August 16, 2008
Great idea for the GOP convention
As the media prepares to gives us wall-to-wall coverage of the Democratic Convention, conservatives are waiting with equal measures of anticipation and dread to see who GOP candidate John McCain is going name to be his running mate.
The conventional wisdom has been that Mitt Romney or Tim Pawlenty are likely picks, but there have also been reports that McCain is looking to shake things up and solidify his credentials as a political maverick by picking a Democrat or a pro-choice RINO. This is, of course, a spectacularly bad idea, one that will give conservatives -- many of whom would put the bumpersticker below on their cars (if they did that kind of thing) -- an excuse to stay at home and sit this one out.
Hugh Hewitt is one of the Romney backers, but he has a suggestion that I think is terrific.
I think Senator McCain should build on his excellent three weeks with a Romney or Pawlenty selection, but if Team McCain feels the need to energize the troops, they could take a page out of the Democrats' 1956 convention, where Adlai Stevenson threw the choice to the delegates. (Estes Kefauver won on the third ballot over Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy.)
Such an announcement on the eve of the Denver gathering would drain coverage from the Dems as our modern media loves a horserace, especially one in which the rules would be so wide open. And if would-be veeps did the smart thing, they'd declare and campaign openly, using the opportunity to pump for seriousness abroad, sustaining the victory in Iraq, expanding our push for energy exploration and, of course, bashing Obama. We'd have surround-sound of quality GOP oratory for the next two-plus weeks leading to the vote, and genuine drama in St. Paul.
Hewitt's right; the knock on the conventions is they're pre-packaged snooze-fests, with nothing actually being decided, making the attention they receive risible.
Allowing the delegates to have a floor fight over who will be the vice-presidential candidate is a stroke of genius -- and might save us from McCain's reflexive urge to poke the conservative base in the eye at every opportunity, too.
Posted by Mike Lief at August 16, 2008 04:42 PM
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