Choices
By Mitch Berg
The rumor is buzzing that Romney “may have picked a running mate”.
I personally expect that Romney, if he’s smart, will keep the media nipping at the bait for the next month, ’til the convention. Or so I hope.
Given a choice between Palwenty, Jindal, Portman or Rice, it’d be a tough call for me. I’d be most excited with a Jindal pick, but I could be persuaded any of those directions.
But one thing that does not excite me is some of the chatter from a few Minnesota paleocons over the weekend, saying if Pawlenty were the pick they’d forget about voting for Mitt.
Word to the wise; if Obama wins re-election because Romney lost Minnesota by two votes, I’ll be sending you the bill for my Obamacare tax hike.
July 16th, 2012 at 7:42 pm
He could pick a chimp for his VP running mate, as a chimp would be 150 times smarter than Joe “Gaffe a Minute” Biden!
July 16th, 2012 at 11:10 pm
I’d pay to see that debate.
July 17th, 2012 at 1:28 am
As a native Louisianian, I sincerely hope it’s not Jindal. He’s an unmitigated disaster.
July 17th, 2012 at 5:15 am
He has to be better than that pinhead Blanco.
July 17th, 2012 at 8:09 am
Benjamin, why do you say Jindahl has been a disaster?
Condi is brilliant but will remind everyone of Bush, which won’t satisfy the base or independents. She is also pro abortion and like Bush pro illegal.
Pawlenty and Portman are probably the safer picks.
If Romney should win, whomever the VP pick that person is almost surely going to be the next nominee. Do we want another 12-20 years of Republican party policies that are just Dem lite policy?
July 17th, 2012 at 8:59 am
Re the Chimp/Biden debate:
Within the first five minutes both would be flinging poo.
Then Biden would start eating it.
Then the media will hail his bold approach. Or ignore him.
July 17th, 2012 at 9:06 am
Mitch:
How could you possibly forget Rubio!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
July 17th, 2012 at 9:45 am
Two words which are incompatible: Romney and Risk. Of the names presented, Portman is the most likely choice.
July 17th, 2012 at 11:51 am
While I don’t think I could have pulled the lever for Tim had he gotten the nod (long shot that it was), I have a choice to make…my disdain for big government “Republicans” be damned…we simply cannot take another four years of Obama.
But Romney would be wise to pick a strong conservative. One only need to look at the bump in McCain’s numbers after he announced his running mate four years ago.
July 17th, 2012 at 12:02 pm
Palin or Bachmann would give him the edge he needs!
July 17th, 2012 at 1:48 pm
I still can’t believe Pawlenty is under serious consideration. He’s got just as many flip-flops and unforced errors to explain as Romney and adds zero.zero to the ticket. Portman at least gives Romney some national experience. Pawlenty’s best – only IMHO – destiny remains U.S. Senate, like against Franken in 2014.
July 17th, 2012 at 4:16 pm
I’m hoping for Ryan.
July 17th, 2012 at 9:42 pm
jumn, Jindal has exacted all sorts of damage to my home state, including gigantic cuts to higher education and pushing through a voucher system that has absolutely zero curriculum or quality standards for schools to qualify for voucher money. He also uses the line-item veto as a weapon against organizations he doesn’t like, and seems to have forgotten how special Louisiana’s culture is to the state’s well-being.
July 17th, 2012 at 10:18 pm
If “…gigantic cuts to higher education…” results in the elimination of a couple of Victim Studies departments and/or the defunding of all the Acting Assistant Deputy Provosts for Diversity, I say more more more. A voucher system with “zero curriculum or quality standards”? – well, caveat emptor and all that. A “line item veto as a weapon against organizations he doesn’t like…” ? Guess what – elections have consequences.
July 18th, 2012 at 1:59 pm
Ahhhhh, I have it now benji. Jindahl isn’t a Democrat like Landrieu or School bus Ray Nagin, or should I go back a bit and bring up Huey Long?
July 18th, 2012 at 5:44 pm
That’s a silly comparison. Landrieu is a moderate, and Nagin was regarded as generally conservative pre-Katrina. No, Jindal lacks the ability to lead and willingness to compromise that a truly effective executive needs. He ramrods unwise policies, and then seems to forget what state he’s supposedly “governing.” He wants to be POTUS, and the citizens of Louisiana are suffering for that.
July 19th, 2012 at 4:48 am
Huey Long sure was good at “governing”. Nagin and Landrieu both failed dismally with Katrina. They failed to lead, they failed to use the resources at hand, but they did take the lead when it came time to point fingers.
You mentioned two areas where Jindahl has failed. Vouchers are designed to inspire creativity, regulations kill creativity. Some programs will fail, but, the status quo is already a dismal failure. As far as cuts to higher Ed, we could use some here as well.
Ramrodding policy actually would be an example of leading. It’s clear that you think he is going in the wrong direction but, effective leaders get the policies they want implemented and do what it takes to get it done.
Quite a few politicians aspire to higher office. Everything you are saying about Jindahl could have been said about Obama but for some reason the people represented by a Dem doing the same thing are never concerned about it.