A Ringing Endorsement for McCain's VP
Tue Mar 11, 2008 at 10:26:45 AM PDT
Given that McCain has locked up the Repug nomination--and since they have nothing better to say about him--the press has begun to speculate as to who will fill his vice presidential slot.
In describing the long list of possibilities, Hendrik Hertzberg waxes in the March 11 New Yorker:
What shines through this list of names is the banality of the calculations behind it. All are off-the-shelf conservatives, ranging from the socially mild (Crist) to the fiscally rabid (Sanford, who labels himself "a right-wing nut"). All are white males. All, as governors or ex-governors, compensate for McCain’s dearth of administrative experience.
The solution to all their problems is below the fold.
Hertzberg has an idea, though. He seems taken with the idea of a McCain-Rice ticket.
I don't care much for what he sees as positive--in fact there isn't much meat on this article anyway. But this part gave me a laugh:
It’s true that her record in office has been one of failure, from downgrading terrorism as a priority before 9/11 to ignoring the Israel-Palestine problem until (almost certainly) too late. But this does not seem to have done much damage to her popularity.
[emphasis mine]
I love it. The person he sees as best qualified to be the GOP's Veep on the ticket is described a a failure. But, she's popular!
He also has this ringing endorsement:
By choosing Rice, McCain would shackle himself anew to Bush’s Iraq war.
Among the long list of hapless nominees, some have speculated that Condoleeza Rice, the ever-so-capable Secretary of State, might help balance out the "Old White Man" factor for McCain. Some Repugnicans also fantasize that having Condi on the ticket could balance out the race issue should Obama become the Democratic nominee.
So, what is her qualification? You guessed it: She's black.
But, that's the point:
Her nomination to a constitutional executive office would cost McCain the votes of his party’s hardened racists and incorrigible misogynists. They are surely fewer in number, though, than the people who would like to participate in breaking the glass ceiling of race or gender but, given the choice, would rather do so in a more timid way, and/or without abandoning their party.
Now, I know that the veep position is always a political calculation--balance out age, region, experience, etc. But this one is especially cynical to my way of thinking. And I think that it's worth pointing out that this is the essential difference between Republicans and Democrats. We're locked in a battle to choose between two excellent candidates. One happens to be black.
Republicans are facing, as Hertzberg points out, "the manifold signs of a perfect Democratic storm this year." So, what to do? Re-think the Iraq policy? Come around on S-CHIP? Put forward a serious plan on national health care? Stop with the torture? Re-think telco amnesty? Hell no.
What's left? Put a black woman on the ticket for sole purpose of having someone who's black as a vote-getter.
There you have it. That's what sets us apart, folks.
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