McCain hints at veep thought process

Posted: Monday, April 14, 2008 11:49 AM by Domenico Montanaro
Filed Under: 2008, McCain

From NBC’s Bethany Thomas
In a forum at the Associated Press annual meeting, McCain spoke a little about the VP process.

He was asked if his age puts an extra significance on who he chooses as VP. McCain answered that history shows that people generally vote for the person at the top of the ticket and the criteria should be someone who is best qualified by sharing similar principals and values.

VIDEO: McCain jokes about his age and also talks about his criteria for selecting a running mate.

McCain was also asked for a list of names and said that when you get into the speculation process, people's privacy is invaded and have to undergo an intense amount of scrutiny. McCain also said he hopes to arrive at the decision earlier rather than later.

EMAIL THIS

Comments

Who cares???

OBAMA, 2008!

KJ, Dallas, TX (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 11:55 AM)

McCain should pick Jeb Bush. That would be great. Then we could TRULY refer to the ticket as the McBush candidacy.

http://thepajamapundit.com/

the Pajama Pundit (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 11:56 AM)

This guy is too old to become the President. Beside, i think he need to be evaluated for all timer disease.

Bee (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 11:58 AM)

Hillary Rodham Clinton as the new VP for McCain. Afterall, she was a former Goldwater Girl and she looks down on the Democrats and Gore.

MCCAIN: 'HILLARY CAN STILL PULL IT OFF';
SENATOR PREFERS CLINTON CONTEST
Mon Apr 14 2008 10:46:19 ET

**Exclusive**

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain has confided to his inner circle that Hillary Clinton may yet be the Democratic nominee, the DRUDGE REPORT has learned, a development the senator from Arizona would personally welcome!

"Look, I know something about long odds, they had me written off last summer," McCain explained over the weekend, according to a top source.

McCain would prefer to go up against Clinton in the general election, insiders reveal.

He has instructed his campaign staff to "chill out" on countering Hillary Clinton's torrent of claims and promises as primary voting comes to an end over the next 6 weeks.

McCain made the tactical decision to downplay Clinton's tale of Bosnia sniper fire, leaving some McCain staffers frustrated and perplexed.

Instead, the critical focus has been on Barack Obama. McCain's official website features 14 press releases taking on Obama since the first of the year, only 3 for the former first lady.

TT (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 11:59 AM)

He'll decide the day after Hillary steps down.

Paul, Riverside, CA (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 11:59 AM)

Go McCain / Hillary Rodham. She will be the best VP for McCain and will be the perfect attack dog.

McCain / Hillary RODHAM.

TT (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:00 PM)

McCain needs a good strong VP to change his depends for him on a regular basis so as not to cause an international incident with a leaky diaper.

Pat Huntington NY (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:00 PM)

Why would be entrust our national security in someone like McCain who couldn't even shoot his way out of Vietnam? If you were looking for someone to ensure victory in Iraq, would you choose someone who failed in another war? No. You would not. So why would anyohne in their right mind vote McCain?

Pat Huntington NY (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:02 PM)

donna, pgh., pa. (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:05 PM)

slow news day?

Amy B Portland, ME (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:06 PM)

Good luck old John. A younger man will make you look older. Someone further to the right will make you look more like the leftist you are. Someone more savvy about the economy might actually look like a better choice than you do. Hey... maybe your mom can run with you. It could work.

Dave, NY, NY (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:10 PM)

looks like to me hillary clinton is already his running mate

MK,MO (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:11 PM)

Senator McCain -- I am still waiting to hear why you think Americans who believe the economy is out of whack have psychological problems. I also want to know if you are going to hire a national psychiatrist. Please explain this first (and why you flip-flopped on torture and now think it is just fine if done by the CIA) and then I want to hear about your VP choice.

Kim, Pasadena, CA (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:13 PM)

As he thinks and tries to figure out who to be his VP, his brain will break down and he'll go "bomb" singing once again.
First Read, this is better than your endless reporting on that Hillary vs. Oama BS.

Jon, TX (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:19 PM)

Still petty but at least it is something different.

Karen, Iowa (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:20 PM)

He is leaning towards Hillary Clinton , don't laugh ( they are good buddies )and Hillary knows she is toast in the Democratic party.

James , Oregon (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:40 PM)

The VP choice is a very difficult one for McCain. If he chooses Romney, he alienates the social conservatives and blue-collar workers. If he chooses Condi, then he will alienate the independents and cross-over Democrats because of her closeness to the Bush policies on Iraq and terrorism. Thompson is seen as not really wanting the presidency enough to work for it, and his age is also a factor. So, that leaves Lieberman, Duncan Hunter, Tancredo, Guiliani (not good for the conservatives), Huckabee and some other southern governors and Ron Paul. My personal favorites are Duncan Hunter and Mike Huckabee. Let's see what McCain does - interesting.

Helen Smith, Plano, Texas (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:43 PM)

How about Dick Cheney? To go with his McSame foreign policy..

J. Doe (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:56 PM)

a safe pick would be deadeye cheney...he's rested...he's trained...he's experienced...

Rick, NC (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 12:59 PM)

I hear that Condie Rice would be a good pick for John as VP.

Cin-Ohio (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 1:11 PM)

What about Ms. Rice as VP?

Go Obama

Cin-Ohio (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 1:13 PM)

If the process to choose a VP takes as long as the process to elect a candidate, then I don't really care who he picks. We need to stop giving the election to John McCain.

Neil Mayo, Virginia, Minnesota (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 1:27 PM)

Pointless topic to speculate about. McCain's ideas are so incredibly unpopular that a McCain/Jesus ticket couldn't even pull off a win.

I'm still trying to figure out how millions of republicans allowed themselves to be tricked by the liberal media into nominating this guy in the first place.

Americans for a president that doesn't suck (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 1:40 PM)

Ditto on the "who cares?"

Hey, by the way, I'm predicting a win for obama in Pennsylvania...just woke up smiling this morning because thanks to Clinton insisting on perpetuating this "bitter" ridiculousness, people aren't afraid to actually say "Yea, I'm mad as hell and I'm not gonna take it anymore!" Me included.

Ewps, there's that smile again. :)

Cathy Scott (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 1:54 PM)

I think picking HRC would be a brillant move for him - he would pick up all the bloggers on here who support Hill - they can't WAIT to vote for McCain.

MI Chick (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 1:56 PM)

Will he or won't he pick Hillary? She's doing everything she can to get the nod!

chuck, richmond, tx (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 2:05 PM)

END OF THE STORY......
OBAMA IS UNELECTABLE IN NOVEMBER......
COUNT ON THE SILENT VOTER ACROSS SMALL TOWNS,BIG TOWNS,SMALL STATES,BIG STATES ETC......
HAVE YOU TALKED TO "SILENT VOTERS LATELY"???????

TEXAN (Sent Monday, April 14, 2008 2:32 PM)

SEND A COMMENT

PLEASE READ: All comments must be approved before appearing in the thread; time and space constraints prevent all comments from appearing. We will only approve comments that are directly related to the blog, use appropriate language and are not attacking the comments of others.

Message (please, no HTML tags. Web addresses will be hyperlinked):

Your name, city and state (John Doe, Seattle, Wash.):

Your e-mail address (jdoe@msnbc.com):

Your website (it's okay if you don't have one):

Remember me? (We'll keep it private) Remember me?

TRACKBACKS

Trackbacks are links to weblogs that reference this post. Like comments, trackbacks do not appear until approved by us. The trackback URL for this post is: http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/trackback.aspx?PostID=887971