Redstate

Posted at 8:14am on Apr. 8, 2008 Condi's Campaign

By California Yankee

I respectfully disagree with David Hinz. Condi, should not be McCain's running mate.

Condi might have more relevant "experience" than Hillary or Obama, but she has never campaigned for elective office. More important, she failed to distinguish herself as the person in charge at the State Department.

In February Manual Miranda wrote a blistering departure assessment of the State Department's meager efforts in Iraq:

A State Department official this week issued a blistering critique of Foreign Service bureaucrats at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad for undermining civilian stability efforts in Iraq.

"After a year at the embassy, it is my general assessment that the State Department and the Foreign Service [are] not competent to do the job that they have undertaken in Iraq," said Manuel Miranda, a conservative former Senate staff member who is part of the office of legislative statecraft in Baghdad.

[. . .]

Mr. Miranda's most stinging accusation is that the State Department is an "albatross around the neck of the coalition command."

The department "failed to assist coalition initiatives by delaying or failing to supply the civilian expertise needed in a thoughtful and timely manner and also delaying decisions on funding and staffing vital to GOI (and our) success," he said, using the acronym for the government of Iraq.

Also, the embassy has blocked the flow of information to the White House and other policy-makers, the State Department in Washington, and the commanding general in Baghdad, fearing leaks to the press.

[. . .]

Mr. Miranda said the State Department's Iraq operations, judged by private sector standards, is "willfully negligent, if not criminal."

Read on.

Posted in 2008 | Condoleezza Rice | Iraq | John McCain | vice president — Comments (4)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:54am on Apr. 4, 2008 No Consensus Favorite For VP

Just No Mitt

By California Yankee

While Republican presidential nominee to be, Senator John McCain, is compiling a list of potential running mates, Gallup finds Republicans have "no "consensus favorite."

Mike Huckabee (18%) and Mitt Romney (15%) are most frequently mentioned when Gallup asked Republicans whom they would most like to see as McCain's vice presidential running mate. Five of the top six names mentioned are former candidates for the Republican nomination:

It is common for candidates who come up short for the presidential nomination to be strongly considered for the vice presidential spot on the ticket, and John Edwards in 2004, George H.W. Bush in 1980, and Lyndon Johnson in 1960 are some of the former presidential candidates who accepted the vice presidential spot after losing out for the presidential nomination.

Read on, there's more.

Posted in Archived | John McCain | vice president — Comments (38)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:48pm on Feb. 19, 2008 Hutchison as McCain's veep pick?

Another name is floated.

By Mark Kilmer

Vice President Kay Bailey Hutchison. The possibility of John McCain selecting the Texas Senator as his running mate is floating out there somewhere.

When I studied political science in school, we were taught the veep candidates were chosen because they could balance a ticket ideologically or geographically, or because they could carry a prized State. Those are old-school rules, but I assume they are still in vogue (if we add a gravitas balance rule). Other factors like age, sex, race, rural v. urban, experience with Congress, issue strengths, criminal record, etc., are also factors.

The ideological balance rule might be important here, if John McCain wants to convince those who believe he is not conservative enough by choosing someone whom they believe is conservative enough, but it seems that a candidate's conservatism is now a matter of gut feeling and opinion than anything objective. The American Conservative Union has a popular rating system in which they measure a candidates "conservatism" by how often the Senator (for our purposes) agrees with the ACU on specific issues legislation chosen by the ACU. In his career, John McCain has agreed with the ACU on ACU-selected issues 82.3% of the time. Kay Bailey Hutchison has agreed with the ACU on ACU-selected issues 90.4% of the time. (For sake of reference, Arlen Specter has voted with the ACU on their selected issues only 44.7% of the time in his career. Hillary, just nine-percent.) So by the ACU's criteria, Hutchison does not balance McCain ideologically, with both leaning heavily conservative.

It gets more fun. Read On…

Posted in 2008 | Hutchison | McCain | ticket | vice president — Comments (98)/ Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:08pm on Jan. 30, 2008 What Next For Romney - Repeating A Suggestion.

By Martin A. Knight

I like cbs' diary on the issue. Not even his most unfair and vituperative critics (or supporters) would find anything to fault him on if he backs out, extends his congratulations to McCain and begins the work of making sure that John McCain gets to the finish line ahead of HillObama in November.

Posted in Archived | peter pace | post-florida maneuvering | Romney | vice president — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »