The Chattering Class on VP Picks

RUSH: So what happened out in Arizona over the weekend? Well, McCain had these three guys out there. He had Romney. He had Charlie Crist and Bobby Jindal. The Prowler and the American Spectator: ‘Despite the hype around the Memorial weekend gathering in Sedona at McCain’s place, only governor Bobby Jindal is being given serious consideration for the nomination, say McCain insiders with knowledge of the ongoing vetting process. ‘Jindal is the only one seems to be general agreement that we need him to be the best governor he can be and a leader of the Republican Party more,’ said a McCain campaign advisor. ‘McCain’s gotten a good look at Romney as a competitor…” This is a McCain advisor speaking, anonymously, the American Spectator. ‘McCain’s gotten a good look at Romney as a competitor and as somebody who’s running and supporting his candidacy. Frankly, he can’t tell the difference.’ McCain is not impressed with Romney. Thinks Romney is still out there running for himself. ‘Florida governor Charlie Crist is not considered a serious candidate for much the same reason as Jindal: too new and possibly a future great Republican leader down the road. ‘Guys like Jindal and Crist and women like Sarah Palin in Alaska, we need them to be the next great party leaders long after McCain is gone,’ says a Republican National Committee political consultant.’ So they’re trying to develop a farm team here. So apparently this whole thing out in Sedona was just a show, and it had hardly any substance to it at all. It was just a show to try to capture some headlines. Not a bad idea.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Vice presidential running mates: Everywhere I go, people ask me. I sent an instant message to a friend Friday afternoon wishing my friend and his family a happy Memorial Day weekend. The reply I got: ‘Who is McCain going to pick?’ I wrote back, ‘It’s Memorial Day weekend. I don’t know, and I don’t care! Could you wish me a good weekend, too?’ I didn’t say that, but… So I got up today, I’m doing Show Prep and I’m reading Jonathan Martin’s blog at Politico.com, and he says David Brooks at the New York Times has a piece today, and he references the fact that McCain’s people pay lots of attention to David Brooks — which doesn’t surprise me. Brooks’ piece today is on who Obama and McCain should select. Let me just read a couple of excerpts.

‘Obama will need a vice president who knows the millions of ways that power is exercised and subverted in Washington. He’ll need someone who can be a senior, authoritative presence in a cabinet that may range from Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to the labor leader Andy Stern. He’ll need someone who can supervise his young reformers and build transpartisan coalitions more effectively than Obama has as senator.’ Mr. Brooks, you have just written a paragraph which more appropriately could be analyzed as why Obama should not win. You’ve just said he’s a neophyte and he’s going to need somebody senior and strong to help him through the wicked ways of Washington, DC. Now he says this about McCain:

‘McCain seems to be looking at business leaders like Meg Whitman. But among politicos, the shining stars would seem to be Rob Portman and Tim Pawlenty. Portman is an Ohioan with the mind of a budget director and a mild temperament that is a credit to his Midwestern roots. His resume is ideal: He directed legislative affairs for the first President Bush…’ By the way, I like Portman. I met Rob Portman and I met his wife at dinner at Vice President Cheney’s house, and his wife is just great. You don’t often find that in politicians. The wife is just fabulous. She’s a hoot, and he’s great. He ran the OMB. She’s been a trade representative. Freshman class 1994; 54 years old. He would be a good choice, in my humble opinion. And then Tim Pawlenty, governor of Minnesota, ‘one of the GOP’s leading and most likable modernizers.’ So I’m comparing these two. Like Jonah Goldberg, NRO, National Review Online had a piece last week about who McCain ought to pick and I’ve been doing some contrast. Jonah Goldberg would have McCain pick Sam Nunn, among other possibilities. (interruption) Oh, yeah, you missed me talking about this? Jonah Goldberg would have McCain pick Sam Nunn.

David Brooks would have Obama pick Sam Nunn, among other possibilities. Brooks would have Obama pick Republican Chuck Hagel, among other possibilities. And Jonah Goldberg would have McCain consider Democrats. So I think it’s a little humorous here. We’ve got the conservative intelligentsia at a crossroads here, at cross purposes. So McCain needs to go out and get a Democrat; and Obama, of course, needs to get a Republican, Chuck Hagel. And then we’ve had the introduction of the word ‘transpartisan.’ Obama will have to ‘build transpartisan coalitions more effectively than he has as a senator.’ It’s a little tough sometimes. I like all these guys, but there’s this competition to be the smartest guy in the room, you know, and so they’re under pressure to come up with something nobody else has come up so to be considered brilliant and unique. It must be a lot of pressure.