« Brokaw | Main | Afternoon Awesome »
August 28, 2008
McCain-Lieberman?
I caught this banner on the Huffington Post. Is this a hint, a leak or a coincidence?

"Join our team" with a photo of Lieberman and McCain.
I really hope it's Lieberman. It'll make next week very interesting.
Filed under: Joe Lieberman || John McCain
Posted By Bob Cesca | August 28, 2008 10:24 AM
Comments
Man, Lieberman would be awesome! The Dems would take them apart. Biden would wreck him in a debate. Droopy versus Spike (from Tom and Jerry).
Posted by: KidDynamo0
at August 28, 2008 10:31 AM
I believe it was on Swampland I was reading the comment that "If the McCain campaign thinks they'll need a hail Mary, it'll be Leiberman. If not, it'll be Romney or someone like him."
If it's Leiberman, I think that tells us that Candidate McCain thinks he needs a miracle to win. We can only hope.
Posted by: John Hummel
at August 28, 2008 10:43 AM
Oh, it would be such a thing of beauty to see Biden dissect HolyJoe on stage.
Jindal the exorcist would make for much amusement- as well as Pajamas Romney.
Ghouliani could chime in "Nineeleven!" every time McSame says "POW!" would make for a great drinking game.
I just don't see that Pawlenty would add much of anything to the ticket.
Read someone suggesting Tom Ridge- is he (Ridge) crazy enough to step in that?
Posted by: dusty59
at August 28, 2008 11:09 AM
As entertaining as this fantasy is, it's not going to be Joe. Look at his record (it's an extensive one). He's rated 100% by NARAL. In 2004 he called for a repeal of the Bush ban on embryonic stem cell research. He voted against a constitutional amendment prohibiting same-sex marriage & wants to re-introduce the Equal Rights Amendment. He has repeatedly voted no on drilling in ANWR, and yes on getting rid of subsidies to the oil companies. In short, he doesn't agree with McCain on a lot of major issues. Yes, they agree on the war and on much of foreign policy - but McCain is being touted as an expert in those areas, so why would he need Lieberman??
Before anyone accuses me of defending Joe, be aware that I'm not. I voted against him in the 2006 CT Senate primary and got slapped in the face when he chose to ignore CT Dems and start his own party. I want him GONE from the Senate - I do NOT want him representing me in Washington. BUT...I sincerely doubt that McCain will pick him for VP.
Posted by: ceu
at August 28, 2008 11:26 AM
what ceu said. Agree 100%. It won't be Lieberman.
Posted by: Leeman67
at August 28, 2008 11:54 AM
It's a nice though. Ceu, excellent points!
Posted by: natashacrk
at August 28, 2008 11:55 AM
RE ceu/Lieberman:
yes, too much to hope for.
His other choices as per much media and web discussion don't seem that grand. wonder if someone's going to come screaming out of right field to fill the slot.
Posted by: dusty59
at August 28, 2008 12:10 PM
Snoring (I mean roaring) out of right field...Fred Thompson! YAR!
Posted by: KidDynamo0
at August 28, 2008 12:50 PM
ceu, hasn't McCain held most of the same points of view that you think would doom Lieberman as a VP choice? I don't think you've named one issue that Lieberman couldn't easily solve with a flipflop. Republicans love "former liberals" who have seen the right-wing light.
Consider this: the choice of a Republican VP candidate probably won't be made in order to appease the GOP True Believers: it may be aimed at attracting the "moderate, undecided voter." The Republican base isn't going to stay home just because McCain selects Lieberman; remember, everybody thought they'd stay at home because of McCain himself, but that idea doesn't look like it held any water. But the "moderate, undecided voter" may well stay home if he or she wants an alternative to Obama but he thinks that the McCain ticket is too radical. The selection of Lieberman could have utility in helping the Republicans to peel off the more conservative (not to mention racist) Clintonites.
Posted by: StuporMundi
at August 28, 2008 4:36 PM
Could be, Stupor. But Lieberman was spouting these same views as late as March of this year. Had he flipped a few years back it might be different, but as it stands, I don't see the GOP sacrificing their base for the sake of the moderates. They haven't done so in the past. And there are a few other contenders for the VP throne that won't alienate the hard-core right wing.
Posted by: ceu
at August 28, 2008 4:52 PM
It says a lot about the sorry state of the Republican party when Mitt "Double the size of Guantanamo" Romney is considered the best possible & "most exciting" choice.
Posted by: The Colonel
at August 28, 2008 7:31 PM
ceu, I understand what you're saying. And even if we had all the information that McCain has right now, his decision could still be governed by "stochasticity", as the statisticians say. Any prediction is still a throw of the dice.
Since Naomi Klein has introduced us rubes in the bad seats to the Shock Doctrine and Disaster Capitalism, I'm looking more closely than ever for Power to impose nonlinear events in the domestic political arena. Nothing throws everybody off their game like a huge-ass surprise that knocks them upside the head. That's what inspired me to mentally wargame a Lieberman/Petraeus '08 ticket, way back in December 2007, in case the Republicans had a totally deadlocked convention (as hypothesized by Steve Benen at TPM). Now I think it would be a Petraeus/Lieberman '08 ticket. Totally nonlinear, granted. But I truly believe McCain is literally one major prime-time outburst or flake-out from becoming non-viable as the GOP candidate. I thought the "coup," so to speak, would come during the GOP convention when they will dominate not only the media narrative but also the airwaves --- 4 days to pull an amazing, dramatic, sleigh-of-hand to a mesmerized TV audience. I now reserve the right to extend the "performance period" of my scenario into October.
Wacky. Huge gamble. Insane. I know. But what hasn't been over the past 8 years when it comes to these guys?
Posted by: StuporMundi
at August 28, 2008 9:14 PM



