Wow, I missed a couple hours--are there Kerry rumors on the internets?

[vixengrl]

You want to hear a funny?

I think he's kind of vetted. Y'know, since we ran him once for the Oval office. I suspect one of the more interesting things is, he kows what it tastes like to be that close to the White House, and get denied--changes how one think about things, is my guess. Also, the VP position is a different campaign role than the Presidential campaign role--the Presidential candidate brings the policy, the VP brings the defense. I saw those 2004 debates--Kerry has skills. Also, he has military cred and longtime Senate experience.

Also, John McCain likes to play about being honorable in political battles, but right after Wes Clark makes an innocuous satement, out comes Bud Day bringing the real negative, and that is not the only Swiftboater McSame has a link with--

And in the meanwhile--"swiftboater" has gotten some negative connotations. It's become a mainstream word. As in, "don't do it, sleazy!" It diffuses their efficacy and pearl-clutching if any other military surrogate--like any number of generals who've disagreed with this adminitration's pre-emptive dumbassery, wanted to step up and throw down.

Also, he lost by a contest close enough that he has to have by now schooled himself on the math--a lot, replaying that thing over and over. And has retraced the misstepps. And he was a prosecutor, back in the day.And he's looked into BCCI and knows a little about McCain, too.

What I'm geting at is, he might make sense in the VP slot in a purposeful way, for a White House that will need to clean house, and in a campaign that will need to rhetorically outdo what can't help but be a rhetorically weak GOP team. McCain will have to defend a boardwalk's umpteen surf-shops' worth of flip-flops. Kerry knows what it's like to be called that, and has waited to tell someone what that feels like.

(Anyone feeling McCain's thinking Lindsey Graham for VP? More reason to pick a vet? I dunno, just weighing in.)

[NYC_SKP]

1. Yes, but we seem to think that they're groundless, and

The current battle is "who is more polarizing, Kerry or Clinton"....

It is to laugh...

:popcorn:

[vixengrl]

2. Wow, both would so polarizingly be people we considered actual presidential

candidates. Since Webb has counted himself out, and Clark might be counted out, I'll also say Schweiker is vetted and a regular Joe but...


Um, remeber fantasy baseball leagues back in the day when you could have like, Lenny Dykstra as your lead hitter, and then, like Dwight Evans, and if the draft gods were totally favorable on you, you had Wade Boggs in your line-up for clean-up, and you traded out Canseco for somebody with hardly any errors, and you knew you had bargained for the fantasy baseball line-up of the GODS?

Uh, well that might not be a universal experience, but that's the seriousness I'll approach the Veepstakes with. Good old fashioned fanboy/girl fun. For the time being. Until there is somebody I will need to speak well of.

[NYC_SKP]

3. I still like Clark, this recent flap was such a non-event...

I don't know that he's out of it yet. Maybe I missed something.

[vixengrl]

4. True--although if Obama was thinking of Clark, I wish

he'd have gotten a less blase response--even a little defense, when the whiners on the GOP side started in on Clark-bashing over just saying that POW experience is not transferrable credits to a major in CinC-ing. But, and this is just me, Obama and Clark would be the most intelligent ticket I think any party ever ran. I think there could be time to turn Wes from a bluff guy to somebody who can snipe up the grist in an argument--there are no flies on Wes Clark.

I had the impression Clark was out of it because Huff-Po described him as "moving on", and his political forays thus far have lacked grace. But on the other hand, he had great qualifications, also neutralizes the "vet cred" question, and is very articulate, even if blunt at times. My only concern is that Obama seems to be a tight-message campaigner--would he like to run with someone who goes off the ranch?

[NYC_SKP]

6. He only needs to stay on the ranch for a couple months.

What he brings to the ticket with his take-no-bullshit-from-reporters skills and his military and security credentials might be worth the risk.

I don't imagine anyone will remember the Clark flap and Huffpost article two weeks from now.

It's interesting sport, wondering who'll get the spot, isn't it?

I hope he chooses wisely, and I think he will.

:popcorn:

[JI7]

7. the current battles have to do with the 2004 and 2008 primaries

[Tutonic]

5. Lindsey will not be VP--unless he follows the example of Christ.

Get himself a beard. Can you imagine Bertha Collingworth from Little Rock Arkansas or Bobbie Jo Stenis from Moon Hollow West Virginia even considering him as a legitimate VP if he remains single. Its an open secret in SOuth carolina--but he sure does not want it spread to West Virginia. Cross Lindsey off of the list. Oh and not going to be Christ. He's too moderate for the wingnuts.