But Romney helps him with conservatives, helps him with fundraising, is unlikely to make any serious gaffes, and can hold his own in a debate. Personal chemistry aside, he might be a fairly shrewd choice. —Kevin Drum

I agree, if hardcore war mongering nut bag full-on bat shit crazy conservatives is all McCain needed to win the election. Chances are, all public grumbling aside, they're going to vote for McCain anyway. However, polls seem to indicate that the middle mass no longer approves of Shrub Co. and its hard core war mongering nut bag full-on bat shit crazy conservative policies. And that's exactly what you'd get, if not worse, from a McCain-Romney ticket. As I've posted here before, McCain has done nothing to distinguish himself from the policies of Shrub Co., and it seems that the majority of Americans don't want that anymore.

Serious gaffes? The guy thought scaring the shit out of a dog strapped to the top of his car was endearing family story.

Oh, please please please let this be true.

Let 'em pick Romney...because exactly to whom does a McCain/Romney ticket appeal? Old, white, nutty 27-percenters that's who. Just picture the two of them together; after the last eight years, most everybody's sick of the sight already. It would be a godsend to Democrats.

I've seen the "Please, please ..." thing around, and it would help if you Mitt-wishers would go into some detail as to how he would help derail McCain the computer illiterate.

He'd also have no problem being an attack dog (as opposed to Huckabee, who clearly would be bad in that role) would help with Mormon turnout in Nevada, and will help (though who knows how much) in Michigan, the best place for McCain to play serious offense in a Kerry state.

The way I see it, Romney scraped off a quarter billion by slinging other people's money. Just the phony economy that is destroying us.

Has Romney EVER invested in an American manufacturing venture? I heard he helped fund Master of the universe!) Staples, so he maybe made some retail & warehouse jobs. These are fine, but I don't see the capitalist we need. I don't see the jobs being created that justifies his $250 Million "overhead." He's from the phony neo-old school of paper values.

They are totally out of ideas. This proves it.

Is that Dobson I hear screaming off in the distance ?

“Revolutions, before they happen, appear to be impossible and after they occur they appeared to have been inevitable.� - Alexis de Tocqueville

Maybe Romney will now swing back to the left, now that it is in the general election, and McCain and Romney can try to convince people that they are both, each of them, rational mavericky centrists AND ALSO whacked out right-wing zealots. At the same time! The media will support this, certainly, and Obama will continue to water down his image, turning himself into Kerry J. Milquetoast 2008, and the old corrupt white guys will win again.

Is there any wonder that this country is in the crapper?

But lack of personal chemistry could derail the pick.

I like how it doesn't say lack of personal chemistry with McCain, just...lack. Of chemistry. That is personal.

No surprise to me. These criminals (McCain and Romney) are birds of a feather. Religion is meaningless to these criminals - they worship only money.

By the way, Jim Webb will the Democratic nominee for VP. Count on it.

One of the chief reasons the Massachusetts governor is looking so attractive is his ability to raise huge amounts of money quickly through his former business partners and from fellow members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Mormons.

Romney's fundraising ability is only going to be significant between now and the convention; after that, McCain is effectively limited to public financing. (assuming he sticks with it).

If Romney's fundraising is significantly dependent on being on the ticket (i.e., his supporters won't give without him on the ticket), then McCain has to name Romney sooner rather than later, defacto if not dejure.

If Romney's fundraising is not significantly dependent on being on the ticket (i.e., his supporters will give if he tells them, regardless of whether he's on the ticket), then Romeny's fundraising has little bearing on McCain's VP selection.

In the latter case, will Romney go fundraising even if he isn't on the ticket? If not, and if it's that great an issue, and if Romney can and would hold McCain VP choice hostage, it would not speak well of either of them, and would smell of desperation.

"...unlikely to make any serious gaffes"

You mean, like calling better fuel efficiency on our cars a "standard left-wing" position. Count on more of that.

*

If McCain picks Romney, it could either help in a small way, or it could hurt him in a fairly large to very large way. If it helps him, it'll probably be because, for whatever reason, Romney placated that one or two percent of potential Republican voters who were wary of McCain or allowed him to acquire the resources to spread his message. (About fund raising, was Romney a particularly good fund raiser, or were you referring to his personal fortune?) In this situation, McCain would win in a squeaker. If he hurts McCain, it'll be because he doesn't help convince any voters that McCain's the guy and/or because he makes some sort of ridiculous claim, like equating al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood as he did in a debate, that the Obama campaign capitalizes on.

Abandon hope, all ye who look for decent candidates to vote for. Washington is corrupt, and the electorate is selfish and decadent.

Democracies last for 200 years, and the U.S. is getting long in the tooth.

MHR HAD A COMMENT STAY UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's going to be one proud kid on the short-bus tomorrow!

Picking Romney for VP? What is it with McCain and hooking up with wealth heiresses?

Yes, unfortunately scuzziness, amorality, hypocrisy, phoniness, looking like a cigar-store Indian, and just generally being a tool are not bars to either winning elections or serving in government.

The vast majority of Americans will simply say, "Ooooh, he looks clean! I bet he uses deodorant!"

I don't think Romney would bring political benefit to candidate McCain, but he would be an excellent VP for President McCain. First of all he would contribute expertise on economics and business. Also, if he had to replace McCain, he's been an excellent manager.

One could compare the choice of Romney to Clinton's choice of Al Gore. Gore didn't bring in any particular constituency, but he was an asset to the Clinton Administration. Gore's compentence reflected well on Clinton.

Oh dear, and only a heartbeat away.

lampwick >"...What is it with McCain and hooking up with wealth heiresses?"

Like a bloodhound for money.

"During times of universal deceit, telling the truth becomes a revolutionary act." - George Orwell

"...What is it with McCain and hooking up with wealthy heiresses?"

Just be thankful Paris Hilton's not 35 years old, because then she might be McCain's running mate.

McCain's probability of not living through his presidency, should he win, would give the money wing of the republican party the president they wanted in the first place.

I fully expect McCain to drop dead about mid October. This is a killer campaign. He's just not up to it physically.

I think it's cute the way "ex-liberal" is trying to pretend to be an honest commentator, offering content-free assertions like his 12:42 instead of his usual garbage.

The only thing is, they express his opinion, and no one is interested in the opinion of a dishonest neocon tool. Notice how "ex-liberal" is trying, in his seemingly innocuous post, to spread the meme that Romney == competent. Given McCain's painfully inept campaign, I can see why he'd want to, but that dog won't hunt. Romney would also contribute being as much of a dishonest conservative fool as "ex-liberal". We've had enough of that kind of monkeyshines in the White House.

The more we watch the performance of BO and his campaign the more sure we are that folks who were concerned about his lack of experience were correct...course we always thought so...and it's appalling to watch the DEMS again throwing away an election of such importance...too damn stupid to take Hillary and Obama back when the rest of the field fell away...the strongest candidates who appealed to the most people on so many levels...but NO, we have to have a contest, play the game with our manipulative MSM ...isn't it fun watching them make a STORY out of a response Clark made to the ridiculous old host of FTN (and a correct response, btw)...now have even supposed progressive commentators and bloggers characterize Clark's comments as ATTACKS on McCain's military service...HOGWASH!!!! It's no wonder the electorate is STUPID...look at what they are constantly being fed......

Would love for it to be true, just because his Hair (always with the capital "H") is just so fabulous, but I think Jindal's probably more likely. Romney has verbal skills -- which McCain doesn't -- and money and Hugh Hewitt, but as a poster said earlier, the Rep-Cons are going to vote for McCain anyway since at the end of the day the worst Republican is better for them than the best Democrat.

I think McCain will have to reach out to the "real" (without wrestling with the ontological basis of "reality") conservative (i.e., Bush, Rove) base.

And don't write that middle off for McCain yet. If he can turn the election on the 3 a.m. phone call, much as I hate to admit it he has a shot.

Doesn't McCain realize that Romney is just an actor playing "Bob" from the 'Sub-Genius'?

Actually it's sort of a shame Romney wasn't running for the vice-presidency all along. The Mitt Romney who Was, two or three years ago, was a hell of an impressive guy. He implemented the first real health care reform of the style that the Clinton and Obama plans propose, he moved his party in a good way socially, he had business cred and remarkable social grace -- that wasn't a guy you could make fun of, really. The Mitt Romney who ran for President, on the other hand.... wow. What McCain needs is Mitt Romney, after some kind of time machine takes him back.
And, oddly, there used to be a few of those around. Bill Weld is the obvious example, maybe a couple others. I wonder if McCain could win over a Linc Chafee, though it's not quite the same hard-nosed business-friendly thing. It would be interesting if McCain were looking at "the old" Mitt and wanting a VP in that mold, and it would actually give his own "maverick" brand a lot of shine since those guys pretty much got read out of the Republicans.

It is a fairly obvious choice, who else is there for McCain to pick who is not utterly discredited? The House and Senate leadership from the Bush years are mostly in jail or under indictment. It is rather unlikely that a sitting governor is going to want to campaign for veep in a year when the Republican brand is considered poison. They most certainly do not want any Bush era cabinet minister.

Rudy is too crazy and too much of a liability. Huckabee would sink the whole GOP ticket in the north.

Who else is there but the Mittster?

There's still Tim Pawlenty...

Democracies last for 200 years, and the U.S. is getting long in the tooth. Posted by: Luther

Quick! Somebody go tell the UK that they are beyond their "sell by" date!

Dumb ass.

The only chemistry coming off Mitt Romney is the smell of injection-molded plastic coming from his Ken-doll features.

Well, it might not be a horrendous move, all told. At least, not in CA. It might even put CA into contention.

Consider: the LDS Church just called its members to political activism in CA to pass a state proposition on gay marriage (I have never, ever, been more ashamed of my church and its leadership than right now) ... Romney on the ballot and in consideration would only bring more LDS folks out to the polls, and more of their money into GOP coffers. Seriously. This is a church membership who stood firmly behind that crook Doolittle. They stick to their own, come hell or high water.

Romney on the ballot could be a game-changer for the general election, at least out here on the left coast.

Romney would be an excellent pick. He would help the ticket in Michigan, where his dad was Governor and he soundly beat McCain in the primary. He would also help the ticket in Nevada and Colorado, where there are large Mormom populations and he crushed McCain in the primaries. Lastly, he would help in Massachusetts, which would absolutely be in play with him on the ticket, and in Maine and New Hampshire, neighboring states to Massachusetts where he's popular. It's rare that a VP pick could be so impactful electorally.

Romney also is an excellent debater, would bring needed fundraising benefits, has successful experience working in the economy, and has been thoroughly vetted.

@Will G.:

LOL!

I can't wait for a McSame/Romney ticket. These guys flip-flop so much, they will likely be on both sides of every issue at the same time! What a gift to Obama.

Joel: I still think they would have an uphill climb. Nevertheless, McCain is definitely a different man than the President. "McSame" is just typical hack talk. Be careful what you wish for.