Why no discussion of Gary Hart as veep?

[MonkeyFunk]

Adds tons of National Security heft, can bring Colorado along. A wise elder statesman, but not seen as a DC insider.

Is the Monkey Business still a deal-killer after all these years, and all that's transpired? It almost seems quaint now.

[scheming daemons]

1. Too old.

[MonkeyFunk]

5. Meh...

a healthy 71. Same age as McCain but in a lot better shape, from what I've seen.

[scheming daemons]

9. 71 is too old... sorry.... it's one of McCain's biggest negatives.....

Why neutralize it?



Just like McCain would neutralize his "Obama has no experience" meme if he named Jindal.

[MonkeyFunk]

10. Big difference

people worry about the health and vitality of the president, not so much the vice-president.

Bobby Jindal would be a poor choice, because there's a higher likelihood he would end up as President. Not so for Gary Hart in an Obama administration.

[scheming daemons]

12. Well... that's a difference... but a small one

Obama needs someone with a little more vitality than 71-year-old Gary Hart.


What does he bring to the ticket that a DOZEN younger candidates don't?


Nothing.

[MonkeyFunk]

14. I said in my OP...

major national security credibility and Colorado. An elder statesman. I think he provides great balance.

[LisaM]

2. Monkey Business.......Monkey Funk......hmmmmmmm

Do I sense a connection????



:rofl:

[Blue-Jay]

3. "Is the Monkey Business still a deal-killer after all these years...?"

Probably. And, yeah, that's a shame.

[Doityourself]

4. I'm willing to bet he's still toxic

[endarkenment]

6. Toxic but bright and too old.

Hart's time came and went and he blew it and no vetting process is going to take his baggage back into the spotlight. Otherwise, I always liked him and was sorry when he prototyped political self-destruction 24/7 mode.

[newmajority]

7. I added Gary Hart to my VP poll the other day.

Sadly, I don't think he got any votes. I guess most people, even here, don't realize what he's been doing since he was set up with the "Monkey Business" thing.

(And yes it was a setup - unless anyone really believes it's a mere coincidence that Donna Rice later resurfaced as a right wing "Christian" anti-porn crusader. Probably on the Bush Crime Family payroll all along.)

[Hart2008]

22. I didn't see your poll!

Yes he was set up.

He was followed after giving the Democratic response to Ronald Reagan's weekly radio address in December 1986, which was before he left the Senate, before he declared his run for the Presidency, and well before his interview with E. J. Dionne.


Donna Rice was set up as well, which is why it was so effective. They took her private photos and sold them to the National Inquirer. The setup involved a British woman with an infamous reputation for sex scandals in the U.K. A report of this woman's involvement, including video tape of her with Lynn Armandt, Donna Rice's "friend" who kept bringing her to see Hart, was spiked by a major MSM news outlet at the time.

Donna Rice was not much more than a casual acquaintance. She was the former girlfriend of the Eagles' Don Henley, which is how she met Hart on the dock in Miami and why he invited her on board.

She remains a class act. For over 20 years now she has denied that her relationship with Hart was sexual and continues to speak well of him. Hart and Rice share a commitment to public service.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

8. Too buddy buddy with McCain?

[MonkeyFunk]

11. What do you mean?

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

13. I read this the other day...

http://www.westword.com/2008-06-05/news/hart-bypass/full

And was reminded of the Edwards-Cheney debate.

[MonkeyFunk]

15. Wtf?

the fact that he knows and likes McCain makes him ineligible?

I swear, half the folks here live in some fantasy world.

[On the Road]

16. I Like Hart, Too

Before the scandal, Hunter Thompson would he was the closest thing American ever had to a president in waiting.

But I'm afraid he's still a punchline after all these years.

[Hart2008]

24. The Bush and Iran-Contra gang had 4 years to plot how to destroy him politically.

In comparison with Clinton, Hart is a saint.

Twenty years later there still isn't a single woman who has come forward by name to allege that she had a sexual relationship with him.

He has been married to the same woman for 50 years now.

How rare is that?

[Medusa]

17. Too old. Too much baggage.

his day has come and gone.

[book_worm]

18. because he represents the past. Obama running mate needs to be someone who compliments his message

that's a big reason why it isn't going to be Hillary.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. Is the Monkey Business still a deal-killer after all these years,

Yes, as in 88 when it occurred , the problem wasn't the affair, the problem was the affair happeneed, and was covered in real time...

[saltpoint]

20. I think you're right, MonkeyFunk -- Hart would bring a lot to the

ticket and even more to the government.

Agree on your points in line one of your post and would add that he has a Divinity degree, and so the fundie Right would have to go thru Hart's knowledge of their own faith, and I doubt if many of them are up to it. The fundie Right worships a kind of bumpersticker Jesus. Hart's done the real homework.

Recommended.

[Hart2008]

23. God and Caesar in America: An Essay on Religion and Politics. by Gary Hart

Hart can move from analyzing the deplorable manner in which right wing ministers hold Jesus hostage to achieve their own selfish political goals to the historical factors behind the separation of church and state that were enshrined into our Constitution by our founding fathers. More importantly, Hart makes a moral and practical case as to why mixing religion with politics is detrimental to both.

"Our founders knew that we would be governed by fallible human beings," Hart concludes, "from among whom we would select our leaders. They did not believe that human fallibility in the political sphere would be corrected by opening the corridors of power to ministers, priests and rabbis. To the contrary, to turn over the reigns of government to religious leaders could lead to one of only two destructive consequences: we would become a theocratic principality familiar to old Europe or religion would be totally discredited and taken over by the state."

"Indeed, how can religious judgment all seem to be rendered against one political party?" Hart asks in a chapter called, "Beliefs, Values and Justice." "The 'values' employed are very partisan values. All this religious partisanship is a very short step away from preaching that Jesus was a member of one political party."

"This kind of political activity may encourage one party," Hart continues, "and its candidates, but it certainly does nothing to further the gospel of Jesus."

Indeed, in the original debates over the Constitution, one of the reasons religion was guaranteed the right to be free of the influence of politics -- and politics to be kept free of religion -- was that once a specific religious faction took control of politics, that religion itself would eventually become corrupted by the secular, practical concerns of the political sphere.

Hart convincingly argues that religious values, as seen by a member of any faith, should be practiced in deed in the public sphere, but that absolutist religious principles have no place in the political world of the American democracy.

http://www.buzzflash.com/store/reviews/108

[saltpoint]

25. Hi, Hart2008. I really respect the brains Hart would bring to the

office, and the caliber of advice he'd likely give to a President Obama.

Plus, your citation here of his command of the Bible would shut up a lot of fundie nutbags out on the campaign trail.

Thank you for posting this.

[Hart2008]

26. My pleasure!

The idea is to bring religious values into politics without bringing the religious dogma of the bible thumpers.

:hi:

[Hart2008]

21. He would rather be Secretary of State, but would likely take the VP slot if asked.

Obama's big problem isn't with women.

It is with older white folks who have serious questions about him.

Someone like Hart can settle these people down.

Finally, something from Monkey Funk which I can agree.

:toast:

[kentuck]

27. I've known Hart for years...

He has a great mind and would be best suited for the National Security position.

[Hart2008]

28. He should be a part of an Obama Administration.

Whatever he does, he will do it well.

He excels at setting policy.

[ToeBot]

29. Michael Bloomberg. nt