Romney's probable draft-dodging during Vietnam is likely to keep him off the McCain ticket. It doesn't help Mitt's chances that he was in France under a draft deferment as a "clergyman" while John McCain languished as a POW in North Vietnam.
Speaking of VP picks, in addition to the fact that only in the Republican Party can a candidate worth $100 million choose a running mate with an even larger personal fortune, a Romney pick, would hi-light an unflattering aspect of the fomer governor's past – his possible draft dodging while he was a Mormon missionary - in France.
There is nothing wrong with the LDS Church requiring its young men (and now, women) to go out and do missionary work. Maybe you’ve had some of the incredibly clean-cut missionaries knock on your door from time to time. Some of these young folks admirably go to fairly far-flung places, places where there are real dangers like Malaria, Dengue Fever, and a whole host of scary ailments and critters. Avoiding the possibility of such discomforts, Mitt Romney was "sent" to France, where the biggest danger he faced on a day-to-day basis was the Brie going a little runny.
Romney also avoided a much greater potential discomfort – the Vietnam Draft, and he was granted multiple draft deferments (a practice that was much criticized), so that he could spend 30 months trying to convince the French to convert. It was like going to Canada, but without the Hockey – or being branded a draft-dodger. Be that as it may, while Romney was in France in 1967, the most extraordinary coincidence occurred - John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam. And, for at least a year of the time that John McCain was being tortured and starved, Mitt Romney was bicycling through the French countryside. Imperilled only by potholes and the staunchly catholic French.
It must have stuck in McCain's craw when Romney said earlier this year,"One of the two great regrets I have in life is I didn't serve in the military." To anyone whose life was touched by the Vietnam War that was the single most self-servingly dishonest statement about the conflict. That's not an easy fete, because the Vietnam War created a whole new universe of lies, half-truths and linguistic circumlocutions. If Mitt Romney truly regrets that he "missed the opportunity" to go to Vietnam, he is the only person on the planet who feels that way.
Romney as McCain's VP pick? I don't think so.