McCain's Vice President: Just Don't Pick Cheney!

One of These Three? Where's Huckabee?
...And Where's the Logic?

I fell sorry for John McCain. Obama had some incredibly dynamic people to chose his running mate from. They all had the potential to unite the party. Yes, even Hillary. The decision of Joe Biden was, after analysis, very wise and thought out, reflecting Obama's personality as well as his intentions.

But what or whom is McCain going to settle for? And he HAS to settle for someone less than popular: Romney? Lieberman? PAWLENTY??? And there's been no mention of Huckabee. Why not? I wonder...

O.K., sticking to the top three:

Romney is a little bit too risky. The whole question of his Mormonism distances him from many people. His wealth also works against him: McCain (or rather, Cindy) has enough money as it is: how many houses does Romney own? With him, the party will certainly seem plutocratic. McCain may try to mold himself into "man of the people," but Bush already tried that. Didn't really work. He couldn't channel Will Rogers.

Lieberman is the meek-sounding hawk people can't just pin down: he's given an 88% approval from the Human Rights Campaign, but he's against same-sex marriage. His stance on abortion is rather wishy-washy. The strongly Republican NRA hates him. McCain's "maverick" image is slipping and he may want to shore it up with another maverick, but Lieberman has still too much Democratic dust on his coattails.

Who the hell is Pawlenty? The Washington Post has called him the most conservative Minnesota governor since Governor Theodore Christianson in the 1920s. He ran his gubernatorial campaign on the premise of a balanced budget. He slashed government spending to the point of damaging its infrastructure. His appointments for health commissioner and transportation have been disastrous (literally). Although he swore he would never raise taxes, he placed high fees on government agencies and services (like university fees). He won his second term by 1% of the vote.

Added to these three is the speculation that McCain has considered picking a running mate who is primarily pro-choice! McCain has too many sides to his party to make happy, but choosing a pro-choice vice-presidential candidate would spell disaster for his Republican campaign.

Now, if he were a Democrat...

So, Romney, Lieberman, or Pawlenty?
For the Republican Party, it may be "None of the Above." For McCain, it might be "who should I be stuck with?"

Just a thought.