the nomination himself, and we'd be asking who HE meant to chose for a VP.
Is Admiral Stockdale still alive? He'd make McCain look like a spring chicken.
McCaIN/ POWELL WHAT DO YOU THINK! LOL.
I Think John Thune is the perfect choice. He's young, good looking, very conservative, honest, even tempered, religious, and very likable. In short, he's everything McCain isn't.
Comments closed February 18, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
I don't see who else McCain _can_ pick. And it gives the dittoheads an out: "Well, now that a man of real values will be there to keep McCain on the straight and narrow we can support the ticket".
Cranky
Posted by Cranky Observer | February 4, 2008 11:25 AM