You may have heard this:
Even before the Republicans chose a presidential nominee it was widely assumed that Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., would be at the top of anybody’s list of vice presidential candidates. The reasons are obvious: Not only is he young, charismatic and wildly popular with conservatives, but he could also help Republicans win a key state (Florida) and make inroads with Hispanics.
But knowledgeable Republican sources tell me that Rubio is not being vetted by Mitt Romney’s vice presidential search team. He has not been asked to complete any questionnaires or been asked to turn over any financial documents typically required of potential vice presidential candidates.
And it may be connected with President Obama’s new immigration policy:
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) on Monday dropped his plan to push a DREAM Act through Congress before the election — the latest sign of the GOP’s struggle to counter President Obama’s move to stop deporting younger illegal immigrants.
Obama’s decision, which some Republican strategists were describing as a deft political move, highlights the dilemma facing Republican leaders, including presumptive GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
[…]The move also might have downgraded Rubio’s chance of becoming Romney’s vice presidential pick by forcing Republicans to play defense on immigration. Picking Rubio as his running mate would highlight the issue of immigration and deportations, where Romney could be disadvantaged, instead of the economy.
The Republican response to the immigration change seems to be “shut up, and hope it goes away”, which is consistent with Romney’s approach to all criticism. It will go away in English-speaking mainstream media, but I doubt it will on Telemundo and other Spanish-language media.
BGinCHI
I assume this puts Julio Iglesias Jr. back in play.
FFrank
I know there are some but not many Latino Ballon-Juicers. What’s your opinion? I live in Pittsburgh, and the Latino community is just starting to happen here.
Chris
According to something I read on facebook, Rubio is now claiming that he would come to the United States illegally if he had to (e.g. to provide for family or whatever?)
Wow, that guy is burnt crisp toast. What a shame. For once what he had to say actually made a shred of sense.
Villago Delenda Est
Once again, the Anglo media, being utter fucking dumbshits, ignore the fact that Cuban-Americans are NOT simpatico to other Hispanics. They imagine themselves to be aristocracy.
And the other Hispanics KNOW this.
...now I try to be amused
That makes it pure win for Obama, yes?
Betty Cracker
That high, plaintive keening sound coming from the northeast must be Sister Invioletta of NRO, aka K-Lo.
skippy
i am never disappointed by dougj’s headlines.
[golf clap]
well played, sir!
khead
Does Rubio Tuesday have a salad bar?
Comrade Dread
Yeah, I figured that the moment Rubio sort of timidly, halfheartedly suggested that maybe the country shouldn’t shove every brown person they see into a catapult and shoot them over the Rio Grande that he was heading to the GOP sidelines to sit out a few plays.
Hunter Gathers
Don’t discount the fact that Rubio wasn’t exactly Mister Clean when he was in the Florida legislature. That last thing Mittens wants is is for his VP to spend a couple of weeks explaining why exactly he had to have repairs to the family minivan charged to the state GOP’s credit card. Or explaining how mommy and daddy didn’t exactly flee Cuba to escape Castro. Or why he’s no longer Mormon. Or one of the houses he owns going into foreclosure. Or his position on Social Security (he thinks it makes Americans lazy).
Obama shitting all over Rubio’s non-existent bill is the least of his problems.
Betty Cracker
@Villago Delenda Est: Years ago, I was the Anglo spectator to a fascinating conversation on that topic between several friends of Cuban, Puerto Rican, Mexican and Argentinian descent. I didn’t realize the extent of the resentment until then, but boy, is it there, at least in the group I was listening to. And I’m sure the fact that until very recently, Rubio strutted around calling himself an “exile” as opposed to an “immigrant” (he’s neither, of course) isn’t lost on those folks.
samuel
What is with the misleading title! When I first saw that my heart skipped a beat thinking maybe Rubio was caught with a dead hooker in his trunk or something.
As if he was ever a serious contender for VP….lol.
Chances are they already decided on Condoleeza Rice since she checks off all the right pander boxes and has been pre-vetted due to her Bush years. Only problem with her is all the Bush baggage. Being a key part of most of his major screw ups like Iraq.
They maybe be looking at that female hispanic NM Gov assuming she passes preliminary vetting but she probably won’t be of much use with Obama’s latest 3 dimension chess move to outflank them on Latinos.
So if Rice or the NM Gov. don’t make the cut for whatever reason they may just go with some boring white guy as has been the latest meme. Huntsman would be a smart move if he was willing. I get the sense he hates Rmoney as much as most Liberals though.
DougJ
@Villago Delenda Est:
OTOH, Rubio is more sympathetic on immigration than other prominent Republicans.
MattF
I think Romney will have a problem choosing a running mate. After all, your normal politician will have at least one known position on at least one actual issue, and consequently will make Mitt look bad. But who would make Mitt look good? I’m thinking The Donald, but that would be too good to be true.
Valdivia
I just love how this Obama move boxed Rubio, Romney and the Republicans in. Can we think of ways Obama can do the same on other issues like women and students?
DougJ
@samuel:
Are you for real?
shortstop
@BGinCHI: Crying over here.
@Betty Cracker: At this, too.
Villago Delenda Est
@MattF:
I agree, he’s got a hell of dilemma on his hands, here.
On one hand, he needs to placate the drooling morans that are the base. Because they still do not trust him, and probably never will.
On the other hand, he has to appeal to the mushy middle, to have the slightest chance of catching Obama.
He can’t do both. It’s just not possible.
schrodinger's cat
Romney’s VP will be Sarah Palin like, attractive, dumb as a box of rocks and a representative of the 27%. Rubio never had a chance, too sane.
Yutsano
@DougJ: Durf? The Canadian who thinks he knows American politics better than Americans? Ersatz superiority is his whole schtick.
Villago Delenda Est
@DougJ:
Which makes him unacceptable to aforesaid drooling morans. Sympathy for the brown is just right out as far as THEY are concerned.
NonyNony
@samuel:
The Universe does not love me enough for this to happen.
Now I know you’re just trolling.
Gin & Tonic
@samuel:
Two Mormons on the ticket? Not in a million years.
I want whatever you drank for lunch.
Valdivia
@FFrank:
I can attest to the fact that most latinos are super informed on immigration and issues that pertain to them. the media they listen to also give them a lot of information on actual policies (Univision, the spanish language press) instead of the horse race bullshit we get.
Last but not least as has been mentioned already: except perhaps for Venezuelan exiles and some wingnut-like Colombians the whole hispanic community loathes the idea of Cubans determining what US policies are towards latin america and that they get to be citizens right away while the rest of us are treated completely differently by immigration.
General Stuck
Ya Think? In today’s GOP, promoting amnesty is nothing short of a fast ride to irrelevance on anything like a national stage.
It is not the only closed door to the wingnuts and Romney, to maybe reach out a hand for help with different slices of the electorate. Besides white republican males.
Romney is already the champion for the country club republican branch of the GOP. And most any godbothering evangelist type, is going to further piss off the female electorate. And nobody wants much to do with war mongering neocons, not after Iraq and Afghanistan and Boy George fucking those chickens.
He could pick a woman wingnut, I suppose, But a woman VP pick would almost certainly need to be pregnant and barefoot to campaign from the kitchen. Black guy? Mormon and a NiCLANG? I don’t think so.
If I was Mitt, I’d go with a VP to be named later, and fly solo. Or, maybe the Wassila Wingnut could come out of the bullpen to pitch a few innings, after a long rest, and stamp the GOP campaign – SOLD to the grifter’s mark – all over again.
shortstop
@DougJ: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comment from samuel that didn’t showcase a complete lack of perception.
Amir Khalid
Eventually, Mitt must pick someone, right? I think the Daily Beast story I saw yesterday was touting Governor Harkkonnen of New Jersey; but I wasn’t convinced he wanted it. In fact, I’m not convinced any big Republican out there wants it. Seems like no one wants to be that close to Mitt. And it’s going to look bad for him if he has to go begging for someone wiling to be his VP.
Gin & Tonic
Why does the blockquote insert that extra linefeed?
Comrade Mary
@Gin & Tonic: That’s it. Fuck this cover letter, I’m going out to buy some mixer.
jl
” So if Rice or the NM Gov. don’t make the cut for whatever reason they may just go with some boring white guy as has been the latest meme. Huntsman would be a smart move if he was willing. I get the sense he hates Rmoney as much as most Liberals though. ”
Problem with Huntsman is that his wife won’t let him say crazy stuff he doesn’t believe on the stump. At least that is what profile in courage Huntsman says.
A problem with Rubio is that he fits all the stereotypes that make other Hispanics dislike Cubans to the extent that they often say Cubans are not really Hispanic, since they feel themselves superior to other Hispanics
I think that stereotype is unfair, at least for the younger Cubans I have known. But Rubio manages to fit all the negative ones.
As for people with Mexican heritage, when the topic of Rubio comes up, I’ve heard this more than once: “you know what Cubans call us, don’t you?”
A commenter above noted the frictions between most Hispanic groups and Cubans above, and I have noticed the same thing.
Chris
@Valdivia:
The man has some fantastic moves, I gotta give him props for that.
If this one plays out the way he wants it to, that’s a fantastic wedge between the Republican Establishment (including the Koch/Murdoch/Scaife gang that’s funded the teabaggers) and their rabid base. Am I jumping the gun, or is this potentially the most severe intra-party split since the falling-out between the Democrats and the white racists in their historic base?
shortstop
As mentioned in the thread below, Romney’s team has already announced his VP will be “boring,” which means male, white and not young. I really think it’s going to be Portman, but I do think they may be stupid enough to go with McDonnell.
Lev
@samuel: Nope. She’s pro-choice.
Man, has Romney’s “reset” on immigration been clumsy. It’s like he didn’t think through his strategy at all. He hasn’t been able to find a single bit of usable leverage over Obama on the issue, he’s just sort of let it be known that he’s not as harsh as he said he was, without really spelling out the ways in which he’s less harsh. And yet he’s brought it up of his own accord more than once without any plan of where to go with it. It really is true: if there’s no clear throughway to an Obama attack on any given issue, Romney simply can’t do anything with it.
Worst presidential candidate in fifty years.
jl
@Amir Khalid: I think a spreadsheet for VP on GOP ticket more likely every day. There must be at least one program old enough by now.
someofparts
“It will go away in English-speaking mainstream media, but I doubt it will on Telemundo and other Spanish-language media.”
Yet another good reason to double down on learning Spanish.
Chris
@Valdivia:
I don’t blame you.
It’s fucking ridiculous that Cubans get to automatically claim political asylum because of Castro, but that there’s no similar automatic system for people who came here fleeing the Central American wars and death squads of the eighties. Not that Castro’s a great fuzzy teddy bear or anything, but come on…
waynski
@Villago Delenda Est: This. And BTW, there are plenty of Cubans who know the other Hispanics hate them.
joes527
@Gin & Tonic:
Isn’t there some sort of rule where they have to use the buddy system?
shortstop
@Lev:
This keeps happening to him — on his tax returns, on his history with Bain, on his record as governor…all the things he should have been prepared for, especially after six or seven years running for the presidency. He is the worst natural politician I’ve ever seen, and his preparation is just as bad.
shortstop
@jl: Funny!
reflectionephemeral
I went into more detail over at my place, but folks like Villago Delenda Est have it right: roughly 4% of US Hispanics are of Cuban descent. And there’s class & even a bit of a racial divide beyond that national origin divide.
It was always stupid to think that Rubio could budge the national Hispanic vote toward the GOP, which of course is why so many reporters kept on saying otherwise.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Betty Cracker: Did she dream-dump Rich Lowry and start writing “Mrs Katherine Jean Rubio” in her notebook?
Funny thing is, if Rubio had the stones to go full steam ahead on the Dream Act, he’d become the new maverick media darling. Also, too, some Texas Tea Bagger is introducing a word salad bill that will make it illegal for Obama to not deport people, or something, which will probably get a lot of noisy co-sponsors like King and Goehmert.
jl
@someofparts:
“Yet another good reason to double down on learning Spanish.”
Jefferson said everyone in the US should learn Spanish in one of his letters. Mine is so rusty I cannot say I know it anymore.
But good advice, and you can learn it knowing that you are following genuine Founding Father(TM) advice.
Warren Terra
I hear the veep nominee is going to be Ann’s Dancing Horse Rafalca. Just consider the strong points:
1) At least as well informed as Sarah Palin. Eats more newspapers than Palin reads.
2) Tall, Athletic, Good-looking.
3) Female, which is a plus.
4) Definitely born in the USA. Uunless it isn’t; I dunno. But there will be records.
5) An experienced world-traveller, who has represented their country at the highest level.
6) Lost money over the last few years, and so has more of a connection with hardworking Americans who’ve been screwed by Wall Street than does Mitt.
7) Further to the previous point, as an award-winning mare with valuable bloodlines, Rafalca is certain to be molested at the behest of Wall Street.
8) Does what she’s told, which should make the Tea Party happy.
It’s a shoe-in, especially if she brings home Olympic Gold.
gvg
I’ve read other analysis of who would be picked that showed that no one was really helpful to any possible Repub nominee. Rubio is not wildly popular in Florida anyway let alone in the national political scene.
His personal backstory has been lately looking somewhat embellished and just odd anyway.
The voters of republicans as opposed to the guys who are career politicians, have been lashing out at Hispanics lately. During bad economic times it’s historically been hard to prevent. People always think “foreigner” or others are to blame-well non thoughtful people. Hispanics IMO are not appreciating the petty nastiness. I don’t see what the actual Pols can do to prevent it and this position is attached to the R’s so they are stuck.
At other times in our history it’s been different scapegoats, but right now hispanics are getting a bunch of it. I think it’s pointless nationally to try to overturn that view. All they can do is the few that have better sense can state they don’t agree and then try to change it later.
Condi has her own issues. Like I said, the analysis seemed to say nobody was a good fit. In fact I’ve seen simular conclusions on all the actual nominees before Romney clinched it, including Romney himself, and I still think that is correct.
I really don’t know what they’ll do, Both Rubio and Condi have said they weren’t interested.
Chris
@Amir Khalid:
I think Christie is popular enough on his own (and also egotistical enough) that he’d rather save himself for 2016 or some other occasion in which the Republicans are better situated (and when he won’t have to deal with the sort of urgent crisis that’s looming over America right now). I can’t see him playing second fiddle to anyone, especially not when the chances of losing are so high.
(I’ve always called him Jabba myself, but I loved your use of “Harkonnen,” myself).
Yutsano
@Chris:
This is so fucking stupid of him. Rubio has to know the immigration rules are completely different for Cubans than other Latinos. Saying idiotic crap like this will only piss off the other Latino populations who know how difficult being illegal here is.
samuel
@DougJ: Urrum yea, are you? Read much? You call yourself a political blogger?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-koeneman/condoleezza-rice-vice-president_b_1408485.html
http://digitaljournal.com/article/323310
http://news.yahoo.com/vice-president-condoleezza-rice-sounds-pretty-good-lot-202500561.html
http://thehill.com/opinion/columnists/juan-williams/224435-opinion-as-romneys-choice-for-vp-condoleezza-rice-would-change-the-game
shortstop
@gvg: No one will be helpful in snagging a state; it’s been a long time since any VP did that. But there could be some value in picking a mainstream Christian to settle down the fundies, as long as the person he picks isn’t too obviously a ‘bagger who will scare off indies. Portman is a Methodist and McDonnell a Catholic who acts like a Prot fundie.
Tripod
He was tooling around PA with T-Paw last week. His primary performance fits the bill. The only constituency that matters for the VP selection is RMoney, and his ego demands a non-entity. An empty suit/corporate tool never hires the best and brightest or a comer from another division, they have their retinue of yes flunkies and that’s that.
Culture of Truth
@Warren Terra: Young, charistmatic, never commits a verbal gaffe, no religion problems, has many relatives who have retired to Florida, physically fit, able to handle that 3:00 phone call since he sleeps standing up…
Chris
@Yutsano:
I don’t think he’s saying that it’s something that would have happened to him as a Cuban. It’s more of a hypothetical, like, if he were in the shoes of the non-Cuban immigrants, he’d be doing the same thing.
Here’s the link. The quote is “Many people who come here illegally are doing exactly what we would do if we lived in a country where we couldn’t feed our families. If my kids went to sleep hungry every night and my country didn’t give me an opportunity to feed them, there isn’t a law, no matter how restrictive, that would prevent me from coming here.”
Maude
@Betty Cracker:
Ecuador and Mexico also. Saw that on jobs I was working.
reflectionephemeral
@Yutsano:
Assumes facts not in evidence.
Some in my family have worked with refugees in the US; they report that some refugees from Africa are exposed to plenty of, if not explicitly racist, at least somewhat racist-y views about African Americans. Everything’s new to them, they’re often plunked down in in areas with more whites than anyone else, so they can wind up learning an awful lot more about “whites’ views about people of African descent” than “the African American experience”.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised to learn that Rubio has no idea about others’ experiences.
samuel
@shortstop: You seem to have confused me for someone offering a unique opinion rather than re-iterating what has been written in dozens of credible political news sources.
Perhaps you don’t read either? Hello! This is a political blog right. I would think commenters would at least…you know….be informed!
See previous post (awaiting moderation) assuming DougJ will approve something that makes him look like the uninformed moron he appears to be…..like you.
Mike E
He’s gonna pick Bain as his running mate, BJers. You didn’t see this coming? For shame!
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Tripod: I could see Romney picking Pawlenty, and I think you’re absolutely right about the only constituency that matters being Romney’s ego. I could just as easily see Romney using him as a surrogate, putting him through all the vetting, and then pulling the rug out from under him at the last minute as revenge for the “Obamneycare” thing.
amk
what fucking plan ? what fucking push ? what fucking congress ?
Maude
@shortstop:
#48, Heard on Bloomberg radio this morning that the last time a VP carried states was Kennedy’s pick of LBJ, who carried the south.
MikeJ
@Warren Terra: Teabaggers aren’t going to vote for somebody who may be related to an Arabian.
quannlace
********
Similar sentiment in the 2008 campaign, when there was speculation on Bloomberg being Obama’s VP pick. A black guy and a Jew on the same ticket? Crimeney!
RAVEN
@Chris: Isn’t that how Jean Valjean
Got started?
Forum Transmitted Disease
@samuel: As always, you are staggeringly wrong.
Her only “problem”, as the GOP sees it, is that she is gay. Worse yet, she is gay and not out. And that information will come out in a campaign.
smintheus
@gvg: Even before Rubio took himself out of the running emphatically, and before the myth of his family’s immigration story was exposed, some other hints I’d seen left me wondering whether Rubio had skeletons in his closet that he knew would be exposed in a vice presidential campaign.
catclub
Anybody else hear the actual news about a Latina Television personality endorsing Obama.
Given the article in the Washington Monthly that the most important person for opinion is the head news guy at Telemundo, this might be relevant, too.
Culture of Truth
My gut says Paul Ryan. and I have 100 trillon bacteria to back me up.
jl
“Two Mormons on the ticket? Not in a million years.”
Would remind too many people of two missionaries knocking on their door.
If they stood on the same podium in conservative black suits and ties, you would hear people cracking up all over the country.
/apologies for unPC snark on Mormons.
shortstop
@Maude: And some political scientists I know don’t think LBJ even did that much for Kennedy’s ticket. I had a long, late-night discussion with one who made a convincing case against it.
@Tripod: @Jim, Foolish Literalist: Hmmm, I guess I could see Romney picking Pawlenty, too. Either way, I’m not budging from my prediction of boring white guy.
MikeJ
Romney will take the loser of Ukraine v England.
danimal
@Tripod: Yep. T-Paw checks the same boxes as Portman, but T-Paw has the advantage over Portman cuz Portman was a budget director for he-who-shall-not-be-named. If you are going for boring, you really can’t beat T-Paw. Also, too, T-Paw doesn’t really have a day job these days.
Brachiator
@DougJ:
Another winner. Well done.
His statements here will probably hurt him with the extremist wing of the GOP, but actually help him long term as a political figure.
catclub
In North Carolina they think Burr might be on the list.
He is a GOP senator from there that you have never head of.
I think Mitt is extremely unlikely to pick someone who might upstage him. That puts Christie, Ryan and Rubio off the list.
Walker was probably never on it.
trollhattan
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
But, but, but…she plays piano!
Why not go across the Bay and snag John Yoo? He can sew up the always-contested Korean despot vote.
Warren Terra
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
I don’t know that Condi is Gay. I doubt you do, either. She has had boyfriends, and for all the insinuations I’ve never heard of girlfriends. I suspect she may be functionally neuter – just not especially bothered with the issue. Not, of course, that it’s actually any of my business what she does with consenting adults. It’s really her screwing of Iraq that bothers me.
shortstop
@trollhattan: You are particularly funny today.
trollhattan
@jl:
It would be helpful if they placed two bicycles on the dais.
waynski
@Forum Transmitted Disease: I thought she was dating Jack Donneghy. No?
DougJ
@Yutsano:
Oh, he’s durf. I see.
Zifnab
@DougJ:
Consider McCain’s deep analysis of Caribou Barbi before her selection. I’m not saying Rice would be a sane or sensible pick. But I do think its exactly the kind of “Stick it to the lie-bruls! This proves we’re not assholes!” move Republicans doggedly insist can work.
Romney likes being in the driver’s seat, so he’s not going to want a handler like Bush needed Cheney. That rules out a lot of the guys like Crist and Mitch Daniels who will want a cut of the action. He wants to go the McCain route and pick an empty suite whose only purpose is to pander to a particular demographic.
Condi Rice would win him a news cycle, she knows how to toe the line so she’d never contradict him, and she gives Romney a black female human shield to hide behind on his atrociousness domestic policies. She’s the model pick for Romney. If he doesn’t pick Rice, he’ll pick someone near enough like her.
Amir Khalid
@jl:
I fixez for u.
FlipYrWhig
@reflectionephemeral: I had a student from West Africa who had moments of dejection about how everyone in America seemed to expect her to act like a black American, which she said emphatically she was not.
Warren Terra
@danimal:
It’s not going to be T-Paw. Rmoney may not want to be overawed by his running mate, but he wants someone he can spot in an otherwise empty room. Pawlenty is such a charisma vacuum that the yard signs bearing both names would appear blank to the naked eye, and he’s got no compelling accomplishments or biography to make up for it. He doesn’t even have great influence over his own (swing) state.
Gin & Tonic
@shortstop: Funny, as I’m reading Robert Caro’s latest book, and just last week got through the section about the 1960 convention and election, and indeed Johnson did not deliver an awful lot; he delivered Texas only through some of the creative accounting that got him his Senate seat in the first place.
Patricia Kayden
So the only reason the Repubs/Romneybot 2.0 was considering Rubio was because he is Latino and could attract Latino voters? Now that his usefulness is questionable, kick him to the curb. Great. Says a lot about what the Repubs think about Latinos.
trollhattan
@shortstop:
Gracias! “I’d like to start by thanking my coffee…”
FlipYrWhig
@Zifnab: Who else is like her, though? How many black female veterans of the Bush administration are there?
JR
I love all the complaints that somehow the President undercut Marco Rubio on immigration reform. Not for nothing, but you can check thomas.loc.gov and see that, of the 53 bills and amendments Rubio has sponsored, ain’t none of them the DREAM Act.
To paraphrase Aaron Sorkin: you really don’t need a forensics team to get to the bottom of this. If Rubio had crafted immigration reform, he’d have crafted immigration reform.
Jim, Foolish Literalist
@Warren Terra: all true, but have you ever seen Rob Portman on your TeeVee? If he were older you’d swear he was the inspiration for Eeyore.
FlipYrWhig
@JR: The whole butthurt reaction is stunning. It keeps being “WAAAH, the meanie mean-head president should have worked with us.” Well, too late, dickfaces.
Yutsano
@JR: But he was TALKING about it, you see. Then THAT ONE came along and stole his pretty words. That big mean bully!
Martin
Condi is the only VP pick I worry about. Not because she’s black, but because she’s pro-choice.
But she’s not going to be the pick for that very reason. Condi just isn’t enough of a culture warrior to balance out a guy that seems to be completely unaware of the existence of cultures.
Mark B
Honestly, the Republicans are going all in with the hand they have which is to turn out the white racist vote and suppress hispanic and black voters. They aren’t going to get any hispanics to vote for them, so putting one on the ticket has no value. It’s going to be a white male. Not sure whether they go Catholic or Protestant at this point, but probably Protestant.
J.A.F. Rusty Shackleford
@Forum Transmitted Disease:
Condeleezza Rice is not going to be on Romney’s ticket. Rice is smart enough and decent enough to not want to be used to take down Barack Obama.
Rice’s main problem is that “Condoleezza Rice” sounds like a Mexican dish. Maybe we should put her on a plate and send her to Mexico so the Mexicans will eat her. White Power!
Schlemizel
The attack vector on Obamas order has been that he is acting above the law and again ruling by fiat. The cartoon in this mornings Minneapolis Red Star had him in royal garb at a podium labeled “King Obama” with his hand over the mouth of a guy labeled “Congress”.
Now you have to ignore a lot of the inactivity of the last few years to buy that take on it but then again that is exactly the type of voter the GOP wants so it might just work.
Rage & Self-Involvement
Actually, the prospect of Romneybot putting Condi Rice on the ticket is not completely beyond the realm of possibility, especially if Rubio is now in eclipse.
Don’t get me wrong: She was the worst National Security Advisor and the worst Secretary of State in US history, but all of that is beside the point in this phucked up day and age. She’s still the darling of the Press Corpse and they would ooh and ah over her on the Sunday morning talk shows for weeks. (K-Thug wouldn’t, but the rest would.) Furthermore, the chance to put a House Negro on the ticket against Obama might be more temptation than some Repuke strategists can resist.
Put it this way. If Romneybot wants a “game changer” he’ll go with Rice or that other Press Corpse darling Paul Ryan. If he wants a “safe” running mate, he’ll go with Senator Portman.
General Stuck
@Martin:
Plus, she is attached at the hip to George Bush. The former republican president, currently chained to a roof beam in Karl Rove’s attic.
shortstop
@Mark B: Yep. And let’s not forget that Romney is quite exotic enough to the white rube voters (as opposed to establishment goopers) they’re trying to attract. Putting another Other on the ticket will not help him.
Schlemizel
@danimal: Actually he does – he is working for some fracking outfit. I believe that would be a negative in a national campaign but then again that may just be me.
Valdivia
@Chris:
I would say if it plays out as it is already it is.
and to your other comment: salvadorans and nicaraguans get some special treatment but nothing like the Cubans
Amir Khalid
off topic: just a reminder to he powers that be, to ask that they ensure Randinho’s Euro 2012 open thread posts on time.
Turgidson
@Warren Terra:
She was the David f’ing Brooks of the GWB administration. Did what she could to put a smiling face on the atrocities. She was somewhat less insane than Rummy and Cheney, but that’s….a low bar.
Yutsano
@Valdivia: Wet foot-dry foot is the most inequitable immigration policy imaginable. The optics of a Cuban talking about being illegal when it’s virtually impossible must stick in the crop of other Latinos in the US legal or otherwise.
Tripod
@Jim, Foolish Literalist:
Yep, vindictive prick is all part of the package.
jl
@Amir Khalid:
“ensure Randinho’s Euro 2012 open thread posts on time.”
The futball frenzy builds. Dreadful sight to behold.
Forum Transmitted Disease
Well, the GOP veep candidate won’t be Daniels.
MikeJ
@jl: I was too subtle with my earlier nudge.
shortstop
Steve “Libertarianism Means Never Having to Say Pronouns Other than ‘I’ and ‘Me'” Chapman of the Chicago Tribune is going to have a large sad that his fave VP candidate, “Mario” Rubio, is not going to make it.
Comrade Mary
Rice was one of the people who let 9/11 happen, too. Many reasons there are not to choose her.
catclub
@Gin & Tonic: “he delivered Texas only through some of the creative accounting that got him his Senate seat in the first place.”
Wait a minute! I thought it was a really close election.
If he does NOT deliver Texas, that would switch the margin to
279/243 (where 261 is half the electoral votes). Then Illinois becomes the entire election. I think that is a pretty effective argument that it mattered in LBJ’s case.
ETA: Vermont went for Nixon in 1960. Times have changed.
some guy
is this a great country, or what? a place where the child of illegal immigrants can one day become a Senator.
USA, USA, USA!
rlrr
@Comrade Mary:
“But 9/11 was all Clinton’s fault.”
— Fox “News” and talk radio
Valdivia
@Yutsano:
exactly. it is the most tone deaf thing you can do. have a cuban tell the rest of the hispanic community about immigration.
shortstop
Rice has said repeatedly, and with evident full conviction, that she will not run for VP, no how, no way. Do we not believe her? I know, I know, but her MO during the Bush years was not so much to outright lie, as many of her administration-mates did, as to constantly change the subject.
shortstop
@Valdivia: This sort of thing is why I think we have a few years before we need to start worrying about Latinos voting for Republicans again.
Brachiator
@Zifnab:
Is anyone outside of the Village Twilight Zone talking about Rice as a potential VP?
I can’t imagine anyone with a real brain even considering such a thing. She has no political capital, never having run for any elective office in any universe that we know of.
She doesn’t particularly move the needle for either black voters or women voters. Since she has never been married, she doesn’t have any particular appeal to soccer moms, or even dressage moms.
Despite her loyalty to Dubya, she has been slammed as being too weak by Darth Cheney.
And since her supposed strength is foreign policy, I don’t see much to the idea that she might be of any value in providing a shield for Romney’s baleful domestic policies.
So aside from idle chitchat between Beltway reporters while they are waiting for drinks, this seems like a whole bunch of nothing.
Valdivia
@shortstop:
it’s actually quite true that if Obama is able to do even more for immigration issues on his second term and the Republicans once again go nuclear on nativism it would be the kind of thing that locks up that demographic for a good generation.
Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God
Romney’s been sending Pawlenty in as a proxy to some of the morning shows. And he’s been sending Newt to live campaign events.
I’m wondering if these double as ‘interviews’ for the VP slot, to see which is the best proxy. Newt would be an excellent attack dog for Romney, though I get the sense they don’t much care for each other.
Pawlenty, on the other hand, is a little more mild mannered. More suited to lying for Romney on the cooler medium of teevee. Pawlenty also has the added advantage of being unlikely to outshine Romney in terms of personal charisma.
The Dangerman
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:
Newt can’t be the choice if there is talk of a government shutdown over the deficit.
Rubio was a former Mormon, which probably DQ’s him, let alone his lying about his Family history.
Condaleeza Rice isn’t married, is she (wink, wink)? No way that plays to the hard right.
ETA: I think anyone with close ties to the Administration that will never be named will be DQ’d (read: Portman, Budget buster).
Villago Delenda Est
@Judas Escargot, Acerbic Prophet of the Mighty Potato God:
Newt WOULD be an excellent attack dog, and will appeal to the base, particularly all those people who voted for him in SC (and their compatriots throughout the South) who want someone who will get in the face of that uppity usurper squatting in the WHITE House.
Of course, I don’t know if the Rmoney team has the balls to make such a choice. It seems, well, risky. And Rmoney is about minimizing risk. To the point of extracting guarantees that if he fucks up, that won’t hurt his finances or his reputation.
Gin & Tonic
@catclub: What I meant (or what I mean Caro was saying) is that LBJ did not “deliver” Texas in what would be interpreted today by that statement. He delivered it by use of methods which probably would be unavailable today to any veep candidate.
Gravenstone
@Chris:
It’s simple, most of those wars were either a result of our interference in the 70s and 80s (and in some cases, much farther back), or they governments killing off their populace were ones we otherwise supported. Can’t be rewarding folks for escaping our own allies…
trollhattan
Our Prankster Who Would be President wants to keep on keepin’ on.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/233491-romney-wont-call-on-supporters-to-stop-heckling-at-obama-campaign-stops
Redshift
@Comrade Mary: More precisely, she was the president’s national security advisor during the worst national security failure since Pearl Harbor. In any sane government, she would have immediately resigned in disgrace and never been considered remotely eligible for any public position ever again.
However, that would require a political party where a sense of shame exists.
Redshift
@Villago Delenda Est: Exactly. Virtually the only actual consistent “principle” Romney has is risk-avoidance. If you don’t accept that you need a McCain-style “hail mary,” the first rule of choosing a VP is that he/she must not overshadow the presidential candidate.
Trying to imagine someone who fits that qualification for Romney boggles the mind. And thus we see people like Pawlenty getting serious consideration. About the only thing he has to recommend him is that he is actually more boring than Romney.
catclub
@Gin & Tonic: gotcha. point taken.
But he could still have been picked because he _could_ deliver Texas.
Rhoda
Do you all remember the Browkaw ad on Newt that Romney ran? No, that man will not be the VP nominee. If he’s doing Romney events, it’s to get right with tptb and get back on the wingnut gravy train.
gene108
@Zifnab:
Rice has said slavery was bad and so was segregation. From what I’ve seen of her, in public appearances, I can actually see her stating Obama was born in Hawaii, for example and the base would have none of that.
She’s for the most part a moderate on most issues, when compared to the current crop of GOOPer’s.
I doubt she’d accept, if offered.
She has a cool gig, why spoil it to put up with the thinly veiled racism, she’d have to endure or support in trying to win an election. As a political appointee she only had to rub shoulders, with others of similar or equal educational accomplishments and not have to pander to people outside of her co-workers.
cckids
@shortstop:
That would be great. As someone here once noted, stand him by Romney & they look like the couple on top of the cake at a gay wedding.
JWL
I predict it’ll be Ryan, or one of the Virginians.
good2go
Research polling sez Rubio would not have made any difference in turning out Latino/a votes for Romney. Nada.
PurpleGirl
@Betty Cracker: In college I dated a Cuban. His mother was surprised at how good my mother’s Spanish was (such clean Castillian). It wasn’t, and I quote his mother, “that Puerto Rico monkey talk”. Yes, other Spanish speakers know exactly how older Cubans viewed them. And they have long memories at the very special treatment Cubans received on coming to the US.
negative 1
@JWL: Agreed, and most likely Ryan. They’ll want to go all economy, all the time and Ryan gives them the best chance to do so. Also, for all everyone thinks he’s a ‘rising star’ he’s actually just about at his sell-by date, so why not use him? People already have very polarizing opinions of him, including that he doesn’t care about them and that he will be bad for the elderly (those who don’t like him feel that way, can’t find the poll I’m looking for). Because of this, Ryan won’t ever be team R’s choice for president even if he does run (he’s really a useful idiot, and they’ll find another one without the attached negatives very soon). However, that helps Rmoney with his base, whom he needs help with.
Not that I think any of you are serious, but it would literally be impossible for them to pick Rice without discussing Bush, who is like republican Voldemort at this point. They will nominate me before they go with her.
The Dangerman
I could see Ryan; he will doom the ticket (Medicare Vouchers will never sell, grandfathering people in or not), but I could see him as the VP.
How about Dick Lugar? Sure, he lost to some Tea Cracker, but at least he brings some Foreign Policy chops to the ticket.
HyperIon
No mention of Rubio’s Rivera problem.
That might have something to do with it also.