Why would Giuliani be considered for a McCain ticket?

January 31, 2008

It’s hard for me to imagine what could spark this kind of speculation.

On his way to California on Wednesday to officially endorse Sen. John McCain, Rudy Giuliani said he was not seeking the vice presidential nomination. […]

Giuliani added that the campaign had not discussed any potential role for him beyond campaigning for McCain in the Northeast.

“I am not seeking any position in government,” he said. “I am going to be a very enthusiastic and active supporter of John McCain. I have offered, anything he or his campaign believe I can do, I will do for them.”

Well, of course Giuliani wouldn’t be considered as a running mate. His campaign was a joke (Ron Paul beat him in most of the contests), he has no real support in the Republican Party, and he probably couldn’t even help deliver New York to the GOP. For that matter, the quickest way to enrage the Republican base is to put a serial-adulterer and supporter of abortion rights, gay rights, gun control, and liberal immigration policies on the ticket.

And yet, this is apparently drawing some attention anyway.

Stephen Bainbridge wrote:

Listening to Giuliani’s withdrawal and endorsement speech, I couldn’t help wondering whether we just heard Rudy making a bid for the Vice Presidency. The emphasis on their shared beliefs, their similar policy positions especially on the GWOT, and especially the need for a 50-state coalition. That last point sounded like an argument that McCain needs a VEEP who can appeal to Blue State voters; namely, Rudy.

Hugh Hewitt said no one should be surprised if “McCain selects a Rudy or Joe Lieberman as a running mate as an ‘all-in’ play for the muddled middle of the country.”

[McCain will] do what he thinks will win, and if he thinks the conservative base has nowhere to go and will vote for him because of the war, look for a pick left, not right, if he prevails in the nomination race.

Color me skeptical. Giuliani’s showing was humiliating, and McCain would be crazy to even consider him.

Yet – shudder – if McCain chose Rudy and double-shudder, won the presidency…it would keep the pattern going like Bush – having a V.P. that is a frigging nightmare.

  • Given McCain’s age, and signs that his age is a factor, whoever he chooses for VP is going to be viewed as someone who really might end up serving as president. If Rudy couldn’t do well enough to get people to vote for him when he was trying to get the nod, what would make him a VP candidate that helps McCain get elected?

    All I could think of when I read this was, “oh, good – McCain figured out a way to kill his dream.”

    Joe Lieberman wants to be SecDef – count on it.

  • I assume that Huckabee will get the nod, if only because it will help keep the fundies happy. And while the GOP has no real use for the evangelical right, they know that they’ll never win a general election without those votes.

    Ugh, Joe Lieberman as Sec. of Defense…that’s the stuff that nightmares are made of.

  • McCain’s VP choice presents a real dilemma – to keep his own party happy, he needs to shore up his social conservative credentials with someone like Huckabee. But in the general election, particularly if domestic economic issues continue to grow in importance, he needs serious help on the economic side where economic conservatives don’t much trust him, either — and I’m not really sure where he goes for that running mate as (a) a two-Senator ticket has some drawbacks, and (b) the only big-name Republican governor is a social moderate who is ineligible to be VP. Tommy Thompson, perhaps, but given his aborted Presidential run it is clear he doesn’t bring a lot of campaign heft to the table.

  • Is Greenspan available? (snark)

    I can’t see him picking Huckabee since Huck’s sense of humor would demonstrate the meanness of McCain’s. McCain wants the limelight. He’s waited his whole life for it and sharing it isn’t part of his character.

  • The next vice-president isn’t going to be as powerful as Cheney. It’s more likely that he (or she?) will consider the job as Texan John Nance (Cactus Jack) Garner did. He described the vice-presidency as “not worth a bucket of warm piss.”

    He is often misquoted as having used the word “spit” in place of “piss.” But everyone knew that he was misquoted. He was from Texas.

    It’s beyond scary to think of Giuliani as next in line behind aged cancer survivor McCain. It is also scary to think of Giuliani in a cabinet office, which I suspect is what his team was “negotiating” with McCain about on Tuesday evening before his endorsement on Wednesday.

    If Lieberman has Defense locked up, perhaps Rudy wants Homeland Security. Or Attorney General.

  • “And yet, this is apparently drawing some attention anyway. ”

    …from two no names that happen to host a couple blogs.

  • I suspect McCain will run to the American Enterprise Institute and ask if they have anyone who is young, white, male and good looking. That would be the Republican ideal choice.

    Forget Giuliani for cabinet. He’d sooner be a lobbyist. The man-sized safe would be tempting, but I don’t see Giuliani at VP, because I don’t think McCain particularly wants to be reminded of 9/11 for four more years. Especially by a guy who seems to be drawn to scandal like a moth to a flame.

    Lieberman for Defense Sec. – Would he be replaced by a Republican governor? If so, maybe, but does anyone honestly think they could win as Dems create ads with the two names superimposed over a map of Iraq and the slogan “100 more years.”

  • I think he should be seriously concerned with the base not going anywhere, McCain is dead in the water if conservatives aren’t enthusiastic enough to even vote.

  • People are just talking about him as a running mate because they are use to covering Rudy and now they need something to write about. It’s clearly not a serious idea. Huckabee is probably a serious idea.
    Also, we all know that Rudy had less interest in becoming president than he did in continuing to have a national stature in order to promote him as a speaker and consultant. In other words, Rudy ran for president to make sure he looked relevant for the private market. This is similar to Newt’s flirting for the president in order to sell his last book.

    Maybe there was a while there where he was seriously thinking about running for president, but in th end he was never willing to do anything that would hurt his chances of getting big bucks on the lecture circuit.

  • Actually, Huckabee works for more than just the evangelical right – his populism and his concentration of economic policy on the lower half of the population and what happens to them are just the thing McCain needs for a good dose of “compassionare conservatism”. Wall Street might not like what Huckabee says, but Main Street is where the votes are.

  • Perhaps McCain could ask Cheney to help him choose someone for VP.

    I’ll go wash my mouth out with soap now.

  • Hey—Bush had his reading of My Pet Goat, and now McCain HAS a pet goat. It’s just what every Republican needs—their own personal Ghoul lackey. Give RooDee a hump and call him Igor. Or Quasimodo. He’s the perfect evil henchman.

    They’re probably floating such totally-nonsensical ideas to give some semblance of credibility to McCain when he turns the offer down….

  • I often wish we knew — early on, like before the primaries – who the candidate’s lined up VP is. And that the VP were chosen by the candidate, not yoked to them, willy-nilly, by the party (the way Kerry and Edwards were paired off — the most unnatural coupling). It would help, I think, in weighing the pros and cons of the candidate her/himself, to know who s/he likes to keep company with. Is the VP gonna be anchor, ballast, or cement boots (in case of an optimist like Obama)? Is the VP going to be a bit of yeast, a child’s helium balloon or a tornado (in case of a pragmatist like Clinton)?

    McCain is the oldest one running (unless Nader does toss his hat into the ring yet again), so maybe he needs someone younger to offset that. What he does *not* need is Rudy. The only thing Rudy has to offer McCain is matching bad temper and that’s not an offset, that’s a compounded problem.

  • McCain/Rudy? Who would be dumb enough to think that…

    Oh. Hewitt. He just can’t believe that no one else loves the object of his man-crush as much as he does.

    If McCain wins Rudy will get some post. Some post where there’s lots of money and lording over other people involved. I suspect Homeland Security – enough money for Rudy to hide some lavish vacations to Hawaii and Florida for himself and the lovely Mrs. Rudy (whoever that may be at that time…)

    And Anne I disagree – Joe won’t want SecDef. Joe will want Secretary of State.

  • “That last point sounded like an argument that McCain needs a VEEP who can appeal to Blue State voters; namely, Rudy.”

    Just what is Bainbridge smoking???

  • Rudy? Not a chance in hell. McAinus will pick a very conservative governor whose red state has a lot of military personnel. Do these pundits not have any sense of what’s going on in the Republican party?

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