Colin Powell For VP?

This looks like an trial balloon floated by the McCain people rather than Team Powell but still:

Retired Gen. Colin Powell is among the potential running mates who have been considered by John McCain, campaign advisers told Politico.

Powell was among the possible vice presidential choices the Arizona Republican senator was thinking of when he said he would not rule out a supporter of abortion rights, a key adviser said.

Campaign officials say McCain has told them not to discuss the process.

Well.  I can see Powell wanting a bit of redemption since his last major twirl on the world stage was at the United Nations assuring us that Saddam had WMDs.  Whether McCain wants to be burdened with that I can't say.  I have objected to Rice for VP as too closely tied to BushCo; Powell scarcely carries as much baggage, but he carries some.  (Sneaky idea - re-inflaming the delirious anti-war left might not be a bad idea; they have never been their own best friends in terms of presentation, and putting the war, the surge and the way forward in Iraq back in the news can't be worse for McCain than talking about the economy.)

I recall some tension between Powell and the many members of the Bush Administration who had never served in the military.  Although there is an Army/Navy thing, I suspect Powell would be satisfied with McCain's cred.  I also think McCain could play the "Tme to serve, old soldier" card on Powell and draft him onto the ticket in a way that no one else could.

As to "Ready to Lead On Day One" - well, a McCain/Powell ticket would have so much gravitas that it might displace tides and the moon, let alone the cute and fluffy Obama/Biden.  Geez, talk about bringing a bag of rocks to a pillow fight...

Now, there might be a question of whether anyone other than the press corps would actually vote for these two.  Republican strategists ought to weigh carefully the merits of a ticket that actually included a Republican, but this might be the year for something different.  Powell would excite me; Romney would put me to sleep.

TOGETHER AGAIN:  This old link featured Colin Powell and Joe Biden slugging it out with the Euros at Davos in January 2003.  Go, Colin!  Go, Joe! 

LOCATION, LOCATION, AND LOCATION:  At Patterico's Place a nod to Romney from WLS:

But, if McCain picks Romney, I think he cements two states that will make it very difficult for Obama to find a path to 270.  I think Romney brings McCain Nevada without question, and very likely brings him Michigan.

Nevada, with an increasing minority population and very powerful union presence, is a Bush state that the Dems see as ripe for Obama to pick off.  But Romney probably solidifies the state for McCain because 7% of the Nevada population is Mormon.  It has the 5th highest % of Mormons among all the states.  Mormons tend to vote GOP anyway, but having Romney on the ticket will drive up turnout.

Romney’s long family ties to Michigan, combined with the sad state of the Michigan economy which is presided over by Dems at all levels of state Gov’t, AND the fact that Obama/Biden may be one of the least gun-friendly tickets in recent history — and the NRA is strong in Michigan — all work to move Michigan over to McCain’s column.

COUP-DOS FOR POWELL:  From the Captain:

The Powell trial balloon looks more like a way to counter the Kristol story (about Powell endorsing Obama) than a serious selection for the VP slot by McCain.  If McCain could get Powell to accept the position, it would definitely be a coup, but Powell’s made it clear he isn’t interested.

And from Curt at Flopping Aces:

Oh, it definitely would be a coup to get him on the ticket but the man could of won the nomination for President if he desired, why take a back seat job?

OK, support from the right.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

Allow me to make a Sherman-like statement on Powell's behalf: he won't do it even if he's asked.

[bio mom]

I remember a few years back reading an article about Jill Biden and Joe at a luncheon for Muslims in Davos, at the conference held there each year. They were late. And when they came in, Jill was wearing a leather outfit. Apparently this is very offensive to Muslims and was a major mistake. So much for Joe Biden’s brilliance in foreign policy matters.

Comment

[glenda waggoner]

From your post to God's ears!
Then announce he's keeping Gates at Defense.
Romney at Treasury. Lieberman at State.
Wouldn't it be outstanding to see Joe and the Princes of Arabias?
Must stop projecting, heh?

[clarice]

Then McCain would learn what it's like to work with a maverick who stabbed him in the back at every opportunity, wouldn't he?

[bio mom]

McCain's vulnerability is the economy. His military creds are fine. Why take Powell? It won't swing any minority votes his way.

[kim]

Why should he pick for Vice-President, a Secrretary of State who didn't want us to win in Iraq?
================================

[boris]

Powell would be a better 1st black prez than Beau Bama. LOL Clarice.

It could have benefit for holding some moderates and independents with a white guilt complex.

Kim, I'd say Powell was more afraid of losing. Certainly too savy to throw a win away. He's a better fit with John than he was with W.

[sbw]

Since the subtext of this thread is Joe Biden, let me offer a conjecture extrapolated from my experience in business.

Rather than enabling and promoting excellence, some executives are so insecure that they promote people they believe are less competent than they are. The second tier becomes second rate.

Although I haven't read Goodwin's book on Lincoln's cabinet, he promoted the best he could find. I'm not sure, with Biden, that Obama did.

[centralcal]

Colin Powell's "gravitas" came and went a few years ago.

I don't think people think of him favorably, as once they did.

[kim]

A better fit, boris, but et tu brute, too. Surely McCain is smarter than to put a backstabber like Powell as his back-up and replacement.
===================================

[kim]

centralcal, I actively accuse Powell of extending the war and causing American casualties by his lukewarm efforts to support Bush's quest. He, or Armitage, could have shut down the Libby thing in short order, had they the will. It is on him.
=========================

[kim]

'Them' is better than 'him'.
=================

[kim]

I had a similar thought last night, sbw, I almost posted it. Something like Obama gazing over at Joe and saying or thinking: "I'll bet I have a higher IQ than you" Har, de har, har.
=============================

[centralcal]

Oh, I am thinking about equal IQ's, Kim - they just reveal in different ways.

[BumperStickerist]

"Powell as Veep" is not so much a trial balloon as a barrage balloon

[sbw]

Powell was not a successful Secretary of State, either for the President or for the country, and I wonder about his State Department minions.

Yet I will always admire his letter to Pat Leahy on the American flag, and his statement at the 2003 World Economic Forum in Davos -- I'd put the link in but worry about the comment eater -- in answer to a question from the former archbishop of Canterbury:

We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years -- and we’ve done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan -- and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.

[Michael Kennedy]

Powell is too old as he is the same age as McCain (born 1937). God, he is even older than am ! Romney is just not an inspired choice. If he picked Sarah Palin or Bobby Jindal, he could say that at least he put the less experienced one second on the ticket instead of at the top. I don't know about Meg Whitman's speaking skills.

[kim]

In Tom's link to Davos, what invasion of Iraq was he talking about?
==========================================

[glenda waggoner]

Everyone must go to Pajamas Media and read Clarice's article about the CAC and Obama and the media's coverup. Just insert McCain everytime she writes Obama and imagine what the press would have done with this story.
There is a link on "Calling Captain America"
thread.
I guess the 527's are waiting until after Tuesday to see what Daley decides to release of the records. Oh, that Chicago machine at work.
Education is important to everyone in this election. Even when we have diplomas in our children's hands, comes grandchildren. We
are raising our grandson, who is on the autism spectrum, and believe me on this, you have to know your stuff and work the system hard to get the minimal help needed.
I was lucky to get seasoned(old fogeys) to hear my pleas and the State of Texas actually came and reviewed the way special education classes were not doing it for autistics, adhd and dyslexic children. The system has changed from that review where they now mainstream children like Colin, and he has blossomed. You stop the old ways/union teacher-of put them in a box and close the door while paying extra$ to attend seminars and actually teach a child and you get--results! Evidently the CAC threw money at cronies, not education, and they failed. This is not change, hope or the tide rising, this is socialist bureaucratic carp. When I think of the speech therapy and occupational therapy and tutoring and mentoring that CAC could have paid for but instead gave $ to educators like Ayers and ?Klonsky? Well, you know--we cannot elect fluffy vapid trustees of other's money run this country.
Sorry, for the rant, but everyone needs to read Clarice and Tom's words and take action.
Who, by the way, would be a good Secretary of Education under McCain?

[Rocco]

Richard Armitage knew on May 29 2003 that Joe Wilson was the anonymous source for Kristof's article. How could he and Powell not know about the coming coup on July 6th?

[clarice]

Ms Rhee,glenda. She's the young Korean-American DC's Mayor Fenty bravely put in charge of our school system and who has been making history here from day one. She is utterly outside the education establishment.

[SWarren]

"The former secretary of state was among potential vice presidential choices McCain was considering when he indicated he would not rule out a supporter of abortion rights, Politico reported Sunday."

Past tense. I think McCain has already made his choice, and it's not Powell.

[Semanticleo]

"he won't do it even if he's asked.'

Danger! Danger!

Powell might even express doubts about Ahab's
Compass. (Another nightmare for McCain)

[edwardcropper]

Colin Powell is a fence ridding, pro abortion, doesn't want to win in Iraq, craw fishing liberal.
So McCain will probably give him serious consideration.

[sam]

It would be delicious if McCain selected Hillary Clinton as his running mate.

[Jor]

No offense TM, but Powell isn't going to swift-boat obama like the current McCain campaign and you are so desperately trying. Like one of McCain's prior advisers who quit -- I really doubt Powell wants to be apart of the "honorable" campaign McCain is running. You really are become delusional.

[Donna]

McCain's vulnerability is the economy. His military creds are fine.

Bio mom is right. The GOP has the guns, they have to focus on the butter. The Dems are going to make Biden out to be Joe Sixpack and harp on how many houses McCain and Romney own.

And that might be the GOP's Achilles heel in this election. Americans are funny. We would all love to be rich and when the economy is riding high, businessmen are heroes. But when it's not, corporations and CEOs are villified. The Dems are going to play class warfare for all it's worth to deflect attention from their own elitism. A commentator at NRO has it right - the GOP has to pound middle class tax relief or they'll lose despite the zillion obvious flaws of the Dem ticket.

But for her inexperience (only 2 years as gov., before that a small-town mayor), Sarah Palin would be the perfect foil for Biden. Her husband's a commercial fisherman. And it would be wonderful if she could make McCain see the light regarding ANWR drilling. If only she had a few more years as gov. under her belt.

But I'm not sure Palin even wants the job. Can you blame her? If you were a hunting, shooting, fishin' outdoorswoman would you trade Alaska for a shot at being VP and living in DC and dealing with characters like Biden and Pelosi all day?

[glenda waggoner]

clarice, I do hope McCain is reading JOM. It is more educational than TV or the papers.
Off to research "how to give medical fundraiser in small town" and Ms. Rhee!

[Semanticleo]

"It would be delicious if McCain selected Hillary Clinton as his running mate."

Not as delicious as the endorsement of Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar................

[Topsecretk9]

The Dems Veep in a Hearing

LUN

[JM Hanes]

TM:

Campaign officials say McCain has told them not to discuss the process.

Which I doubt they are actually doing. This looks like a dual purpose "leak."

They may well be trying to forestall a rumored Powell endorsement of Obama. Powell's excessive preoccupation with his own public image might be enough to discourage him from potentially looking like a turncoat yet again (he was on McCain's shortlist, didn't get the job, changes sides!) even if he were given the usual racial dispensation for supporting the first black President.

Given the controversy which errupted over the possible choice of Lieberman and Ridge, they may also be trying to redeem themselves by offering an alternative narrative -- which suggests that those two gentlemen are off the list.

[Ranger]

I take this as yet another good piece of campaign 'news' management by Team McCain. Powell is a media darling, so they couldn't help but pay attention to the 'news.' It keeps McCain's name in the 'news cycle' on a day that should be all Dems with the convention kick coming up. Well played.

[PeterUK]

"No offense TM, but Powell isn't going to swift-boat obama like the current McCain campaign"

Poor obama,not even worth a capital O now jork?

[anduril]

It's no secret that Powell was at hammers and tongs--wait--knives and dagger point with the neocons surrounding Bush when Powell was SoS. I'm not up enough on McCain to guess at the lay of the land in a McCain WH, but McCain having Schuenemann as his top foreign policy guy suggests that Powell wouldn't be any happier as VP. Still, it's an intriguing idea to me.

BTW, that's part of my theory on the whole Libby case. I haven't changed my mind on Libby's guilt--he wasn't. But I think the whole feud between DoS (Powell, Armitage), the WH and DoD played into the reason DoS didn't act to clear Libby. Not honorable, but it seems they adopted an "all's fair..." approach. This is also, I believe, part of why the FBI and CIA were so eager to "get" Libby--policy arguments by other means. Also not honorable, but I believe from what I've heard that this kind of thing goes on in WDC.

[Randell Young]

The best choice by far is Condi Rice.

She's a known quantity. She’s thoroughly vetted. She's more qualified to be president than Obama, Biden or McCain. She's a great speaker and debater. She does not make gaffes. She exudes real class because she is real class.

This idea that she ties McCain to Bush is a fallacy. She ties McCain to the future and breaks the glass ceiling for women and blacks. She gives the disgruntled Clinton supporters a reason to vote for McCain. She blunts the get-out-the-vote effort for Obama because either way now, blacks have one of their own in the White House. She immediately energizes the McCain campaign and, unlike, Barack Obama, the more America sees of Condi, the more they will like her.

McCain can win with Condi.

[GMax]

Just a minor quibble. The whole state of Michigan is not in Democrat hands. The Attorney General is a Republican. So is the SoS I think. Plus the Senate remains in Republican control there. Its not nearly as deep a blue state as some seem to think. I think Obama is in trouble there and look for us to know that early on the evening of the first tuesday in November as its in the Eastern time zone.

[Arleigh Burke]

Rice and Powell are jokes. They can't do their jobs and no one wants them. They go overseas and everyone puts up with them. Obama goes to France. Gee, those French sure got hurt in NATO.

These people cost Americans every day. They're not worth it regardless of their excuses for being second rate and owed for jobs. The terrorists love these and they love saying that they're the same as anyone else. Bill freed Bin laden.

I still got to write!!! Back button doesn't delete!!!

[GMax]

Michigan economy which is presided over by Dems at all levels of state Gov’t,

This is what I was responding to. Republican can and do get elected in Michigan, and Kwame has poisoned the well for Obama with all of his antics and Mrs Conyers is adding arsenic to the brew.

[sbw]

Anduril: I haven't changed my mind on Libby's guilt--he wasn't.

And I haven't changed my mind about FitzAhab, either. Misuse of the justice system to get a big fish.

[GMax]

Not as delicious as the endorsement of Chuck Hagel and Richard Lugar................

Hagel has already said he is not endorsing anyone, and Lugar as far as I know has never been seriously considering anything except the Republican candidate so this is just idle speculation on someone's part.

Meantime, former V/P nominee Lieberman will be on the stage at the RNC and if I heard Geraldine Ferrarro correctly, there may well be another former Democrat party nominee for McCain in the near future!

You are stuck with former Republican Lincoln Chafee and loser former Rep JIM Leach as the only Obamacan I can think of.

[clarice]

anduril:"I believe from what I've heard that this kind of thing goes on in WDC."
Too droll.

I think you're right, but those involved ought to look at Andrea Mitchell and see what fate does to people who behave like that. And all the botox in the world doesn't work to fix a reverse Dorian Gray syndrome.

[anduril]

As to FitzAhab, that's where the system broke down. Prosecutors are supposed to be interested in justice before the law, not taking sides in political disputes. Prosecution is not supposed to = politics by other means. Him using witnesses like Mitchell and the guy from Buffalo--my mind's gone blank on him--was wrong. De mortuis nihil nisi what?

[Sara]

Powell was almost as bad at Secy of State as Carter as President. And, if his own image is at stake, you cannot count on his loyalty. He would be a terrible terrible pick. Powell Peter Principled out at least back as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

[largebill]

No to Powell. Career military politician. And that's not a compliment. Some in the Army are soldiers who grudgingly do a D.C. tour. There are others who make their career in D.C.

Powell could not convince me to support a socialist like Obama, but putting him on the ticket could convince me not to bother voting for McCain.

[sbw]

Anduril, the guy from Buffalo was the former Tim Russert, rest his soul. He'd probably roll over in his grave to have his name so soon forgotten.

[sbw]

And, Anduril, we shall speak ill of the dead only when it fits our own selfish purposes. ;-)

We need not do it here.

[anduril]

Ah, yes. I also had to ask my wife for Bhutto's name just now on the other thread. I shouldn't reveal this, but she gives me most of my rough stuff.

Wasn't Russert Irish, and didn't Doc Johnson famously say: "The Irish, sir, are an honest folk. They never speak well of one another." Or something like that.

[Porchlight]

Gallup had Obama up two points yesterday; today they are tied at 45.

What percentage of Obama supporters had ever heard of Joe Biden before yesterday, do you suppose?

[anduril]

Bouncing down the stairs?

[Dennis D]

Powell should have been Sec of Defense Not State. I doubt he would accept but if he did wow. I am sure he could reduce the Dem black vote from 98% to lets say 80% this year.