Jonah G suggests that McCain pick Sam Nunn for his VP nominee. David Brooks, among others, made that suggestion to Obama. They could both pick him, I guess, adding needed stability to our political system. Jonah’s full suggestion is that the old guys’ ticket pledge to serve one term, and that pledge would be quite credible given actuarial statistics and such. Mac’s choice of Nunn, of course, would make for great TV. If that wouldn’t trigger a convention rebellion against the presidential nominee, I don’t know what would. I still say McCain should play a bit against type and actually pick a REPUBLICAN.
Let's not play games with Nunn's actual record. Nunn voted AGAINST the first Gulf War, a war of which George Will observed: "If not for this, for what, if not now, when, if this doesn't justify war, what does...."
There aren't any Scoop Jackson Democrats left, and Sam Nunn wasn't one of them back in the day, and isn't one of them now.
Tapping Sam Nunn doesn't "add stability;" he represents stasis, the stasis that led to and resulted in 9/11.
We have to completely break free from business as usual, Nunn represents the past, not a break with the past.
And in terms of the Electoral College, Nunn brings nothing to the table.
Amen to Dan's comment. Nunn was no more a Scoop Jackson Democrat 20 years ago than Webb and Evan Bayh are today. In general, Democrats who are called "moderates" are really moderate in style only, meaning they don't come offend middle American sensibilities in the fashion of Bella Abzug, Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank. These faux "moderates" remind me of nonkosher restaurants that advertise themselves as "kosher style."
I think he should pick Sam Brownback. If not, and he wanted to show some originality, he could pick either James Inhofe or Jean Schmidt. All of these choices would bring much to the "table."
The true face of the current republican party.
Inhofe or Talant would be good. Of course, McCain never does anything good.
One guy I know of who made a good choice for his running mate, was Dan Quayle himself, when he chose his wife Marilyn.
I recall seeing a show about the rise of Quayle which said he proposed to his wife in about 6 weeks. Clearly a man with an eye for talent, and clearly a man capable of decisive action. I wish he had gone back to Indiana, ran for Governor, served 2 terms, then come out, rebranded, to try for the Presidency.
I should have written and sent him a memo back in the day. I often thought of that. Should have done it.
Perhaps we should look beyond the realm of politics for a VP pick.
And Marilyn, I like ya' and would have voted for your husband, but Brownback didn't cover himself with glory with his vote during the immigration "reform" battle. He voted aye, then changed it afterwards. Hardly an instance of a politician displaying the political equivalent to "the Right Stuff."
And he embarrassed himself during the debates, when he became all creepy like when reciting his pro-life position. I'm pro-life too, but I'm not likely to go creeping people out about it. Watching him was almost enough to make one jump ship on the issue. It was that bad. But perhaps the worst from him in the debates was his constant refrain of "The World is Flat, The World is Flat, The World is Flat." How many of the viewers actually connected his line to Tom Friedman's book, and understood what point he was trying to make.
As our English cousins might say, it was "a bad show."
We can do much better than Brownback, ----------------------- and we need to, if we're going to prevail in the general.