McCain/Romney ’08?

Mark Hemingway makes the case for a McCain/Romney ticket. To be honest, I think that’s the smartest choice for McCain—provided he can bury the hatchet. McCain needs someone who is young, appeals to conservatives, and can speak convincingly on the economy. Romney is someone who can deliver on all of those accounts. To be honest, Romney has always struck me as a bit of a technocrat, and the Vice Presidency is the best office for someone of that persuasion.

Romney’s biggest disadvantage is that he doesn’t really deliver any new states to McCain—but that seems less of a concern in modern electoral politics. For that matter, I don’t really see a McCain/Pawlenty ticket handing Minnesota to McCain either (although it’s within the realm of possibility).

What Romney really delivers is some straight talk on the economy—and the GOP needs to get an economic plan together or they will get creamed in the fall. Romney has the portfolio to do that—the man is a turnaround expert, and the US economy badly needs a turnaround. He comes with some baggage, but not enough to make him a distraction.

I don’t know if the McCain camp is serious considering Romney as a VP or not, but on a number of levels that may be one of his best choices to unite conservatives and to give him some much-needed economic credibility.

One thought on “McCain/Romney ’08?

  1. “To be honest, I think that’s the smartest choice for McCain”

    You’re out of your mind. Willard brings virtually nothing to the table. Hilarious that you would want to take all the shortcomings that failed to get Willard anywhere close to the GOP nomination despite an $80 million bankroll….and bring those shortcomings to a general election ticket.

    “McCain needs someone who is young, appeals to conservatives, and can speak convincingly on the economy.”

    Uh, Jay, Willard is 60, came in fourth place in the most conservative state’s primary, and presided over the lowest-growth economy of all 50 states when Massachusetts Gov from 2003-2006.

    “What Romney really delivers is some straight talk on the economy”

    Promising a $40 billion federal bailout of Michigan in order to prolong his Presidential candidacy a few more weeks is “straight talk”?

    Republicans would be best advised to do what they do best….be Republicans and divide Americans based on religion and culture. Either Obama and Hillary would be easy targets. The last thing McCain needs to do is adopt an “economic policy” that is exactly the same as the economic policy of George Bush which about 20% of Americans approve.

    “I don’t know if the McCain camp is serious considering Romney as a VP or not, but on a number of levels that may be one of his best choices to unite conservatives and to give him some much-needed economic credibility.

    McCain (along with every other Republican candidate from 2008) hated Willard so much that they exchanged e-mails amongst each other to advise on how to hit him in the next debate. Very hard to imagine how that gut-level acrimony can be overcome for a negligible benefit to the ticket. Rather than uniting conservatives, a Willard selection would tear them further apart, with the values voters foot soldiers who hate Mormons realizing just how badly the Wall Street Journal/Jay Reding crowd takes them for granted.

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