Candidate's VP/Cabinet

[BMT (RIP)]

When all the dust is settled.
1.Who will be the winner's choice for VP?
2. Possible Cabinet member's?

BMT

[Penn]

I would think that once McCain captures the nomination, and to validate the ticket, he will need someone like former Sen. Thompson. Without the conservative base and support, I don’t think the Republican Party can win in November. That said, and regardless of the issues on immigration, tax cuts, etc… I don’t think they will be resolved in the near future. They are too contentious. The real issue is: what party do you want selecting the next Supreme Court nominee, and what party do you want in regards to national defense.
I will confess that I sent Obama a small donation, which I have since asked to be returned…the saluting the Flag issue and not wearing a lapel pin while campaigning to be POTUS...but, I have always been a McCain supporter. So for myself, I am more concerned with the immediate confrontation in Iraq and other foreign policy positions, and McCain, as least for me, address that concern.
Is McCain or anyone ever complete candidate? The answer is no, no one ever is, but he does know the price of blood, and he hails from a state Known for its defiant attitude towards convention. I am also aware that there are members of this board that will not support him, due to his statement and participation, with the Senate Select Committee on MIA/POWS. At the suggestion of GH, I read those reports in their entirety. I came away from that reading with the overwhelming feeling, that with the information available, he addressed the issue to the best of his ability, and that a resolution was not possible, nor would the issue be without full disclosure from all parties. It is a volatile and emotional issue, but should you not vote for McCain because he was on the Committee? I think not, it may be, hopefully, that in the position of POTUS, the countries involved in the POW/MIA would render a full accounting. Its speculation, and I do not possess skills to debate or help resolve the issue, but I do know this, that with McCain; the issue does have a better chance of being addressed than with any other candidate in office. In that sense, supporting McCain should be at least considered.

[warrottjr]

Hooking McCain up with Thompson is like painting stipes on a pig and calling it a zebra.

Seriously, there are some diverging policy issues between them and the voter has no indication of whose policies will prevail and who will have to do an about face.

Originally Posted by Penn

I do know this, that with McCain; the issue does have a better chance of being addressed than with any other candidate in office.

John McCain took part (a very active part) in a committee that had two tasks (as related to SE Asia). One, determine if POW/MIAs were likely left in SE Asia after the POW return in '73 (and they determined that was highly likely) and two, recommend a course of action (and they recommended forgetting about those men).

John McCain turned his back on his brothers. He didn't object to the recommendation. He didn't lodge a protest. He didn't suggest an alternative view be included in the report. He endorsed the recommendation.

He was THE POW on that committee, and he allowed them to recommend forgetting about his brothers.

A better chance?

How about no chance?

Originally Posted by warrottjr

Hooking McCain up with Thompson is like painting stipes on a pig and calling it a zebra.

Seriously, there are some diverging policy issues between them and the voter has no indication of whose policies will prevail and who will have to do an about face.

Of course they do. The only official power the Vice-President has is to break Senate ties.

The idea of a "balanced ticket" is spin to get people to vote for someone that they would otherwise not vote for. Nothing more. The Vice-President has only what influence the President allows.

[warrottjr]

Originally Posted by Greenhat

The idea of a "balanced ticket" is spin to get people to vote for someone that they would otherwise not vote for. Nothing more. The Vice-President has only what influence the President allows.

Hillary & Fred?

[FILO]

VP = Charlie Crist, R (Gov of Florida)

Crist is highly popular here in Florida and in fact much of the media here attribute McCain's win in Florida to Christ endorsement. As we all know, the winner in Florida will most likely win the election. Additionally Crist is relatively young (52), charasmatic, articulate and, to some, may offset McCain's age issue if the Dems nominate Obama. Problem, to some, Crist may not be "conservative" enough.

Also Crist followed up the win here in Florida with campaign stops out of the state with McCain. Also Crist reportedly, at the last minute and unexpectedly, changed from endorsing Guliani to McCain. Just my 2 cents.

[warrottjr]

Originally Posted by FILO

Problem, to some, Crist may not be "conservative" enough.

Hard to tell. Having a Republican State House and Senate, it's pretty tough to stray.

[GratefulCitizen]

Originally Posted by Penn

I would think that once McCain captures the nomination, and to validate the ticket, he will need someone like former Sen. Thompson.

There is one ray of hope in a McCain/Thompson ticket: McCain is old.

(I believe TR expressed this sentiment in another thread)

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Originally Posted by Penn

It is a volatile and emotional issue, but should you not vote for McCain because he was on the Committee? .

Everyone is entitled to their own position on anyone. But seeing as how you asked, it is not about being on a committee, it is about honor. For me, he is without honor-plain and simple.

[warrottjr]

Originally Posted by Jack Moroney

Everyone is entitled to their own position on anyone. But seeing as how you asked, it is not about being on a committee, it is about honor. For me, he is without honor-plain and simple.

http://www.cfif.org:80/htdocs/freedo...rd-Choice.html

Hard Choices for Conservatives

It's time for some straight talk, my friends, some real straight talk.

Barring the most unlikely circumstances imaginable, John McCain is going to be the nominee of the Republican Party for President. He's going to win.

He's going to win, despite, in the words of columnist Tony Blankley, "It would be the first time in living memory that a Republican presidential nomination went to a candidate who was not merely opposed by a majority of the party but was actively despised by about half its rank-and-file voters across the country — and by many, if not most, of its congressional officeholders. After all, the McCain electoral surge was barely able to deliver a plurality of one-third of the Republican vote in a three-, four- or five-way split field."

He's going to win, despite, in the words of columnist George Will, "John McCain has become the presumptive nominee of the conservative party without winning majority support of conservatives. According to exit polls, he lost them Tuesday to Mitt Romney in his home state of Arizona 43-40. He lost them in that day's biggest battleground, California, 43-35....McCain's Tuesday triumph was based in states (New York, New Jersey, Illinois, California) he will not carry in November."

McCain must now devote serious time and attention to convincing conservatives that he really is one of us, and thus he deserves our support and our votes, particularly given the alternatives. Whether he makes that sale to conservatives is dependent on so many factors that one's head hurts even to contemplate them, so there is not even a wildly prognosticated answer.

Regardless of anything McCain says, or even signs in blood, for many conservatives, there will, there must, always be questions of trust. As New York Post Washington Bureau Chief Charles Hurt writes, "...if history is any guide, the McCain we've seen of late on the campaign trail is the most conservative McCain we'll ever see."

A promise versus history is no easy match to call.

Pragmatists argue that conservatives must convert to McCain as the lesser of evils, in that he could, supposedly, beat either of the Democrats in the general election, and conservative support and influence could hew him true to principle. Polls do, in fact, currently give support to the former premise, but the dynamics of Democrat election energy do not. As to the latter, there is a truth ignored. Once someone gets behind that big Oval Office desk, influence, particularly principled influence, has to stand at the front gate, in the best of circumstances.

Then there are the newly named and congregated suicide voters led, it would seem, by Ann Coulter, who pledge to vote even for Hillary Clinton rather than McCain.

Somewhere in the middle are conservatives good and true who may well just sit out the campaign and, on election day, find that their more pressing priority is tending their gardens on the basis that even four years of wilderness can be rendered pleasant.

On another path altogether are those who do, in fact, pragmatically recognize that offices other than the presidency are also at stake, cumulatively almost as important as the presidency, and plan to put their efforts there.

Those are hard choices, very hard choices, that must and will be made on an individual basis, as they should. But if conservatism were easy, there wouldn't be liberals.

[jatx]

The sad reality is that movement Conservatives have nowhere else to go. We will not stay home and let Hillary or Obama glide to an easy victory. We will vote for McCain, whether we like it or not, and we will encourage others to do the same. Sad, but true.

Also, if I were McCain, the last thing I would do is find a running mate who would help to turn out the Conservative vote. Hillary Clinton is going to do that just fine. I would recruit someone to help me grab swing voters, and tell the Conservatives to sit quietly like a nice little doggie.

The situation is of our own making. The bench is weak because nobody has been building it. That a pitiful candidate such as Huckabee has been able to get so much mileage out of his Conservative charade is indicative of this.

Woof.

[Trip_Wire (RIP)]

I hate to say it, but I'll be forced to vote for McCain. Why? That's easy who else is there to vote for Obama? Hillary? No way!

It's bad enough that we'll most likely have one of those two as our next president anyway. What real choice do we have?

[Jack Moroney (RIP)]

Originally Posted by jatx

We will vote for McCain, whether we like it or not, and we will encourage others to do the same. Sad, but true..

What do you mean "we" kimosabe. Do not presume to speak for me thank you.

Originally Posted by jatx

The sad reality is that movement Conservatives have nowhere else to go. We will not stay home and let Hillary or Obama glide to an easy victory. We will vote for McCain, whether we like it or not, and we will encourage others to do the same. Sad, but true.

I don't think so. I think we are much more likely to see a large number of Conservatives not vote for President. I think it is likely that we are going to see a victory for the Democrats on the same level as Johnson over Goldwater.

I will not vote for McCain. Ever.