Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
In our past discussions of who would make for a shrewd VP pick, the Ricochet shortlist comprised Marco Rubio, Paul Ryan, Rand Paul, Allen West, Susana Martinez, Chris Christie, and Bobby Jindal.
Each of these young, politically fresh-faced candidates would easily boost the excitement factor of a Romney headliner by a factor of no less than ten. And all of them (with the exception of Christie, whom some would argue is a squish on a few of the important issues) can eloquently and passionately articulate the principles of conservatism.
But precisely none of these candidates would be an ideal running-mate for Mitt Romney. Or at least so says Romney surrogate John Sununu in his Boston Globe column today entitled "An exciting VP? Don't go for it, Mitt".
The vice presidential pick can bring on board a good campaigner, a substantive voice, or some skills and experience where the nominee falls short. This very modest upside potential can be quickly and effortlessly offset by a choice that becomes a distraction. Distractions are the result of the unexpected, and the unexpected occurs when candidates have been poorly vetted. (You know who I mean.)
[...]
So let us embrace the obvious: The winning choice is the dull choice — a running mate the public already knows, warts and all. Mondale, Bush, Gore, Cheney, Biden. These were not picks that lit the world on fire. They were serious, experienced names, vetted by the harsh media glare of a previous run for president or service in the president’s cabinet. They weren’t from key states, and weren’t part of some grand plan to balance ideology. But they all won.
My initial reaction was suspicion that Sununu, not exactly a sizzling player these days, must be angling for the position himself. But the former New Hampshire Senator told NRO that Romney would be ill-advised to tap as his VP nominee someone from the northeast lest he "be accused of being so parochial that you can't even look outside of your own backyard." That at least suggests that he's not interested in the position for himself.
Sununu's bottom line seems to be that if Romney wants to avoid providing fodder for yet another made-for-TV movie, he should take care not to select a running mate in the mold of you-know-who. The problem with this obvious advice is that exciting and unvetted aren't always synonymous.
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Oct '10
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
I'm with Ploni, not James of England. Batting .500 on SCOTUS picks is a terrible track record. Sununu's prescience gave us Souter. ' nuff said.
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
For those interested, I've started another VP discussion on the College Feed. The theme: Rubio's imperfections.
Apr '11
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
I didn't say it wasn't terrible. I said it was better than all the others, bar 43, since Harding. Who do you feel had a better than .500? A Democrat? Reagan (O'Connor, Kennedy, Scalia)? Ford (Stevens)? Nixon (Burger, Blackmun, Powell, Rehnquist)? Ike (Warren Court)? Hoover (Hughes, Roberts, Cardozo)? Coolidge (Stone)?
Look a little further to Taft and TR, and it's hard to see a better set of SCOTUS appointments in the Twentieth century, other than the magnificent Harding.
Disagree with that if you want, but if you do, please include specifics, including where you would place 41 on the Twentieth Century list.
Oct '10
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
Christie, Gingrich, Giuliani, Jeb Bush...
Oct '10
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
Of the remaining 4 candidates, gingrich is the tea party candidate. But social and moral issues have become more important in the GOP primaries.
Jun '11
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
Probably about the only area I'd give Bush 43 the clear nod over Bush 41... though if Dubya had had his way we'd have Justice Harriet Miers to worry about.
Sep '10
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
James Of England
A big chunk of his reforms were thrown out by the court a couple of days ago by an Obama appointee essentially on grounds of corruption. They'll fight tooth and nail to keep those reforms down, and no likely successor would be as good at getting them implemented and permanent.
I wouldn't say a "big" chunk of the reforms were struck down. The two overturned issues were (1) automatic payroll deduction for union dues and (2) annual recertification votes. Collective bargaining on benefits and work rules is gone, probably forever. Even if Walker loses the recall, and a couple of the state senate recalls go Democrat, the assembly is still strongly GOP. And the new district maps that take effect in November 2012 were drawn up to strongly favor the GOP for the next ten years.
But I am selfish, and I want to keep Walker for at least a couple of terms so he can overhaul the disgustingly high tax regime in Wisconsin.
Oct '10
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
JoE, just because the names you mentioned stank on hot ice in picking SCOTUS justices (relatively speaking) doesn't mean we should continue that awful track record. If the Dems can bat 1.000 then so can we. No one is wondering whether any of the Dem appointees might be a swing vote against Obamacare.
None of your names just gave advice to Romney. Sununu did. His track record stinks. He should be ignored.
Edited on April 3, 2012 at 4:49pmApr '11
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
dittoheadadt: JoE, just because the names you mentioned stank on hot ice in picking SCOTUS justices (relatively speaking) doesn't mean we should continue that awful track record. If the Dems can bat 1.000 then so can we. No one is wondering whether any of the Dem appointees might be a swing vote against Obamacare.
None of your names just gave advice to Romney. Sununu did. His track record stinks. He should be ignored. ·
The names I mentioned were an exhaustive list of the league. If you feel that second best in the league is a poor position, you're probably not appreciating how difficult the task was.
The Dems have a deeper bench; lawyers trend that way. Nonetheless, while Clinton chose well, and Carter didn't choose badly (he didn't choose at all), Johnson chose an incompetent and a man who lasted 4 years due to ethics problems, JFK chose a 3 year justice and a somewhat conservative justice. Even Truman, FDR, and Wilson had mixed records, most notably Chief Justice Vinson, and Justices Black and McReynolds.
That Clinton and Bush had 1.000 records doesn't mean that this is normal, for Democrats or Republicans.
Apr '11
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
Mark Belling Fan
I wouldn't say a "big" chunk of the reforms were struck down. The two overturned issues were (1) automatic payroll deduction for union dues and (2) annual recertification votes. Collective bargaining on benefits and work rules is gone, probably forever. Even if Walker loses the recall, and a couple of the state senate recalls go Democrat, the assembly is still strongly GOP. And the new district maps that take effect in November 2012 were drawn up to strongly favor the GOP for the next ten years.
But I am selfish, and I want to keep Walker for at least a couple of terms so he can overhaul the disgustingly high tax regime in Wisconsin. · 15 hours ago
I think that the collective bargaining rules, while formally important, are probably less important than the political control of the unions, and that paycheck deductions and re-certification would have crippled that control. Maybe they can repass the law after the recall, and include the police unions this time.
Oct '10
Re: Sununu to Romney: Pick a Boring VP
Palin was a terrible pick for VP once the topic shifted from Iraq to the Economy in late 2008. She exacerbated McCain's weakness on the economy. She may have held the base for Republicans, but she scared off the entire 11% vote of independents to Obama/Biden.