McCain: Kristol pushes Lieberman
Posted: Monday, August 25, 2008 9:17 AM by Mark Murray
The New York Times’ Bill Kristol believes the Biden pick does "complicate" McCain's selection process (though he does quote from McCain folks saying they believe it was a pick of "weakness."). He dismisses both Pawlenty (will not match up well with Biden) and Romney (thank you house gaffe), and ends up making the conservative case for Lieberman.
"A Lieberman pick should help with ticket splitters. But can such a ticket hold the support of pro-lifers, conservatives and Republicans? If you’re conscientiously pro-life, you will have reservations about a pro-abortion-rights V.P. If you’re a proud conservative, Lieberman hasn’t been one. If you’re a loyal Republican, you’d much prefer someone from within the ranks. But if you’re pro-life, conservative and/or Republican, you certainly don’t want Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid running the country. If a McCain-Lieberman ticket is the best way to thwart that prospect, you could probably learn to live with it - even perhaps to like it.”
El Rushbo, what say you?
The Boston Globe points out: "Thus, the McCain campaign has raised the question: Would McCain want to pick a vice presidential candidate who was perhaps his toughest critic in the primaries, former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney?… If McCain picks Romney, the Democrats doubtless would remind voters of the McCain-Romney feud."
"Obama's choice of Joe Biden as a running mate sets the bar for John McCain," the AP writes. "The Republican could use his own pugnacious No. 2 to deliver attack lines and a solid debate performance."
The McCain camp says it’s up with a new TV ad -- to air in “key states” (read: it’s not in the campaign’s battleground rotation) -- that features Debra Bartoshevich, an ex-Hillary delegate who was stripped of her delegate status after saying she would vote for McCain. I'm a proud Hillary Clinton Democrat,” Bartoshevich says in it. “She had the experience and judgment to be president. Now, in a first for me, I'm supporting a Republican, John McCain. I respect his maverick and independent streak, and now he's the one with the experience and judgment. A lot of Democrats will vote McCain. It's okay, really!”
"McCain found himself the center of attention at his church in Phoenix yesterday, watching himself on a giant-screen television talking about his 'greatest moral failure,' which he said was the collapse of his first marriage… McCain sat next to his second wife, Cindy, as he watched the interview during the services at North Phoenix Baptist Church, where the Rev. Dan Yeary described the exchange as a 'seminal moment' in the presidential campaign."
