POLITICS: Is Cheney Dropping Out? Is McCain the Secret Weapon for November?

Rumors are bounding out from New York tonight that current Vice President Dick Cheney may be dropping out of the election campaign altogether, this would be to make way for a successor to boost the flagging poll numbers. Whilst none of this has been confirmed, CBS News Anchorman Dan Rather felt the "talk" was reliable enough to write it into his convention report. It would be a logical strategy to get an enormously popular public figure onto the ticket. This may come in the form of John McCain.



Many moderates on both sides of the partisan divide admire the popular Senator of Arizona. However, to change the ticket at this late stage may alienate many voters who are unsure of Kerry due to his "flip flopping" and for Bush to change running mate after swearing it would not happen would be the ultimate flip-flop.

John Sidney McCain III (born August 29, 1936) is an American politician. Considered a moderate Republican and maverick, McCain has been a U.S. Senator from Arizona since 1987. He was a presidential candidate in the 2000 election, but was defeated in the Republican primaries by George W. Bush.

McCain doesn't fit neatly into any political wing. He is conservative on many military and social issues, but more liberal on fiscal issues. He once fought against funding the construction of a new aircraft carrier, saying the money should be spent on the 12,000 families of the enlisted who were on food stamps. He is strongly pro-life and equally strongly against tobacco. His appeal during the 2000 presidential campaign was based on his style and personal image rather than any label of liberal or conservative. Because of this, some of his supporters have encouraged him to seek offices, including the presidency, and he has been suggested as either a Republican, Democratic, third party or Independent Presidential possibility in the 2008 election

Wiki



[edit on 8-29-2004 by Valhall]

[edit on 9-2-2004 by Valhall]

But to change the ticket at this late stage may alienate many voters who are unsure of Kerry due to his "flip flopping" and for Bush to change running mate after swearing it would not happen would be the ultimate flipflop.

This is absolutely the truth. The only way for this to work is for Cheney to step down on the advice of his MDs. Guiliani would be a far better choice. McCain appeals to Democrats, but he makes others feel nervous. He would be more likely to rattle the base of Bush's support.

[edit on 04/8/29 by GradyPhilpott]

I kinda agree, He's not enough of a "good republican boy" to be made VP.

Originally posted by Nerdling
I kinda agree, He's not enough of a "good republican boy" to be made VP.

Maybe not, but would his presence on the ticket help in the battleground states?

Yep, he'd make alot of moderates think about swinging Republican.

Bush has NOTHING big planned, he has no momentum, every police he rolls out its looking like last resort stuff. Let us not forget this is all being stage managed by Rove and his type are transparent.

They will go for the unconventional hit, it won't be nice but it might just work.

He has a very distinguished conservative voting record he defended in USA Today:

Unwavering support for access to armor piercing bullets and plastic guns designed to avoid metal detectors...

Unwavering refusal to allow abortion under any circumstances including rape, incest or to save the life of the mother...

I mean he even voted against a resolution calling for the release of anti-apartheid leader Mandela.

This man IS the Republican Party. Why replace him?

The only real tragedy are all the moderate compassionate speakers at the RNC next week that will overshadow Cheney's real message for America...which apparently is FU and die!

Independants love John McCain, he would represent a good 2-3% of the population swinging over to Bush right away. In this election that would be the margin of victory.

An additional goal at this point would be to line someone up for the future. Let's remember, Bush winning this one leaves no incumbent next time around.

They would choose someone that they want to situate now for the next election. Thinking in those terms, then who is the likely choice?

I think Rudy at the moment is the only person who fits both bills (boost the ticket now and setup the next election). Then of course, that gets in the plans of some others who aspire to the next race, and I doubt any of them would be taking a VP change now too quietly.

Originally posted by Relentless
An additional goal at this point would be to line someone up for the future. Let's remember, Bush winning this one leaves no incumbent next time around.

The Republicans would be wise to consider who to send up against Hillary in 2008. The only drawback to putting McCain or Rudy on the ticket is that if the ticket lost, would they become tainted by it?

Nerdling,
Don't you think there's just a little bit too much bias in your news story? The polling data doesn't show that Bush's campaign has stalled or that it has no momentum... actually, the latest data shows that he's overtaken Kerry during a period that many had predicted to be one where we were to have seen a growing Kerry lead.

The fact of the matter is that Kerry's campaign dropped the ball. It presented a convention that was all about his vietnam experience and then acted scared when people challenged that single theme.

Not only did Kerry not get a bounce from his convention... he actually suffered a backfire because of it. Had he not made his vietnam experience the main theme... the Swift Boat Vet ads wouldn't have been effective at all.

I wish I would have put money on this.

Will it be a heart attack, or just a surgery that will decide.......

It's amazing how healthy he has been over the last 3 years, since 911.


hhhhhhuuuuuuuummmmmmm.....we'll see!!!!!

Well from what I've seen...

Iraq is a quagmire.
The economy is flagging.
Unemployment is very high.
Reccession (Yes i used the R word)
And Bush fails to connect with middle america.

We all know polls are just a cross section of a small group that is supposed to reflect the American community and when you put them into point differences you'll see that single digit gains may not be all that they seem.

Margin of error on your average poll? -3/+3% and in the lesser ones its normally around. -5/+5%. Its too close to call.

Just did my own little completely unscientific polling. Actually I just asked my wife. But she is a life long democrat and NOT a fan of GW Bush.

I asked her if she would vote for a Bush / McCain ticket, and or a Bush / Guilliani ticket over Kerry. We are both big fans and supporters of John McCain.

She responded that she would probably vote for Bush / McCain, but not Bush / Guilliani.
I would have to seriously consider voting for a Bush / McCain ticket as well. But then I would be wishing that the zero year curse would catch up with Bush. (I know that's horrible to say but, hey, I'm a horrible person.)

Originally posted by phreak_of_nature
Just did my own little completely unscientific polling. Actually I just asked my wife. But she is a life long democrat and NOT a fan of GW Bush.

She responded that she would probably vote for Bush / McCain, but not Bush / Guilliani.
I would have to seriously consider voting for a Bush / McCain ticket as well.

But seriously, do you think the Republicans would hand this position to McCain for the future? Even if the McCain ticket is stronger, I don't think they would go that far.

Originally posted by onlyinmydreams
Not only did Kerry not get a bounce from his convention...

The democratic party is doing everything it can to downplay the real poll numbers, which we are not seeing. IMHO the Kerry lead over Bush is double digit, but it is to the disadvange of the democratic party to have Kerry peak too soon, so they are manipulating the poll numbers down. It has to continue to be a race in order to insure the democratic political base gets to the polls on election day, rather than staying home under the belief that victory is assured. This is also very important to other democratic candidates as it would allow them to be elected on Kerry's coattails.

The republican political machine is not stupid, they know the real poll numbers and are very afraid of the massive avalanche of public opinion that is continuing to rise against Bush. The republicans have been forced to dig deep into their anti-Kerry ammo stockpile much too early in order for Bush to even appear as a viable candidate which could result in the republicans losing both houses of congress.

IMHO the democrats will keep their ammo dry until the end of september, beginning of october time frame and then we will find out what the real poll numbers look like. The republican have no choice except to throw everything have at Kerry immediately. I still do not rule out a republican terror/foreign policy stunt before the election in an attempt to keep bush in the game. "Bush 1" sabotaged the release of the hostages to Carter prior to the Carter versus Reagan election which insured at Reagan victory, so it would be no surprise to see something similar.
.

Originally posted by Relentless

Originally posted by phreak_of_nature
Just did my own little completely unscientific polling. Actually I just asked my wife. But she is a life long democrat and NOT a fan of GW Bush.

She responded that she would probably vote for Bush / McCain, but not Bush / Guilliani.
I would have to seriously consider voting for a Bush / McCain ticket as well.

But seriously, do you think the Republicans would hand this position to McCain for the future? Even if the McCain ticket is stronger, I don't think they would go that far.

I think they would only do it if they thought they could control McCain. I don't think they can though. But look... he's out stumping for GW, sorta.

Oh... if only he had won in 2000

The answer to the problem is not Dems or Reps, they are basically the same things. Consider this quote:

�In politics, nothing happens by accident. If it happens, you can bet it was planned that way.�
-Franklin Delano Roosevelt

And look at where our country is today, nothing has improved in recent history, look at all the issues?
Most Americans are not happy with politicians no matter which party it is. Most of the support we see for one or the other is just people supporting the lesser of two evils. Check out this link for an interesting, unbiased evaluation of the US govt.:
wethepeoplesstateoftheunion.blogspot.com...

I've thought this for some time......

To see other anecdotal evidence brewing for quite some time look at some of the links I posted earlier last month....

www.abovetopsecret.com...

BTW, did anyone see Bush actually kissing McCain on the top of his bald head the other day?

Ironic, considering the DrudgeReport flap about Kerry's touchy-feelyness with Edwards....

phreak_of_nature


I agree with you I don't think that McCain is not stupid he has more brains that the entire bush administration.

I don't think that McCain would tarnish his reputation getting becoming bush partner; I think he is going to try again for elections after November.

And he will have my vote then, I like him as a candidate also.