Romney VP search: free-floating speculation and wish list thread

[xavier110]

Drudge is only doing this to distract from Bain. LOL.

[AmericanNation]

Drudge is only doing this to distract from Bain. LOL.

Bain is what you call a " qualification. "  Qualifications are a positive thing that you don't distract from, so you are making zero sense.  This could be part of the VP announcement roll out though.       

[President von Cat]

Drudge is only doing this to distract from Bain. LOL.

Bain is what you call a " qualification. "  Qualifications are a positive thing that you don't distract from, so you are making zero sense.  This could be part of the VP announcement roll out though.      

Bain is quickly becoming what one could call a "millstone". Millstones are really large and heavy objects that weigh candidates down, depriving them of momentum and constantly forcing them into a defensive crouch.

[HagridOfTheDeep]

It's only becoming a millstone because Obama is hugely effective at manipulating people. If I was Romney, I'd release a three-point ad tackling Obama's BS head on... "Romney's Bain Leadership."

[AmericanNation]

The Bain-ers are the New Birthers.   

[Comrade Funk]

The Bain-ers are the New Birthers.   

Yeah, looking at Romney's business record is as crazy as saying Obama was born in Kenya.

[Warren 4 Secretary of Everything]

Romney's loan requirement for being President is his work at Bain. He's based his entire campaign on being a business man. You should know you can't just say that and think the media and your opponent are gonna take oh at your word. This is more 2004 swift-boating. Taking your opponent's largest asset and turning it into an anchor. George Bush did it with Senator Kerry's military service and President Obama is doing it with Gov. Romney's private-sector experience.

[tmthforu94]

Discuss: Mike Huckabee

Has he denied possible VP talk? The guy is pretty likeable, has the experience, would please conservatives, and isn't a bad debator. Other than the pardons, what we be the negatives of a Romney/Huckabee ticket?

[AmericanNation]

The Bain-ers are the New Birthers.   

Yeah, looking at Romney's business record is as crazy as saying Obama was born in Kenya.

Yeah,  Making up crazy crap, getting totally discredited and coming back with more crazy crap again and again in a deranged manner identical to the birthers is "looking at Romney's business record at Bain" the same way the Birthers were "just looking at Obama's birth certificate." 

Romney's loan requirement(qualification?) for being President is his work at Bain. He's based his entire campaign on being a business man. You should know you can't just say that and think the media and your opponent are gonna take oh at your word. This is more 2004 swift-boating. Taking your opponent's largest asset and turning it into an anchor. George Bush did it with Senator Kerry's military service and President Obama is doing it with Gov. Romney's private-sector experience.

 
Romney saved the Olympics and was a successful republican governor of the bluest state in the Union in addition to doing a spectacular job running Bain capitol.  Any one of the three makes him more qualified (and suggests he would do a better job) than Obama. 

The media (shockingly) is actually doing its job slapping down this Pinocchio fest coming out of the Obama campaign. 

This would only be swift-boating if 50 of the 52 highest ranking-still living employees of Bain (while Romney was there) ran an ad at their own expense testifying to something (negative and true) about Romney.  That isn't what this is, obviously.
           

[Progressive]

Discuss: Mike Huckabee

Has he denied possible VP talk? The guy is pretty likeable, has the experience, would please conservatives, and isn't a bad debator. Other than the pardons, what we be the negatives of a Romney/Huckabee ticket?

Huckabee is no longer a politican, he's a TV show host a la Bill O'Reilly...I am a Democrat but always liked Huckabee's style and found him honest.

Huckabee would have wiped floor w/ Romney this year.

[AmericanNation]

Huckabee would have wiped floor w/ Romney this year.

...could have done serious damage in/to the primary.  I don't think he would have a chance in the GE, so I respect him for sparing us from both of those disasters.   

[California8429]

Huckabee is old news. He'd be good on TV obviously, he'd satisfy social conservatives, but would bring up economic conservative troubles. Plus there's the hypocrisy of live a healthy life oh look I gained all my weight back since 08.

[tmthforu94]

Huckabee is old news. He'd be good on TV obviously, he'd satisfy social conservatives, but would bring up economic conservative troubles. Plus there's the hypocrisy of live a healthy life oh look I gained all my weight back since 08.

Most of the people who'd have a problem with economic issues are Tea Party, and a lot of them already seem to like him.

He has less downsides, I think, then a lot of the others.

[Progressive]

Doesn't it make sense...that Mitt Romney wants to have a surprise VP pick to get some positive/focused news coverage on his campaign?

It obviously isn't Condi Rice, that was done to draw fascination, and now the talks of Pawlenty, I think that's done to draw some speculation, but now I think it won't be him. I remember McCain had his Tom Ridge moment, Tim Pawlenty moment, even Mitt Romney moment.

I think it's going to be a woman...

[RogueBeaver]

Doesn't it make sense...that Mitt Romney wants to have a surprise VP pick to get some positive/focused news coverage on his campaign?

It obviously isn't Condi Rice, that was done to draw fascination, and now the talks of Pawlenty, I think that's done to draw some speculation, but now I think it won't be him. I remember McCain had his Tom Ridge moment, Tim Pawlenty moment, even Mitt Romney moment.

I think it's going to be a woman...

We're thinking the same way. I think Romney is deliberately false-flagging to different outlets- Pawlenty to NYT/Race42012/Drudge, Jindal to WSJ/WaPo. Portman's buzz has died down a bit, so has Ryan's. It's like musical chairs- whoever's name is last floated won't be picked.

*The fact that Drudge has bannered the NYT article, after the Rice stuff last week and what we know about Drudge coordinating with Boston furthers my suspicion Pawlenty is a false-flag.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

So he's going to end up going with a surprise/safe pick? This is weird. It's also getting kind of exciting. I still hope it'll be Ryan.

[Progressive]

I think it's going to be someone like Marsha Blackburn or Cathy McMorris-Rodgers. They won't upstage Romney and the public doesn't know too much about them. As far as I know, they don't have major skeletons in their closet so public fascination onto them shouldn't be damaging...?

[RogueBeaver]

So he's going to end up going with a surprise/safe pick? This is weird. It's also getting kind of exciting. I still hope it'll be Ryan.

I'm quite confident that whoever gets the last round of buzz won't be it.

[RogueBeaver]

I think it's going to be someone like Marsha Blackburn or Cathy McMorris-Rodgers. They won't upstage Romney and the public doesn't know too much about them. As far as I know, they don't have major skeletons in their closet so public fascination onto them shouldn't be damaging...?

No, just no.

On the personality thing: Romney doesn't want a) yes-men (Bob McDonnell) b) people who don't click (Rob Portman) or people who forget who's in charge (Chris Christie). For all we know Blackburn and CMR do have skeletons because they've never had a media spotlight shone on them. That's what happened to Palin. You want someone who's been publicly vetted, which all the shortlisters (Portman/Pawlenty/Ryan IMO) have.

[t_host1]

Gingrich… why?
Easily could be president, knowing the territory physically and literal, if, the unforeseen were to happen.

The buss would be deafening with, WTF! For awhile…

Biden speak would be chump change.

The best reason, they both have been planning preparing for it for a long time, even though their paths are of a different charter.

A good cop-bad cop that is of no acting could accommodated their differences.
[Romney] I spend 50 million dollars to get rid of you, then, I partner with you!!
[Gingrich] Well, you could of asked me if it was a good deal, or not.

“Wish” is a 4 letter word.

[Phony Moderate]

Gingrich… why?
Easily could be president, knowing the territory physically and literal, if, the unforeseen were to happen.

The buss would be deafening with, WTF! For awhile…

Biden speak would be chump change.

The best reason, they both have been planning preparing for it for a long time, even though their paths are of a different charter.

A good cop-bad cop that is of no acting could accommodated their differences.
[Romney] I spend 50 million dollars to get rid of you, then, I partner with you!!
[Gingrich] Well, you could of asked me if it was a good deal, or not.

“Wish” is a 4 letter word.

Protip: Find a decent online translator.

[Grumpier Than Thou]

Gingrich… why?
Easily could be president, knowing the territory physically and literal, if, the unforeseen were to happen.

The buss would be deafening with, WTF! For awhile…

Biden speak would be chump change.

The best reason, they both have been planning preparing for it for a long time, even though their paths are of a different charter.

A good cop-bad cop that is of no acting could accommodated their differences.
[Romney] I spend 50 million dollars to get rid of you, then, I partner with you!!
[Gingrich] Well, you could of asked me if it was a good deal, or not.

“Wish” is a 4 letter word.

Wh-
Uh
I...
Um...
what

[Small Business Owner of Any Repute]

Finally, something in this thread worth reading!

[AmericanNation]

This Pawlenty thing is either a fake out, or he is the pick and it will be announced before the Olympics start.  I think it's a fake out, but he could be announcing the pick before the Olympics. 

I still think it's Portman, Ryan and everyone else. 

I have updated my analysis of McDonnell and improved his grade/ chances.  The climate of the past few months have been good for him.  War on Women crap has fizzled out and Virginia hasn't moved toward the Romney column the way almost every other battleground state has.  He's a Catholic and a veteran.  If you think McDonnell can help you win VA and NC, than all you have left to win is Ohio.

1A) Portman
1B) Ryan
3)   McDonnell
4)   Pawlenty
5)   Rubio
6)   everyone else             

[RogueBeaver]

Would Romney really leak the pick days in advance?

Portman: Doubtful. He's the Bushiest of Bushies not named Bush, plus by most accounts he failed the chem test.

McDonnell: He blew it with his sycophancy/yes-man shtick and publicly campaigning for the job a la John Edwards '04. I said at the time it would come back to haunt him and it did. Last I heard he said he wasn't being vetted.