George W. Bush plans to spend this weekend thinking "long and hard".

July 21, 2000 2:53 PM

George W. Bush plans to spend this weekend thinking "long and hard".
Insert your own joke here.
posted by wendell (12 comments total)

Shameless self-promotion department: For coverage of potential Presidential running mates you won't find anywhere else: Part One and Part Two. Which means I'll have to come up with some new material by Monday...
posted by wendell at 2:54 PM on July 21, 2000

"He said his father, former President George Bush, has not advised him on the selection process."

Well, damn it. I was all fired to vote for Little George until I found out he was a liar.
posted by fable at 4:12 PM on July 21, 2000

Took you this long to find out he's a liar? He's a politician. Lying is part of the job description. I think being willing to break all the ten commandments is par for the course too.

He should get down on his knees and beg for McCain. Bush would be a shoe-in if he could get McCain in the co-pilot seat. There would be no stopping the republicans this year if it was Bush/McCain. However, McCain is actually (as politicians go) almost respectable (in some respects). He's as fiesty and corrupt as any politician, but somehow I almost respect McCain. McCain looks too good: he makes Bush look pale in comparison.

They'll pick someone vanilla, with as few questionable scruples and past 'issues' for the media to chew on as possible. They'll look for a little Quayle to go with the little Bush, and will be as boring as they can possibly be. Gore will do pretty much the same thing.

Nader's looking better all the time.
posted by ZachsMind at 5:06 PM on July 21, 2000

If fable doesn't like liars, then I sure hope he wasn't planning on voting for Al Gore!
posted by aaron at 5:36 PM on July 21, 2000

I was pretty dissapointed this morning to find our my (PA) Governor, Tom Ridge wasn't going to be his running mate after all....

But then again, I liked John McCain a lot better, anyway.
posted by CyberPal at 5:38 PM on July 21, 2000

So Nader is by definition a politician now. Therefore by definition that makes him a liar too. So how does that make him look better all the time? I don't think Bush will need McCain to win, but it does definitely make his job a lot easier. If Bush doesn't pick McCain, I wish he'd have some guts and pick Ridge. I also like the idea of Mrs. Dole. Wouldn't it be somewhat ironic if the only way Bob Dole could move into the vice-presidential mansion was thru his wife?
I do believe Bush hasn't listen to advise from his dad for the V.P. spot. It doesn't take a genius to figure out that listening to the advise of someone who picked Dan Quayle isn't exactly a good idea.
posted by gyc at 8:28 PM on July 21, 2000

I'm wondering about the McCain scenario. Wouldn't him joining the Bush campaign make him a sellout? I mean he railed against Bush for campaign finance reform, then to join his campaign...? McCain's one of the few Republicans I respect, and I'd lose a lot of it if he became Shrub's running mate.
posted by owillis at 8:54 PM on July 21, 2000

Alright, webmistress, I confess I'm the biggest linkslut on MetaFilter, so let me point out another source for Dubya's Running Mate.
posted by wendell at 10:16 PM on July 21, 2000

McCain would be a horrible choice for Bush. Although McCain is a media darling, McCain has his own agenda and wouldn't stand for being a genuine number two. Bush needs a unified ticket, and he needs someone he can trust. McCain is not that man. Either Keating or Ridge would be excellent choices since Bush gets along well with both.

I don't know how the abortion views would play out, since I don't really know how many single-issue voters there really are anymore. My gut says, though, that the single issue voters will show up either way, and vote their interests (pro choice for Gore, pro life for Bush) because failing to do so cuts off the nose to spite the face.
posted by mikewas at 10:31 PM on July 21, 2000

McCain will be outspoken, but I believe due to his background in the military, he will be loyal to Bush. I think he has a sense of duty to his party and his country to serve if called upon and I think he'd do a great job. I'm not sure if abortion should be that big of an issue. I mean, neither Bush or Gore are going to do anything with abortion with the exception of the partial-birth abortion argument. Both Bush Sr. and Reagan had chances to appoint very conservative Supreme Court justices but have made pretty moderate choices and based on his record Bush should be the same.
posted by gyc at 11:44 PM on July 21, 2000

Can we draft Michael Moore? He'd make a damn interesting VP for Bush. Stop criticizing me!
posted by Ezrael at 9:12 AM on July 22, 2000

McCain is a non-starter for the simple reason that conservatives don't trust him. Even though he's apparently a staunch conservative himself. (You should see the bitter invective over at freerepublic and other places -- they think he's worse than Castro.) McCain would absolutely be a good choice for the party, because he appeals to the Reagan Democrats (aka independents, swing voters) and has an energized base of support all his own. But that's why they'll never let him on the ticket.

Cheney is probably the consensus candidate. Former Sec of Defense, long Washington experience as a Senator, brings gravitas to the ticket and all that. Never big on the social issues himself so won't piss off the right wing. Etc.
posted by dhartung at 10:40 AM on July 22, 2000