Mitt Romney Running Mate Speculation Thread

put your wagers on the table here

Assuming he doesn't go with a tree from Michigan--which would automatically make him the charismatic half of the ticket--I'll bypass the obvious choice (which probably will happen) and say Christie.

Romney/Chamblis '12

In 2010 and 2011 I said Marco Rubio; now I'm sure I'm wrong.

Does anyone still think Mitch Daniels is a legitimate possibility? I'd hate to think so.

Nikki Haley but I wish Romney would hike the Appalachian Trail instead if you know what I mean

isn't there a rule against having two such white people on the same ticket?

Romney/Miers '12

new "CW" is he can't afford to pick someone less boring than he is!

guessing Jindal

intrade:

Marco Rubio to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
22.2%
Chris Christie to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
10.7%
Bob McDonnell to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
7.9%
Paul Ryan to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
6.0%
Rob Portman to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
13.0%
Mitch Daniels to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
3.8%
John Thune to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
3.0%
Bobby Jindal to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
2.5%
Rand Paul to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
2.0%
Rick Santorum to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
2.8%
Tim Pawlenty to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
2.4%
Ron Paul to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
2.4%
Jeb Bush to be Republican VP nominee in 2012
1.9%

girl power!

I don't buy christie at all, dude is poison

Jeb Bush at 1.9% has to be overrated. Why would he go anywhere near this election?

is Portman actually a reasonable person as portrayed by Wikipedia or does he have a "wait that dude totally ate a baby" moment

is Nikki Haley not on that list because she's pretty much flat out said she won't take it?

i'm still thinking it'll be Rubio

er she's 1.5%

I didn't include all the scragglers

sexist

lol

I find it amusing that Gingrich isn't on that Intrade list--which is completely accurate, but also kind of insulting, that he doesn't even get the fake token-support that Ron Paul does.

eh ron paul is always a little irrationally priced on intrade because of ron paul people

to me this comes down to whether mitt is thinking about this like he's a boss looking for 'the best new employee' for his political campaign firm or if he's thinking about this as a consulting decision and dehumanizing the vp completely...if it's #2 he'll prob go w/ rubio

how much more can you dehumanize the veep I wonder

i have no insight into this at all. rubio seems like an obvious non-pick but i haven't got any better ideas.

why don't you send Romney an email?

i guess it needs to be someone superficially exciting to the press and more 'substantively' exciting to the base. so yeah rubio i guess.

xp lol

I'm looking at that list and thinking "no chance in hell" for pretty much all of them

funny the logic of this seems to push toward another "shake things up!!!" kind of pick.

Romney/Arpaio '12

^^ finally, a ticket we can get behind

the prob is he still hasn't won over the base but any pick that will is gonna alienate a lot of people. if he wanted to 'shake things up' and stay on msg he could pick some CEO w/ no political trail maybe. meg whitman woulda been an okay choice if she had won california.

girl power!

Is Jan Brewer a possibility at all?

nooo way

I guess if Romney's interested in frightening the few "Latinos" who'll consider him.

Yeah, I guess that goes along with the first sentence in your last post, iatee.

I hate Paul Ryan so much. Even if his politics weren't reprehensible, he's just completely smarmy.

Romney/Duffy '12

idk, my leaning toward Rubio mostly comes from the math of how many Latino votes Romney will need to even have a chance and even though he's never going to convert those kind of numbers, i can still see them going with Rubio to at least keep up an appearance

that kind of calculation betrays a lack of understanding of the (lack of) solidarity of the USA Latino community...which means it's likely just how the Romney camp is thinking

I thought Rubio was already deemned LINO

Has anyone any evidence that Rubio's appeal to Hispanics extends beyond Cuban-Americans?

can we just put the kibosh on the whole "*INO" thing now

the prob is he still hasn't won over the base but any pick that will is gonna alienate a lot of people.

this is the beauty of the situation

I think Santorum might have picked Jindal, but I think Romney'll want somebody more Romney-ish - I assume that the party will have figured out that the "match an evidently sane candidate with a totally batshit veep" strategy was a non-starter. McDonnell seems the savviest pick: he's Catholic, southern, ex-military, vocal Romney supporter

right, Alfred, that's my point

Romney/Maturo Jr '12

xpost

yes, please. I figured by using it in the stupidest situations we can get it out of the running

Hologram Tupac is the obvious answer

that kind of calculation betrays a lack of understanding of the (lack of) solidarity of the USA Latino community...which means it's likely just how the Romney camp is thinking

exactly! i don't think they'll do it because it IS the smart thing to do, they'll do it because they THINK its the smart thing to do.

if this was a poll I'd vote Paul Ryan. he plays to the economy theme and has social con bona-fides over Christie who's squishy on guns and gays

can we not use the adjective "squishy" to describe Christie on anything

Christie squishy on gays, film at 11

how about gelatinous

how bout Wellesian?

jeezus, and it's only 4 months til the pick is made

Hmm, maybe he'll pick the person in charge of helping him pick the right person?

Sorry, I don't know which current politics thread is the right one, but does anyone else get the impression that all or most of Mitt's battles have been fought for him? I'm never been impressed by the guy on the stump or stage - too much frenzied stammering, unconvincing line readings, poor turns of phrases and avoidable gaffes - but I wonder if all will simply get worse now that the spotlight is his and his alone, let alone once compared with Obama, who thrives on all those rhetorical fronts.

Ohio senator Portman maybe not

http://www.ontheissues.org/oh/rob_portman.htm

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/10/the-portman-bubble.html

National Journal’s Major Garrett flatly declared that Portman will get the nod, in part because he and Romney have a “genuine rapport.” Garrett acknowledged the downside:

“Portman’s a bore, and their ticket would be boredom squared, or squares squared; he offers nothing to women voters or Latino voters; he carries the taint of Bush-Cheney policies; and he’s not conservative enough for the Tea Party. To one degree or another, these are all valid complaints. But Romney has the same perceived ‘flaws’ and he’s going to win the nomination.”

The Portman boomlet picked up momentum when Politico ran this headline: “Rob Portman tops veepstakes.” The evidence for this? “The name on the lips of most GOP strategists is Ohio senator and former George W. Bush administration official Rob Portman.”

Newsweek’s own Paul Begala was nothing if not definitive:

“You heard it here first: Mitt Romney is going to select Rob Portman, the junior senator from Ohio, to be his running mate…I’m betting that Romney’s choice will reflect who he is: a bloodless technocrat who wants to double down on trickle down.”

"Newsweek's Paul Begala."

offers nothing to women voters or Latino voters

New GOP slogan.

to continue the Hillary 2008: Needs More Kahlua theme from the other head

http://cdn.theatlanticwire.com/img/upload/2012/04/16/RTR30SAA/large.jpg

not true, Newt will offer marriage and/or yard work to both

xp

GIS for Portman suggests I search for Kelly Ayotte

I like the two gay staffers behind HRC already wondering which hotel room they're going back to

what is HRC holding?

She's gonna flick a bottle cap at somebody.

a popper

missing a comma

what, is HRC holding?

The SOS doesn't have all the nuclear codes, right? These photos are starting to make me nervous.

After a few drinks Clinton is known to chuck D batteries at staffers. [citation needed]

lol, these photos are making me wish I'd gone to college with HR because she'd fit right into my peer group

After a few drinks Clinton is known to chuck D batteries at staffers. [citation needed]

don't believe the hype

how low can she go?!

CNN just went through this--all the usual names plus, because Romney's supposedly losing women so badly, Condoleezza Rice. Meanwhile, Ralph Reed, who's been creeping me out for two decades, says that Romney needs more unscripted moments, so people get to know him better. Hasn't every one of Romney's self-inflicted wounds the past few months been an unscripted moment?

hush, let Ralph have his illusions

I'm gonna go with Christine O'Donnell.

For a split second I thought she was aiming for a dartboard across a crowded bar.

I'm gonna go with Christine O'Donnell.

Lord Jesus, I know You are disappointed in me and that my prayers do not ascend to Your great throne. But hear, O Lord, the words of your servant, Deric W. Haircare. He is a good man, and his idea has much lol to recommend it. Christine O'Donnell, Lord. ttyl w/b

rubio's incredibly lukewarm (=overtly unimpressed) endorsements of romney probably mean he's out, no?

mitt's not afraid of the witch

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/04/13/odonnell-and-romney.html

"i mean, i wish it had been somebody else -- but anybody on the republican ticket will be better than obama" is what he said on the TV IIRC.

rubio's incredibly lukewarm (=overtly unimpressed) endorsements of romney probably mean he's out, no?

Rubio, a protege of Jeb Bush's, surely can read the tea leaves as assiduously as Madison did Gibbon: both look towards 2016.

nah 2012 is actually prob a more winnable election than 2016

The candidate with no incumbent will be less for grabs than the one with an incumbent?

Sean Hannity agrees.

xpost

the gop will still be in basically the same shape it is today, prob worse + the economy will be better + lotsa strong dem candidates

haha how are we defining "strong"? I see a landscape in which "centrism" will triumph over honesty about economics.

It was ever thus -- I just don't know what there is to look forward to in 2016 besides better Nicki Minaj records.

"strong" = "capable of winning a national election"

imo fuck centrism, just look like you make sense and hope that the tea party/weirdo social conservatives/regional wackos continue to keep looking extra crazy and push your platform

what's the platform?

Dems have tread water for years. Tea Party crazies make it easier for Dems to score Halperin-esque "tactical" victories.

well I never said "a solidly left-wing politician is going to win the presidency" but the 2008 and 2012 gop primaries were not aberrations, they're the new norm.

guys

Mitt Romney running mate speculation thread

not "revisit overarching theories of how the political process works" thread

sincerely, Thread Cop

in conclusion rubio would take that vp spot in a second

christie and romney would make such a delightful pairing, i pray for this

I know Christie's belligerent, and a bully, and a loudmouth, but I think the main thing is that he gives the appearance of being jolly. And Mitt + jolly is a winning combination.

he gives the appearance of being jolly when you see him in a picture maybe, because jolly is just another word for fat, but when you see him actually open his mouth he just comes off like your asshole boss

That jolly appearance would last about a week. He'd flip out pretty quickly on somebody who asked a question he didn't like. xp

yeah christie is a non starter, itd be awesome tho, he is so huge and belligerent, amazing contrast w/the mittster

I know Christie's belligerent, and a bully, and a loudmouth, but I think the main thing is that he gives the appearance of being jolly. And Mitt + jolly is a winning combination.

because he's fat...?

veep choices are often asked to be the more strident and attacking half of the ticket, so christie's being naturally belligerent may not disqualify him. if I were willard, I would hope to have a veep who would choose his fights strategically, rather than just going at folks like a guard dog hurling himself against a chain link fence.

if romney needs to repair his relationship with evangelicals, christie is NOT the way to go.

I would think Christie would be a bridge too far for Mitt - it's true, your running mate gets to be the guy who gives the appearance of "shooting from the hip" or whatever but Christie's just tone-deaf. It's easy to imagine his gaffes becoming the day's main story again and again, and to imagine him wanting to double down on whatever the gaffes were. Altho post-Palin that may well be the strategy, some "I stand by everything I'll ever say" dude, but I think team Obama would completely tee off on somebody like Christie

like didn't he tell somebody in a college crowd to suck his dick recently? in which case I join lag∞n in praying for Christie to join the Romney ticket

I was kidding around with the jolly stuff...I'm mostly basing my Christie prediction on how much time the two of them were spending together for a while there, and the (probably mistaken) belief that Romney will want to pick someone who's not as bland as he is. And, as Aimless points out, he might, with some discipline, be a good attack guy. But then I can quickly think of other reasons why he'd be a poor choice. The one thing I don't think anyone's mentioned is that the best pick today (politically) might not be the best pick in August--it'll depend where the race stands then.

Right you are. Mitt and his team will look at a lot of polling and focus group info before they make their choice, and they won't drop a clue until the convention, other than to float the names of people they think might help them for having been mentioned on the short list (without attribution, natch).

pretty sure nominating a Muslim to a judge position disqualifies Christie from national republican political nomination in 2012, no?

One of the CNN people--Crowley, I think--said that with so much media overkill today, "surprise" is at a premium, and that all the people who are at the top of the list right now may have been talked-out by August. As always, I sat in my chair and thought, "Hmmmmn, sounds reasonable."

xp
not when the incumbent's middle name is hussein.

that's sooooo 2008!

even if mitt goes for a surprise & game changing vp pick which he v well feel is necessary come convention time you can bet it will be v well researched and prudent

yeah like I said upthread thematically I think mitt's 'game change' temptation would be a non-politician

he should pick someone from wall st

Or else K street.

Romney/Bronze Bull '12

I was about to jokingly say Elizabeth Dole but she's too old this election cycle

Not sure how crucial it will be for the #2 to have ironclad rightwing credentials - they're not running a primary campaign anymore and there's nobody who will be running attack ads calling out someone for their Muslim-hiring ways or whatever.

he should pick someone from wall st

― lag∞n, Monday, April 16, 2012 8:30 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

shia leboeuf?

romney/boykin '12

Not sure how crucial it will be for the #2 to have ironclad rightwing credentials - they're not running a primary campaign anymore and there's nobody who will be running attack ads calling out someone for their Muslim-hiring ways or whatever.

― Doctor Casino, Monday, April 16, 2012 9:39 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a lot of people are already supporting mitt though gritted teeth, if he chooses someone heterodox they may just throw their hands up

he should pick someone from wall st

― lag∞n, Monday, April 16, 2012 8:30 PM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

shia leboeuf?

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Monday, April 16, 2012 9:41 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

respect

yeah lagoon's getting at what I meant. the base may full-well get behind Romney come October, but it won't be because he picked someone who doesn't pass the purity test.(which is why I lean towards Ryan as the eventual guy, though a nom-politician is intriguing if far-fetched)

Mitt Romney/Miskel Spillman '12

Not sure how crucial it will be for the #2 to have ironclad rightwing credentials - they're not running a primary campaign anymore and there's nobody who will be running attack ads calling out someone for their Muslim-hiring ways or whatever.

― Doctor Casino, Monday, April 16, 2012 9:39 PM (1 minute ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

a lot of people are already supporting mitt though gritted teeth, if he chooses someone heterodox they may just throw their hands up

― lag∞n, Monday, April 16, 2012 9:43 PM Bookmark

I'd like to think that but it's also like - who is going to go out of their way to loudly and repeatedly remind the Republican electorate that this person is heterodox, remember the gritted teeth etc...I mean compared to the ads Mitt will be running round the clock reminding them of the importance of BEATING OBAMA I'm just not convinced it can do much either way....

who was the last veep choice who might've tipped an election?

don't mean shit

I think that's generally true

gore prob coulda won w/ a less shitty pick tho

who was the last veep choice who might've tipped an election?

don't mean shit

this is generally true. when you're the lead charger in your battalion and everyone's looking to your for direction, then your choice of a running mate doesn't mean much. but when you're a weak, "acceptable", work-with-what-you-got compromise candidate, a firebrand partner who can rally the base could make all the difference. i'm assuming that's gonna be the GOP and romney's strategy, anyway...

who was the last veep choice who might've tipped an election?

don't mean shit
― World Congress of Itch (Dr Morbius), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 5:37 AM (36 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

More than that, how many presidential campaigns were tipped by one single campaign decision/moment? Would need to be a pretty close race.

I think vice presidential choices are on par with the convention speech but probably well below the first debate.

Arrrrrrre ya serious? How quickly we forget the rogue wave that almost certainly demolished whatever little chamce might've had in '08.

The fuck. Stupid phone. "whatever chance McCain might've had"

McCain did a great job of sinking his own campaign, but Palin was the cherry on top.

gore prob coulda won w/ a less shitty pick tho

yeah Joementum was my first possible exception

of course, Gore did "win" the election in many ways and blew it in many others

yeah thats more a case of the race being super close than leiberman having a large negative effect

but the underlying point stands tho, in that whatever effect the vp has its marginal enough that it would prob only matter in an unusually close election

xp

Arrrrrrre ya serious? How quickly we forget the rogue wave that almost certainly demolished whatever little chamce might've had in '08.

― Harried Ice Craw (Deric W. Haircare), Tuesday, April 17, 2012 6:21 AM (16 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Obama would have won anyway. McCain did dumb shit like suspending his campaign.

Palin was the cherry on top.

whew -- I resisted obvious joek

http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/04/23/the-overrated-vice-presidential-home-state-effect/

seems pretty otm

Sullivan: "A sad excuse: Romney was so obviously the likely candidate we hacks did our best to come up with other possible scenarios. It was called 'keeping hope awake.'" Perfect--sums up the last two or three Republican threads on here.

Speaking of hacks, I heard Gary Bauer on NPR this morning praise the Palin choice because she's pro-choice. Assuming he's not repeating Beltway drivel because it's expected of him, why on earth would he think it matters whether a veep is pro-choice or eats babies with chocolate syrup? Unless you're Cheney, a veep has no policy-making power

well for what it's worth for mccain it might have 'mattered more' because he had a not totally insignificant % chance of dying in office

McCain did dumb shit like suspending his campaign.

btw in re: this, what the fuck was that, really? I can only see two readings: one, he was sincere in his belief that the work in Washington required him to stop campaigning and focus; or, two, he thought that if he did that and Obama didn't, it'd make him look good enough to voters who weren't already going to vote for him, and in the media, to have a positive effect on the campaign. Which seems literally insane to me.

xp - Particularly if Sarah Palin had a microphone in front of her for 4 years.

well he had to do something i guess

i wonder why he thought anyone would believe his 'suspension' would have any meaning

xp

that whole period of the mccain campaign was nonsense. he was in the weeds.

Speaking of hacks, I heard Gary Bauer on NPR this morning praise the Palin choice because she's pro-choice.

I believe you mean "anti-choice" A

there was less to lose when you're clearly behind late in the game, might as well try some stupid stunt

'there is' makes that sentence more readable

Also I dunno, if you think that Mitt Romney is just casting around for any idea or moral stance at all, maybe you think putting someone with strong moral stances that you agree with as his veep is a good idea?

xp

As I read that Nate Silver analysis, it seemed to say that there's absolutely no way on god's green earth to separate anything of real signifigance from the statistical noise, about how a candidate's veep choice affects the eventual voting. If that is the case, then it seems otm to me, too.

Palin is a really poor choice. He'd probably drop votes picking her.

rubio def angling for the nod

Michael Crowley ‏ @CrowleyTIME Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
Rubio to give "major foreign policy speech." Does anyone ever give a "minor" address? Maybe on US policy towards Guam? http://www.rubio.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/press-releases?ID=5a28852f-d551-48d3-900e-e39c3cd6aede

Vice-presidents give minor foreign policy speeches, surely :)

speech seems to be going well

Zeke Miller ‏ @ZekeJMiller Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
YIKES! Rubio: "I left my last page of the speech. Does anybody have my last page? Did I leave it with you?"

I thought about this when I looked at Romney's wins last night, but didn't know if it was worth mentioning:

http://andrewsullivan.thedailybeast.com/2012/04/romneys-weak-night.html

I suppose it doesn't mean anything--maybe it's just a last way for a lot of people to remind him that "I will vote for you in November, but remember: I'm not crazy about the idea."

Is there anyone that's sincerely enthusiastic about Romney, aside from Mormons?

The trees of Michigan. That's it.

I don't think the trees like him, either. Our trees can be lovely but are often surly.

Haha c'mon man, he's breaking 50% for a change!

The jawdropper for me was when he didn't break 60% in Virginia, with only Ron Paul on the ballot.

Zeke Miller ‏ @ZekeJMiller Reply Retweet Favorite · Open
YIKES! Rubio: "I left my last page of the speech. Does anybody have my last page? Did I leave it with you?"

hysterics

haha this fuckin yutz mentioned #kony in said last-pageless speech

http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/text-rubios-foreign-policy-speech_642078.html?page=3

I disagree with the way in which the current administration has chosen to engage. For while there are few global problems we can solve by ourselves, there are virtually no global problems that can be solved without us. In confronting the challenges of our time, there are more nations than ever capable of contributing, but there is still only one that is capable of leading.

And I disagree with voices in my own party who argue we should not engage at all. Who warn we should heed the words of John Quincy Adams not to go “abroad, in search of monsters to destroy”.

I disagree because all around us we see the human face of America’s influence in the world. It actually begins with not just our government, but our people. Millions of people have been the catalyst of democratic change in their own countries. But they never would have been able to connect with each other if an American had not invented Twitter.

The atrocities of Joseph Kony would still be largely unknown. But in fact, millions now know because an American filmmaker made a short film about it and then distributed it on another American invention YouTube.

Why couldn’t the senator just improvise the last few minutes? Because he was determined conclude the speech by reading lengthy a quote from Tony Blair.

“This is why I needed the page,” Rubio said, as he proceeded to read out loud a 2003 quote from the former British prime minister.

cannot groan enough

he did the whole thing in a whiney-esque british accent too

haha dying

American invention YouTube

*Newt/Romney - All American!*

is such a no-brainer bumper sticker

cuz those people love the gipper and shit

I'm a little verklempt.

"Gingrich, along with his wife Callista, have published four books since he launched his presidential bid last May." That's not typing, that's shorthand.

The Frank Booth inside Mitt:

http://theweek.com/article/index/227698/mitt-romneys-1981-arrest-and-4-other-times-he-lost-his-cool

#5, if it starts to circulate, can only help him; #4 is insanely weird.

"broke my hair"

"Sir, sir put your seat up!"

"Excuse me for party rocking"

Every day I'm shuffling.

http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2011/12/27/1325021197143/mitt_romney_dance.jpg

Un-break My Hair

Dad is his running mate

God's only the copilot.

For all of Newt's self-regard, he had a pretty funny moment of clarity on Meet the Press yesterday:

David Gregory: "Would you like to be selected to be on the ticket with Romney?"
Gingrich: "I think that's highly implausible. But, you know, I've learned the hard way not to ever say no. But I find that as implausible as you find it."

trump

“He didn’t know he was running for president, so he told the truth,” Trump said about Obama’s birthplace, basing his assertion on a literary biography written for Obama that was recently unearthed by Breitbart.com. “The literary agent wrote down what he said… He said he was born in Kenya and raised in Indonesia… Now they’re saying it was a mistake. Just like his Kenyan grandmother said he was born in Kenya, and she pointed down the road to the hospital, and after people started screaming at her she said, ‘Oh, I mean Hawaii.’ Give me a break.”

When pressed by reporters on his campaign plane, Romney on Monday shrugged off Trump’s renewed birther theories.

You know, I don’t agree with all the people who support me, and my guess is they don’t all agree with everything I believe in,” Romney said. “But I need to get to 50.1 percent or more and I’m appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people.”

if Obama loses Romney will offer him the State Department.

He is a smug, grimy little pimp.

Trump is too.

LOL

for such an avowedly moral guy, romney always seems to act totally w/o principle

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2012/06/herman-cain-radio-show-neil-boortz-wsb-/1#.T809RcWAqVQ

Very disappointed. This will inevitably distract from Cain's Solutions Revolution, and it also pretty much guarantees that Herman will not be the next vice-president.

Any of the picks who'd strengthen Willard's standing with the right wing of the party are probably people he'd utterly detest. This will not stop him from picking one of them anyway. I say if Rubio turns him down, he'll go for Rand Paul or Jindal.

Either of the latter two would surely result in Romney displaying a frozen-jawed, mechanical grin each time they stood next to one another in public. Although, probably no one would notice this, for this is more or less his normal public face.

As Romney's prospects get better, I'd say Rob Portman's do, too. I know nothing about Portman except that he's supposed to be boring and safe (mitigated somewhat by his having served in the Bush administration). If the economy continues to sputter and Obama drives his own negatives up by having to hammer away at Romney, I imagine Romney will be content to go with the safest pick possible.

Conversely, if Obama rebounds, I'd say there's a greater chance of Rubio or Christie or Jindal or someone else younger/more risky. Can't see Rand Paul, though--that seems more akin to wandering into Palin territory, and I don't think they'll want to try that again.

Basically argues that Romney's ineptitude is the only thing keeping Obama afloat:

http://www.tnr.com/blog/plank/104164/how-lucky-obama-in-his-opponent

At the breakfast, Mr. Romney introduced two of his sons, Matt and Craig, in a slightly unusual fashion. “I love them,” Mr. Romney said. “I love them like they’re my own. And they are! Craig!”

“I love them like they’re my own. And they are! Craig!”

This is so awkward and terrible it almost makes me like the guy, really.

nothing (short of a personality transplant) could make me like this arrogant doofus but journalists misread the response to his rich-guy awkwardness. lots of middle-class americans - not all - find it endearing or at least tolerable cause they aspire to be rich(er). the bushes were just as out of touch.

"what's he got? i want some maybe it will rub off" - donald trump has been dining out on this sentiment for years

that sons quote is his most Fred Willard yet

At a Wawa, one in a convenience store chain in the mid-Atlantic, Mr. Romney was dazzled by the touch-screen computers from which he ordered his meatball hoagie on Saturday in Quakertown, Pa. Later in the day, he tried to engage the crowd in Cornwall, Pa., by asking it about its favorite local sandwich shop.

"By the way, where do you get your hoagies here?" he asked. "Do you get them at Wawas? Is that where you get them? No? Do you get them at Sheetz? Where do you get them?"

As the crowd began to boo, shouting out names of neighborhood joints, Gov. Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania tried to help out: "Delis!" he called out. "The delis!"

But after bungling the name of the Wawa several times — calling the store "Wawas" — Mr. Romney forged ahead.

"Ah, you get them at the delis, is that what you're saying?" he asked. "Well, I went to a place today called Wawas. You ever been to Wawas? Anybody been there?" As the crowd continued to jeer, he added, "I'm sorry, I know there’s a very big state divide."

I love this. Wawa hoagies are not bad for convenience store food but I doubt many people would cite them as their favorite.

(From TPM) Reporters did try to get Romney to hint at who he will choose as a running mate. But so far Mitt’s been tight-lipped. Some journalists suggest the number of Wikipedia edits a contender’s page gets predicts the chances for the VP slot. If that’s the case, "We could be looking at Vice President Season 6 of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer,'" Stephen Colbert said.

on bullshit:

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/08/the_journalistic_mind/

If it's Ryan, then it would be the first election since 1920 in which all major-party candidates (Pres and VP) were from east of the Mississippi and north of the Mason-Dixon Line.

Actually, forget the Mason-Dixon Line -- first time that all were east of the Mississippi, period.

I'm watching CNN, and even though they're qualifying everything with "sources say," they're treating this as if Ryan's been picked. I am surprised--I thought Romney would go for Portman and just bank on the economy reasserting itself and all the other stuff that's been plaguing him eventually fading away. Maybe the idea that Ryan inevitably brings the focus back to economic matters (for better or worse) is what drove this.

Ryan is (comparatively) charismatic, just like Sarah Palin was. Coming from the house, though, he's a loose canon just like Sarah Palin was. He'll be a hot new celebrity for minute just like Sarah Palin was. Then, during an interview or debate, he'll let fly some totally questionable rhetoric or information just like Sarah Palin did.

Paul Ryan: Mr. Sarah Palin.

(The bigger problem is that people actually liked John McCain a little bit and were almost willing to look past Sarah Palin. Who likes Mitt Romney? His own family. Maybe.)

Ryan has creepy reptile eyes, David Icke to thread.

This exists.

http://romneyryan.com/

romneyportman.com does not. romneyrubio.com also does not.

Paul Ryan it is....

(sez washpost)

so does the NYT.

Author of last week's New Yorker piece responds.

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/523290_10151186153273783_1713401387_n.jpg

Burns/Smith '12

the pundit gasbag fan boys are too busy whacking off to give an immediate response. but they will ... Paul Ryan is their Wunderkind.

Nothing more rousing than a Mitt Romney speech on a Saturday morning--he's just about to bring out Ryan.

oh wow mitt praising ryan for not "demonizing his opponents"

"he's never been content to curse the darkness...he'd rather light candles."

The next President? Is Romney going to resign on day one?

"Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan!" I know, I know, everyone misspeaks--pretty funny nonetheless.

is it worth turning off To Live and Die in L.A. or

That wasn't awkward at all, Mitt--nice recovery!

xpost -- Nothing is worth that.

"Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan!"

omg that was nuts

MITT THROWS AN AUDIBLE

Ryan/Romney '12

dude actually ran back up to the podium to correct himself after ryan's fanfare

"He is standing right next to me. His name is Mitt Romney, and he will be the next vice president of the United States!"

straw cowlick on the back of ryan's hair makes him look like he's wearing a suit from a wedding the night before

"our next vice president of the United States...Jack Kemp!!"

seriously looks like an impromptu speech from a hungover groom at brunch

crowd is like 100% white people

"Join me in welcoming the next president of the United States, Paul Ryan!" I know, I know, everyone misspeaks--pretty funny nonetheless.

― clemenza, Saturday, 11 August 2012 14:29 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

omg perfect

his follow-up, after running back to the podium once the music stopped. "Now I've been known to make a mistake...but this man will be the next VICE-President of the United States..."

wow everyone's still humping the "you didn't build that" line

staples....bright horizons...SPORTS AUTHORITY!

I'm only listening on the radio, does it seem any more alive or exciting when you can see the crowd? Cuz I'm not hearing a lot of electricity.

"our rights come from nature and god, not from government!" <---only line to get a really big reaction from the audience so far

but yeah this guy is no palin speech-wise

I don't know...he's got some work to do as a public speaker (when he mentioned something about "heart and mind," he pointed to his heart when he said "mind")--he's earnest to the point of sounding like he's pleading. Still, probably a better choice than Portman or Pawlenty.

ryan basically comes off like a college republican

"our rights come from nature and god, not from government!" <---only line to get a really big reaction from the audience so far

Which of course is why people in China and Iran are exactly as free as people in the United States and Sweden!

RYAN/ROMNEY '12
I've been known to make a mistake

he is for real a better pick though; if mitt's going to win it's surely in stoking up the people who want an abrasive-contrarian-asshole pick

the hilarity continues

he's gonna get like 4 undecided voters w this pick

CNN had Gingrich on after the speech, and they immediately hauled out the "right-wing social engineering" clip. He wriggled out of it, but that's something that'll keep turning up (guaranteed to be in a Democratic ad or two).

he isn't even going to win Wisconsin

I'd forgotten--Obama made exactly the same mistake introducing Biden four years ago. Interesting psychology there.

biden was a safe pick tho

oh I thought you meant doing this friday night / saturday morning, sorry, early

also Biden is fuckin hilarious

CNN's so funny sometimes: their crawl machine at the bottom still says "Three sources tell CNN that Romney to name Ryan as VP choice."

this may get Mitt a weekend of positive press -- all of which will be out-of-it pundits braying about how choosing Ryan was "bold" and "transformative" and how "brave" Ryan's give-the-rich-more-tax-cuts-paid-for-by-starving-Granny budget proposals are, but beggars can't be choosers -- but when the smoke clears he won't get a single swing vote. and it won't even work so well for getting the Teabags to the voting booth, b/c they're already hopped up on Obama-hate.

all the Dems gotta do in Florida is yell SOCIAL SECURITY loud enough

this is like Bush the Elder picking Quayle imho

"let's get a young guy, make you look less stuffy!"

granted Quayle didn't have party-base bonafides the way Ryan does

Have no idea what Ryan thinks he gains from this. He's giving up considerable power in the House to serve as veep?

actually Quayle did, Shakey! He was reliably to the right of Reagan for most of the eighties.

I was young, I just don't remember if Quayle was a similar firebrand. he did say stupid things in public, which Ryan also seems prone to. Looking forward to his "that Burger King over there is hiring" moment

Quayle was certainly dumb enough to appeal to 1988 Tea Party types.

but at least Paul Ryan knows how to spell "potato" correctly.

Have no idea what Ryan thinks he gains from this. He's giving up considerable power in the House to serve as veep?

But does he have to? Won't he still run for his House seat too?

Sure, and I guess when they both lose the race Ryan has more "prestige."

Lieberman chose to run for Senate even when he was Gore's running mate ... so yeah, Ryan doesn't have to decline to run for his House seat.

One of the main reasons Bush 41 settled on Quayle was the latter opposing most of Reagan's late term dealing with Gorby.

how was Palin in the Biden-Palin debate in '08? are these running-mate debates a big deal? i don't recall hearing about them over here much last time around.

repost dirty gif of Biden and Palin during debate plz

http://lifesteez.com/miscimg/gotthatbitch.gif

By the time of that debate, the Palin bar of expectations had been set so low that all she had to do was not be completely embarrassing for it to count as a triumph. I think the general consensus was that it didn't really help or hurt either of them.

so who will Obama pick as veep?

biden was really good in the debate, he said some plainly heartfelt things about his family which made palin's bear mama (or whatever it was ...) rhetoric look patently empty. the story was just 'palin fails to embarrass self', though

(xpost) Yes--although she still managed to fall short of those abysmally lowered expectations. I feel like I should apologize in advance for knowing this, but Biden was the "winner" in all the post-debate polls by about a 2-1 margin. On the other hand, she did get off one immortal line: "Mind if I call you Joe?"

It'd be fun to use that line in real life with some of you. "Mind if I call you Thomp?" "Mind if I call you Schlump?" "Mind if I call you A Regina Spektor Is Haunting Europe?"

My secret hope for this is that educating the public about Ayn Rand will turn into her becoming this election's Jeremiah Wright. WHY WON'T RYAN DENOUNCE HIS EXTREMIST IDEOLOGICAL MENTOR?

VP debates were handily Biden's but yeah, the CW was that Palin needed to not come out in clown makeup reciting nursery rhymes backwards, so it was a "win." Biden did have that alternately cringe-worthy/heartfelt speech about his roots. (Jon Stewart: "Oh yeah, Sarah Palin? You're from one shithole town? Joe Biden's from four."

Back to back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=638sSV5WByQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4QCcwJjk54

Maybe until you're actually elected it's hard to get your head around the idea that the next president might be you.

And, if you're running for President, you're constantly hearing people introduce someone on stage (you) as "the next President of the United States!" Could imagine that just getting lodged in your head.

A simple explanation that makes perfect sense. Don't think it's a coincidence, though.

My secret hope for this is that educating the public about Ayn Rand will turn into her becoming this election's Jeremiah Wright. WHY WON'T RYAN DENOUNCE HIS EXTREMIST IDEOLOGICAL MENTOR?

considering that ryan is one of the new breed of "professional catholic" politicians his devotion to a notorious atheist is ripe for picking apart

yeah if ayn rand does come up its gonna be in the context of IS THE REPUBLICAN PARTY BEING RUN BY ATHEISTS

Frum's thing is pretty interesting--#4 is LBJ's inside-pissing-out theory:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/08/11/paul-ryan.html

who SHOULD have mitt picked?

lol frum was damn near apopleptic about this pick last night - https://twitter.com/davidfrum/status/234147333850406912

Max Twain‏@MaxTwain

@davidfrum We get it, you are petrified to defend conservatism. That's why you are so comfortable among the Deweys/Fords/Doles/Bushes #tcot

#3 on that frum list was my first thought when i saw the pick -- the most obvious-seeming answer to the who is this for question, right? it's not really for "the base" cuz the base hates obama so much that romney shouldn't have to worry about them; it's not really for "swing voters" because this isn't the guy to get them; but the kochs of the country, the ultrariches with their heads stuffed full of rand, love this guy (the natl review had a hilarious piece where they said ryan was just the kind of brilliant analytical "uber-competent thinker" romney would have hired at bain; he's a ceo's idea of a genius) and w romney's numbers slipping i thought maybe he was hoping for a huge cash injection from a newly enthusiastic plutocracy. who knows tho right.

anagram fun - "Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan" -> "Immoral Ayn Rand-type nut"

awesome!

the most obvious-seeming answer to the who is this for question, right?

Duh, it's for the good of the country, and, by extension, the good of the whole world.

http://swampland.time.com/2013/11/02/the-hunt-for-pufferfish/

Based on their junk-food-saturated vetting diet, they called their undertaking Project Goldfish (after the crackers)—ultimately giving each of the VP finalists an aquatic code name. Myers’ plan was to have Project Goldfish completed by Memorial Day. In April she presented Romney with a list of two dozen names, which he whittled down to 11: Kelly Ayotte, John Cornyn, Chris Christie, Mitch Daniels, Bill Frist, Mike Huckabee, Bob McDonnell, Tim Pawlenty, Rob Portman, Marco Rubio and Paul Ryan.

Within a month, the vetters had assembled preliminary research books on the 11, which Romney perused and then rendered his short list: Christie (Pufferfish), Pawlenty (Lakefish), Portman (Filet o Fish), Rubio (Pescado) and Ryan (Fishconsin).

huck

http://datxvsvmsae0p.cloudfront.net/sw56586001.jpg

should've selected gov. pufferfish.