Good thing Mittens wasn't McCain's veep choice

Kos is right, I think --

Good thing Mittens wasn't McCain's veep choice
from Daily Kos by kos <rss@dailykos.com>

Whether the finance crisis is as terrible as we're told or not, fact is the nation is in economic turmoil. We've seen Obama, cool and collected. Perhaps he's a little thin on details, but he projects reassurance. No one doubts Biden's ability to handle these kinds of situations.

On the GOP side? McCain is flailing, as no less a conservative than George Will has said:

Under the pressure of the financial crisis, one presidential candidate is behaving like a flustered rookie playing in a league too high. It is not Barack Obama <...>

It is arguable that, because of his inexperience, Obama is not ready for the presidency. It is arguable that McCain, because of his boiling moralism and bottomless reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. Unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great cost, by experience. Can a dismaying temperament be fixed?

So if McCain can't be trusted in a crisis because of his temperament, and he certainly can't be trusted because of his economic knowledge (he has none and relies on Phil Gramm, who brought us this mess), what about Sarah Palin?

Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

There's a reason they're hiding her.

But think, what if McCain had picked Mitt Romney as his veep choice, like so many of us were fervently hoping?

Sure, the rollout wouldn't have give McCain a fraction of the attention and excitement that Palin generated. The GOP ticket's (now evaporated) post-convention bump would've been smaller, and maybe Romney would've been less effective at revving up the fundy base.

But right now? Romney would be kicking ass. The media would treat him with deference as an economic expert, and let's be honest, he does looks straight out of central casting for the role of "serious businessman who we should defer to on the economy". McCain wouldn't have to hide him. Romney could make the media rounds, being taken seriously no matter what GOP gibberish he spouted. Rather than flail and cower, a McCain/Romney ticket would look sure-footed and confident, projecting gravitas in a time of uncertainty.

What's more, McCain would no longer look like a political opportunist in his VP choice. He'd be lauded for being such a "maverick", picking his greatest primary rival. The GOP and its apologists could say, with a straight face, that McCain put "country first", and actually get away with it since it's obvious McCain personally loathes Romney.

Good thing Mittens was snubbed. Watching Palin hide from the media as McCain's numbers are battered by this crisis, it's good for us that McCain put politics first before country.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/9/24/0483/01240/872/608321

because he would automatically get credit for governor and business (regardless of actual record). Would have been the hardest for Biden to debate for that reason I think. And, to me anyway, Romney doesn't project stupid/incompetent.

I lived in Mormon Country for a long time, and Romney on the ticket scared me. The Mormons are a cohesive group with a lot of money (collectively). We've already seen that the scales are bent in favor of the GOP as a default, but with Romney on the ticket, it would have been a lot closer than it is now, and right now, it's too damn close.

I would have been the most worried if Bloomberg had been McCain's VP choice, or if he had followed through on his notion to run as a third party candidate.

he would have lent the ticket FAR more credibility on this issue than the ticket of McNutz/Per Diem Barbie.

Sarah Palin's political career will be over on November 5.

By the time Obama is sworn in on January 20, she might not even be governor of Alaska any longer.