Kerry wants McCain as his VP, sources say
Voters favor Edwards as Kerry running mate: But on ticket he fails to bring win, poll results show
Politics does make for strange bedfellows, but this pairing is not a strange as it may seem- or is it?
WASHINGTON -- John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, has repeatedly and personally asked Sen. John McCain, the independent-minded Arizona Republican, to consider being his running mate, but McCain has refused, people who have spoken to both men said Friday.
The conversations have gone nowhere because McCain believes such a bipartisan ticket would not work and could weaken the presidency, informed sources told the Washington Post.
Kerry, the Massachusetts senator, made his first direct overtures to McCain about three weeks after locking up the Democratic nomination in March and approached him again, in person or by telephone, as many as seven times, as recently as last week, according to one person who has spoken to both.
"It was always artfully phrased, but he asked him on several occasions to serve as his running mate," an individual told the New York Times. "He'd say, `I don't want to formally ask, because I don't want to be formally rejected, but having said that, would you do it?' or `I need you to do it,' or `I want you to do it.'
"It was always phrased in such a way as to give both men plausible deniability."
There is no doubt that this ticket would kick George W. Bush's @$$, and deservedly so. How could you possibly question the security credentials of Kerry- a decorated war hero, or McCain- who spent seven years in a North Vietnamese prison? Both men would bring a gravity and seriousness to the campaign trail that Bush-Cheney couldn't possibly match.
Having said that, is this the direction we want the Democratic Party heading in? Are we to become Republican Lite- tastes great, less filling, and with only half the annoying Conservative ideals of regular Republicans?
I have some very mixed feelings. I have an endless admiration for John McCain, who has taken his wartime experience and used it as his bedrock. The fact that he is a Republican is a matter of minor annoyance. John McCain is a thoroughly decent human being, and is perhaps the least dogmatic Republican in the Senate. John Kerry could certainly do worse.
If this is all primarily about winning, then John McCain is the clearcut best choice as VP. If it's about ideals and idealism and ideology, then John Edwards (what's with all of these Johns, anyway??) is a logical choice. The problem here is that ideals and idealism and ideology rarely win elections, and they certainly won't this November.
