Who would be a better nominee, Bobby Kennedy or Tom Vilsack?

[Hippo_Tron]

I post this for one reason and for one reason only, to argue against this "We can't nominate a Senator, they don't win" crap.

I don't mean this in an offensive way to Governor Vilsack. From what I have heard of him, he has been a pretty good Governor. I use him as an example because one, he is a Governor and secondly, because I am told that he's a boring speaker with no charisma or vision.

Bobby Kennedy, on the other hand, was an extremely charismatic and inspirational figure. He was a great leader who took extremely courageous stands on some very controversial issues.

Yet it seems that some people here on DU would say that we would be better off nominating Tom Vilsack simply because he's a Governor over Bobby Kennedy because he was a Senator.

Am I making any sense here?

I will concede the fact that personally I don't think that any current member of the US Senate would be as good as Bobby Kennedy. At the same time, however, I don't think that there are any Governors that could compare to Bill Clinton or Mario Cuomo.

My point is, that discounting somebody because they are a Senator is simply ridiculous.

[RFKHumphreyObama]

1. OK

<I post this for one reason and for one reason only, to argue against this "We can't nominate a Senator, they don't win" crap>

Bobby Kennedy is a bad example to use IMO because he was tragically and unfortunately denied the opportunity to win the presidential nomination or the election. So we'll never know whether he would have won or not. If you wanted to use this argument, I'd use John F Kennedy -who was also a Senator before becoming president.

Just my opinion IMO

[Hippo_Tron]

2. Well, I used Bobby instead of John for a reason

I know that Bobby was denied the chance to win the nomination because he was shot and killed, whereas John Kennedy did win a presidential election, so I don't think that it would be a fair comparison if I compared JFK to Tom Vilsack.

We'll never know if Bobby Kennedy would've won or not, but I'm just talking about judging by personal abilities, character, etc.

[Hippo_Tron]

3. kick

[AntiCoup2K4]

4. A steaming pile of dogshit would be better than Vilsack

...and have about the same morality.

Seriously though, Bobby Kennedy would have made a great President. Problem is the Bush Criminal Empire knew that. And they knew he would win.

(I'm assuming it was RFK sr you were referring to. RFK jr's critical flaw is in his voice. He just wouldn't be able to give the great speeches that his dad & uncle could. Write them maybe, deliver them, no.)

[Hippo_Tron]

5. kick

[bemildred]

6. Barney the DINOsaur. nt

[1932]

7. That question proves that what matters is for what you stand.

I'd rather have a candidate talking about the most important issues eloquently regardless of last job title, than a governor who isn't.