Well, there goes my vote. To think I was entertaining voting for McCain in 2008!!! If he was to get the nomination and pick Jeb I'd be voting for Hillary!

8 years of Jeb has been 8 years too many!


McCain May Be Bush's Ticket

By E. J. Dionne Jr.

Tuesday, June 14, 2005; Page A21

McCain-Bush in 2008?

That would be John and Jeb, the most logical Republican ticket if the party remains in the polling doldrums. If President Bush and his political maestro, Karl Rove, decide that the only way to create a political legacy is to nod toward the Arizona senator with whom they have battled and feuded, they will go for the guy who can win.


This scenario was outlined to me recently by a shrewd and loyally Democratic political operative with personal ties to the McCain camp before Mark McKinnon, one of the president's top media advisers, publicly confirmed that he would help a McCain presidential run if it materialized.

Times change and politicians do what they have to do. For years, McCain and the president couldn't stand each other. The surest way not to get a job in the early Bush administration was to have supported McCain over Bush in the 2000 primaries.

But McCain made a crucial decision to alter the relationship in 2004. Courted hard by John Kerry as a potential running mate, McCain said no. He decided he wanted to be president and that it was unlikely he would ever get a Democratic nomination -- and implausible that he could win as an independent. His one shot was as a Republican.

Once this choice was made, everything else fell into place. McCain joined the Bush crowd. He gave a powerful speech endorsing the president at last year's Republican National Convention in New York. The address was perfect for both McCain and Bush. Unlike the speeches bashing Kerry and the Democrats by Zell Miller, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Rudy Giuliani, McCain's stuck to policy and praised Bush for his decision to go to war in Iraq.

This allowed McCain to keep his reputation for clinging to the high ground, but it was also important for Bush, whose central policy legacy, for better or worse, will be Iraq.

The standard view of McCain's choice, especially among Democrats, is that he sold out to Bush for nothing. This assumes that McCain can't win the 2008 Republican nomination because of the intense opposition he will face from the Republican right, especially from Christian conservatives. It also assumes that Bush will never lift a finger to help McCain.

In Bush's ideal world, that would probably be true. But the current moment is not ideal for Bush, and the economy, Iraq and the political situation may be even less ideal two and three years from now.

If the Republicans' ethics problems worsen, McCain's Mr. Clean image will look ever more attractive to Republican members of Congress desperate to hold power. If things get really bad, many Republicans will be happy to dump House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and embrace McCain.

The situation in Iraq shows no sign of turning around quickly. Who would be willing to stick with Bush's adventure? Bush would like to hand over power to a president committed to his Iraq policy. McCain -- who is close to the party's neoconservative wing -- has been steadfast in defending the president's decision to go to war, despite doubts about prewar planning and mistakes early in the occupation.

And if middle-class income growth is sluggish, bread-and-butter discontent will benefit any Democrat running on a throw-the-bums-out platform. McCain could promise just enough change to win the election. He voted against Bush's tax policies, yet he is also among the most fiscally conservative members of the Senate.

For all these reasons, Bush and McCain could end up as each other's best friends. Bush has been battling, with Rove's help, for a long-term political realignment in favor of the Republicans. The president could well come to see McCain as the only Republican with a chance to push a Republican era forward. McCain, in turn, knows that his only way around the Republican right is to run with Bush's open blessing, if not his outright endorsement.

And here is where Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the president's brother, could be the deal-closer. Jeb Bush has said he will not run in 2008. But that does not rule him out as a vice presidential candidate. If McCain won, Jeb would be the No. 2 to a president who will turn 72 on Aug. 29, 2008, and might well serve only a single term. If McCain lost, Jeb would have enhanced national recognition for a run in 2012. If picking Jeb is the price of winning over George W., McCain will pay it.

George W. Bush and John McCain may prefer not to need each other. But by 2008, they could well become codependent. American politics has produced stranger alliances.

Any combo of Jeb Bush and McCain is easy to foil. They are polar opposites on so many issues.

Can you say flip flop? They would have 2 entirely different agendas.

McCain is still one Republican I respect and could support. He's the one Republican that I don't think Hillary could beat. I was surprised when he so strongly supported Pres. Bush in the past election. But that was for his own benefit as the article mentioned. But, I don't see any real reason why McCain would pick Jeb Bush as a VP. I'd be shocked. In 3 years, we're not going to have 'Bush fatigue.' We're going to be in a 'Bush coma.'

everyone is blaming McCain for supporting W.

But why is no one saying that McCain had no alternative since Kerry was such a terrible candidate?

ung, that would make sense......but McCain campaigned pretty solidly for Bush. And I think everyone can agree that those 2 were not exactly friends beforehand.

The fact is, he didn't have to campaign for anyone. The one issue with Kerry was abortion. McCain is a very strong pro-life guy and Kerry is a very strong pro-choice guy. Otherwise Kerry was a closer match for McCain than Bush.

The only reason McCain went on campaigning so much for Bush was because of his own good. There's no coincidence that his convention speech pretty much never brought up Kerry or the Democrats.

I don't think it'll matter much who the Republicans OR the Democrats put up. The one thing the Republicans have down pat is the amazing ability to vilify anyone they need to. I honestly don't think it'll matter who the Democrats put up in 2008 - by convention time, a good chunk of the middle-of-the-roaders will be saying, "Look, it's not that I WANT to support the Republican ticket, but the Democrat choice is SO much worse!"

LXN

LXN, oh you mean just like in '04?

Change "villify anyone they need to" to "anyone deserving" and I agree with you on the GOP. But the Demos stick by their "needs based" philosophy, as they once did with Reagan and now do with their own perceived enemies, i.e., Judge Janice R. Brown, and of course, "the[ir] chimp," President Bush.

"Tomato" and "tomahto". Maybe everyone in the Democrat party DESERVES to be vilified. Are there any Democrats that don't deserve to be revealed as the horrific people they are? I can't think of any big-name Democrat that doesn't have something stinky stuck to him (or her).

But the main difference between the GOP and the Dems seems to be the GOP makes it stick better, and is much better at deflecting. Everything the Dems tossed at Bush (and let's face it, they had plenty of ammo) was neatly tossed aside - you know, it's just the Eastern intelligencia and the liberal media elite who are looking to bring down a good man. Shameful, really.

LXN

Jeb realizes the country needs a "Bush Break" . He will step aside so John McCain-Condoleeza Rice ticket can face the Hillary Clinton & a yet to be named Senator ticket. McCain has payed his dues - its his time. Jeb may run later esp. if the country gets Clinton fatigue by 2012 or 2016.

[ June 15, 2005, 07:33 PM: Message edited by: copman ]

I used to like John McCain.. but his sidling up to the Bush crowd over the past 5 yrs. makes him a spoiled commodity to me. Where's the independent streak gone? Didn't they say he was a little 'unbalanced' back in 2000? Did Karl Rove make a Faustian deal with him to down the rhetoric against Bush till after '04, and then he'll be the party's choice in '08? That sounds more of a 'flip-flop' than John Kerry.