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7.18.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 2 of 5)

The over-arching problem with the article by Mr. (Mr. Shreve is having a temper tantrum) Hillyer is that he goes to the same "Professional Republicans" that have been telling us who to pick for decades to get his list of candidates. These same pundits, national party activists, think tank ideators, and media members have been leading the GOP down the path to the cliff for decades. Many of them are the same ones that tried their best to stop Ronald Reagan, only to jump on board as so called true believers when they could not prevent that train from leaving the station. They are the ones that throw temper tantrums whenever anyone dares question their exalted advice. They are the ones that insisted on throwing open GOP primaries to independents and cross-over Democrats. They are the ones that continue telling us that, if we will just endure this one more pander to some particular liberal demographic voting bloc, the members of that bloc will abandon the Dems and vote Republican. Of course it never works, but then they -- and we -- never learn.

Now accepting that the Veep job "isn't worth a bucket of warm spit," never the less can we be serious just this once and try to think about what the average GOP voter might want? You know, someone that might actually excite the run of the mill voter enough to make them want to go vote this time. I am sure that every one of the mentioned folks are simply wonderful men. I am sure that they are devoted to their spouses and kind to their kids. I would bet that some of them would be great to sit around and have a beer or two with and talk about just plain old "stuff." That does NOT make them scintillating Veep candidates. Let us look at the proffered list in no particular order.

Chris Cox -- Seemingly a good Conservative. A former legislator. Now a federal bureaucrat. How many people outside of the professional GOP ranks, and folks that follow politics closely, even know the name, much less anything about him? Is he going to make the average GOP voter get exited and write a check to the McCain campaign? Is he an outstanding orator that can give stem winding stump speeches to make up for a Presidential candidate that has less oratorical skill than I do? How many votes is he going to draw from Dem leaning states, or save in GOP leaning states?

John Kasich -- He was a good Congressman. He seemed to have good conservative instincts. He also tired of the game and retired from Congress from a relatively safe district. Now he is more than likely making a good living on the outside of the halls of Congress, and can satisfy his desire for notoriety and TV face time by appearing on FOX as a "contributor" and by filling in for O'Reilly. Why is he suddenly going to get all fired up to get back in the game for the Veep job? Also, what is the evidence that he is enough of an attack dog to go after the Dems, which McCain simply won't do.

Mike Huckabee -- This one is not serious, right? Another RINO, or moderate Repub, or whatever you want to call him. The only thing that he brings is the pro-life evangelicals. Other pro-life voters can be attracted by others that have been named. At least he would give the GOP two nominees that the Dems like moderately well, and that they think they can beat handily.

Tim Pawlenty -- The same folks that damn Romney for being a moderate from a liberal state, somehow manage to project Pawlenty as a conservative. The only thing that I can see about him that is conservative is that he seems to be ever so slightly to the right of the average Dem in his liberal state. I also noted that no one quoted in the article cited him with any enthusiasm. Just what we need in a Veep -- a candidate that the professional nominators are not enthused about and that few outside of political junkies know.

Thune, Ryan, Pence, Ensign, Burr -- They are doing varying degrees of good work in Congress. Can we not further reduce our numbers in the halls of Congress, where they are sorely needed now, and are going to be needed even more in the next session? Beside that, the executive branch of government needs somebody near the top with some executive experience. I personally would prefer a Governor as the Presidential nominee. Since that is not to be, can't we have some executive experience in the Veep?

Mitch Daniels -- Here is a governor that, indeed, may make a good national candidate, but not this time. He needs to stay where he is and rack up some good leadership and a successful re-election. Beside that, his time in the Bush administration is so recent that it makes him a very attractive target for the Dems. That isn't fair, but it is reality.

Mark Sanford -- He might be a good choice, but I need to know a lot more about him. What is his reputation outside South Carolina and the surrounding Southeastern states? What has he done on a national stage. What is the proof that, by getting him, we would not be getting another Lindsey Graham, whose main value is as McCain's puppy dog? If Sanford is truly influential, how is it that he could not succeed in getting a replacement for Lindsey Graham nominated in the primaries, and if he didn't try, why didn't he? Is he a true conservative or simply a well placed "good old boy" in the arcane web of South Carolina politics?

Bobby Jindal -- This is perhaps the next thing that the GOP has to a shooting star, a brilliant nova. With seasoning and careful handling, he has the potential to be a truly great national leader. Unfortunately he is simply too new. Look, he was not an elected member of Congress long enough for anyone outside the political professionals and insiders to know his name. He has done wondrous and amazing things in Louisiana since he became Governor the first of the year. I wish him nothing but the utmost success. I can see him possibly being at the top of the ticket in 2012 or 2016, after getting a re-election or two under his belt, and after doing some events that get his name on the national stage. I would like to see him in a featured speaking role at the upcoming convention so that I can see what kind of an orator/communicator he is. We have all seen young sports stars that have been brought along entirely too rapidly. Suddenly, they are in the big leagues too soon, and they are classic busts, burned out before their prime, never to be heard from again. Please let us not do that to Governor Jindal.

Mitt Romney -- Certainly not my first choice by any stretch. That said, he does have some specific advantages. First he has long and successful executive experience. He has run the organizing and hosting of an Olympics. He is a successful executive in the private sector with his investment firm. He does have an MBA. By getting elected to the Governorship of Massachusetts as a Republican, he had a higher profile that many a Governor does. He didn't do a terrible job, given that the Democrat party through total control of both houses of their legislature, and through total control of the courts, and through total control of the state, county and city bureaucracies, really determine what is done and what isn't. Somewhat perversely, they seem to like having a Republican in the Governor's mansion from time to time so that there is someone to blame for all the things constantly going wrong within the state. Anyone that thinks that old time Democrat machine politics is dead doesn't understand the situation. I don't know what to make of his conversion to conservative principles on the social side. He has been sort of conservative on the economic side, tinged with what was realistically possible to enact. Some of his moderate stances on the social side have been out of step with the values of the Mormon Church, and his move to the right more closely aligns him with his belief system. Changing ones mind on issues is not always bad. Sometimes it is merely becoming right after being wrong. Romney also brings a much better skill set in the oratorical arts than McCain. This is the only name on the list that could induce me to, reluctantly, support McCain.

Perhaps in his next installment, Mr. Hillyer can visit a few barber shops, family pubs, bar-b-que restaurants, and the like, and bring us the views of real people, instead of the "professional Republican" crowd.
-- Ken Shreve

Quin Hillyer replies:
Mr. Shreve, who remains one of my favorite correspondents, does his usual fine job of making his points quite trenchantly. I appreciate his feedback. I respond only to correct his factually inaccurate description of the people I interviewed. Far from being the people who "tried to stop Ronald Reagan" and did all the other unconservative things Shreve bizarrely accuses them of, they are instead people I chose SPECIFICALLY because of their true Reaganite credentials. Keene, Bell, Carmen, Pickering and Shirley were with Reagan in 1976, fergoshsakes, AGAINST the establishment Republicans. Edwards has been a leading conservative since the Goldwater days. Regnery's Reaganite bona fides are beyond reproach and beyond question. Santorum was a superbly conservative senator, and the two think-tank heads are at the vanguard of the conservative ideas crowd, against the Beltway GOP mentality. And Norquist, of course, is a movement conservative superstar. Mr. Shreve's descriptions of them are not mere opinion, but demonstrably untrue.

None of which takes away from the worthiness of Shreve's opinions about the various VP possibilities. I thank him for his thoughts.

FALSE PROPHET
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.'s The Prophet Obama:

Letter to the Editor

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