world of pee wrote:

tmidgett wrote:Ed Rendell

rendell came out for clinton. of course, minotaur thinks that makes someone more likely to be an obama vp. we'll see.

Yeah, Clintonite status is a selling point, actually.

Ty Webb wrote:Considering the single biggest challenge in an Obama first term would be getting out of Iraq and managing the fallout of doing so, not to mention the myriad foreign policy ramifications, Clark seems like the leading candidate.

I don't trust Clark for a minute, particularly not on foreign or military policy. The Kosovo war was an inept and shameful episode from beginning to end, both strategically and tactically, and Clark's gung-ho tendencies vis-a-vis the Russians in Pristina airport are the last thing we need. More to the point, he's got a reputation as a loose cannon, a crappy guy to work with who has a bad temper, which wouldn't mesh too well with the calm and nonconfrontational style that is said to prevail among Obama's team.

Obama's got an interesting choice between a powerful vice president and a traditional one. I don't think that he'll go the route of using his veep as a Cheneyesque prime ministerial figure, but the busywork ("you're in charge of the shiny rocketships!") that vice presidents get is a silly waste of an (often) otherwise talented and capable person. The conflicts between a VP with a designated military or foreign affairs focus and the relevant Cabinet secretaries would make that option unworkable, particularly given the already-delicate balance between the DoD civilian leadership and the military brass. It's more likely that the VP would run the major first-term domestic policy project, like health care or energy.

He'll pick for regional, gender, or political ticket-balancing. I still think it'll be Webb, but Sibelius, Rendell, or Richardson are also up there -- though Rendell and Richardson have lots of people, particularly women, that they've treated like shit over the years and who will be more than willing to badmouth them.

DNA Concept wrote: I still think it'll be Webb, but Sibelius, Rendell, or Richardson are also up there -- though Rendell and Richardson have lots of people, particularly women, that they've treated like shit over the years and who will be more than willing to badmouth them.

as is evident by the sheer closeness of the democratic primary race, women in general love a nice womanizer. richardson and rendell may have women who will badmouth them but chances are that will appeal to a good number of women. assuming obama gets the nomination, if the media picks up on the possibility of a heterosexual sex scandal/affair involving the democratic VP, the media will be sure to back obama.

i'm convinced that bill clinton's sex life is the reason the media apparently wants hillary clinton to be president.

enframed wrote:as is evident by the sheer closeness of the democratic primary race, women in general love a nice womanizer. richardson and rendell may have women who will badmouth them but chances are that will appeal to a good number of women. assuming obama gets the nomination, if the media picks up on the possibility of a heterosexual sex scandal/affair involving the democratic VP, the media will be sure to back obama.

i'm convinced that bill clinton's sex life is the reason the media apparently wants hillary clinton to be president.

I didn't mean that Rendell and Richardson are players or cads or some such. I've read that Richardson has a long history of being nasty to his female staff and co-workers, which makes it sound like he's just got some weird personality flaw that renders him incapable of effectively working with women. When he was DA and mayor, Ed Rendell was always doing silly shit (throwing ice at a ref during an Eagles game, putting a reporter in a headlock and dragging her down a hallway, consuming huge amounts of ranch dressing) that Philadelphians are capable of not really caring about, but that might give the Fox News twats some pause. Plus, he's a loud obnoxious Jew from the Bronx.

Rick Reuben wrote:Jim Webb as VP sets up an interesting scenario: Jim Webb's wife is Vietnamese. John McCain has defiantly said that he will continue to refer to Vietnamese as 'gooks', because of his time as a POW.

Wow, source or link?

Rick Reuben wrote:

san francisco chronicle, 2-18-2000 wrote:McCain Criticized for Slur

He says he'll keep using term for ex-captors in Vietnam

Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.

"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... N32194.DTL

What a shit.

Rick Reuben wrote:

san francisco chronicle, 2-18-2000 wrote:McCain Criticized for Slur

He says he'll keep using term for ex-captors in Vietnam

Arizona Sen. John McCain refused to apologize yesterday for his use of a racial slur to condemn the North Vietnamese prison guards who tortured and held him captive during the war.

"I hate the gooks," McCain said yesterday in response to a question from reporters aboard his campaign bus. "I will hate them as long as I live."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... N32194.DTL

what a great guy - definitely understand what my parents see in him. 0_o

Rick Reuben wrote:

san francisco chronicle, 2-18-2000 wrote:

Eight-year-old story confirming that McCain's a belligerent hick, posted in a thread about Obama's VP. Okay, I guess.

Minotaur029 wrote:but can you imagine what a lame bumper sticker that would make?

This is the critical thing. This is what is ultimately going to decide the VP nominee.

Let's look at the possibilities shall we?

Obama/Webb This is not going to happen. Too many possible puns about being trapped in the Web of Obama. Not that it would have any meaning, but it sounds slightly sinister, and the press would run with it.

Obama/Richardson Too many fucking syllables.

Obama/Napolitano Whatever.

Obama/Clark A very likely possibility. Clark's single syllable balances well with Obama's three, and also has a nice "American" feel to it which counteracts the foreignness in Obama's name which all those right wingers complain about.

Obama/Rendell Rendell has the word "rend" in it, which just isn't going to bring us together.

Obama/Strickland As has already been pointed out, this is just plain lame.

Obama/Clinton This is a possibility as well, since we've already heard these names about a billion times in the last few months, we're well accustomed to their sounds.

Obama/Edwards Like the above, only having heard the name combination slightly less than a billion times, so perhaps not as numbing to the ears.

Obama/Pryor If Pryor's first name was Richard, it'd be a lock. But he's dead, and so it's not.

Obama/Kaine This sounds like somebody's full name, and not a ticket.

Obama/Warner After AOL-Time got out of the picture.

Obama/Bayh, Obama/Sebelius, Obama/Daschle, Obama/Schweitzer, Obama/Kucinich None of these will happen because they take entirely too much effort to spell correctly.

Obama/Nunn Evokes a pleasant image of the Sound of Music, pleasant for a sing-a-long, but not electable.

So there you have it. The VP contenders. Roll those combinations off your tongue for a little while and see what you like.

Rick Reuben wrote:

cocksure wrote:Eight-year-old story confirming that McCain's a belligerent hick, posted in a thread about Obama's VP. Okay, I guess.

Are you a moron?

At least as often as the next person.

It's relevant to Jim Webb, potential Obama VP.

He's not mentioned in the story, so you'll have to connect the dots for me.