By DUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ
McALLEN, Texas |...It's a candidate's first major decision. Selection of a presidential running mate is always a Big Story. Quick analysis of the decision fills the nation's newspaper pages and time on broadcast news. American History shows us some winners and some losers.
In 1972, Democrat Walter Mondale picked a Midwesterner by the name of Thomas Eagleton, a U.S. Senator from Missouri.
Nice, everyone said. Good choice. And then it emerged that Eagleton suffered from bouts of depression throughout his life and had received electroshock treatment.
Eighteen days after being selected, Eagleton was out.
Republican George H. W. Bush caught a lot of heat after he selected Dan Quayle as his VEEP in 1989. The Indiana senator wasn't exactly the sharpest nail in the shed, they said. In a visit to an elementary school in New Jersey, Quayle led a classroom spelling bee. When a 12-year-old student was asked to spell the word "potato" on the blackboard, he did.
But Quayle corrected it to "potatoe," which was wrong.
Quayle never lived it down.
The examples are but two.
In 2006, Republican George W. Bush's VEEP, Dick Cheney, shot a fellow quail hunter while at a Texas ranch in Riviera south of Corpus Christi. The vice president claimed the shooting was an accident. The victim, Texas attorney Harry Whittington, suffered pellet wounds to his face, neck and chest but survived the shooting,
Cheney was criticized for not reporting the shooting. It wasn't until a day later that the ranch owner called the local newspaper to report the incident.
It can be crapshoot, although most VEEP selections seem to have worked out for winning presidential candidates.
Democrat Joe Biden, who served two terms as VEEP for President Barack Obama, had no missteps that embarrassed his boss, although it has been reported that he advised Obama against killing Osama bin Laden as Seal Team 6 prepared its mission on May, 2011.
Obama proceeded to give the order, and the world had one less terrorist to worry about.
The burning question this morning is whom will Kamala Harris select?
Harris’s campaign told reporters over the weekend that the first rally featuring Harris's running mate would take place in Philadelphia tomorrow, August 6, leading many to speculate that Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro is the pick.
Harris has not yet made a decision, though her campaign has focused specially on Shapiro and Arizona senator Mark Kelly, "with Minnesota governor Tim Walz also in contention as well as two slightly longer shots: Kentucky governor Andy Beshear and Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg."
We'll soon know.
It's not exactly the glamour job in Washington, D.C. Then Vice-President John Nance Garner, serving President Franklin D. Roosevelt from 1933-1941, once described the job as "not worth a bucket of warm piss."
The press later sanitized the quote by writing Garner had said "warm spit."
I don't know about you, but I predict Republican VEEP nominee J.D. Vance will deliver a whopper of a quote or misstep before this current campaign is over...
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Excellent fodder for discussion in our Comments yesterday. I have been impressed with the thoughtfulness and accuracy of the reader submissions. Stay with it. This is an important election...
ReplyDeleteWhy do Republicans hate America so much? Their lives are chaotic and lost. No matter how ridiculous their candidates become, their supporters are 100% on board with them.
ReplyDeleteI knew this story was coming. Here's my 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteI don't deny that some antisemites have jumped on the bandwagon of criticizing Israel, which is awful. But most of us on the left, including many Jewish Americans, are criticizing Israel for its ongoing war crimes against civilians and decades of displacing Palestinians from their homes. So yeah, when Josh Shapiro likened the students protesting the U.S.-funded bombing of Palestinian children to a KKK rally, that bothered a lot of us. I also disagree with his depiction of Palestinians as "too battle-minded to establish a peaceful homeland of their own."
I get that he wrote this when he was 20, but wow. There is no ethnic group on earth that is incapable of governing themselves. And expressing that put him in the company of colonialists, apartheid excusers, and Jim Crow apologists.
I want a VP who has never said stuff like that, ever.
And I also disagree with Shapiro on school vouchers.
Good, useful info. Thanks.
DeleteI also question the lack of Latino candidates put forward. I would go with Former HUD Secretary and ex-Mayor of San Antonio Julian Castro. Go for the Hispanic vote! Go for Texas!
ReplyDeleteWhere HAVE the Castro brothers been??? For three election cycles you couldn't get away from them, now it seems they disappeared.
DeleteI wish one of the brothers had taken on Ted Cruz.
DeleteA military veteran & former astronaut who leads a swing state & whose wife survived an assassination attempt lends gravitas & complements what Harris brings to the ticket. And eclipses the Republican option. Please, Mark Kelly.
ReplyDeleteIt's GOT to be Walz. He's the best by a mile. Agree with all of your points on Kelly, but Walz is the perfect guy to really underscore weird vs normal. More than any other issue, I truly think "let's move on and go back to normal" is what's going to win this election.
DeleteIt will not be Mark Kelley. The Democrats are fighting to keep the Senate. Why would they open one more contest just to nominate Kelly?
ReplyDeleteArizona, Kelly's homestate, has a Democrat governor. Wouldn't that governor appoint a Democrat to fill Kelly's seat if Harris picks him? Anyone know?
DeleteYes Kelly's replacement would be a Democrat, but only until the replacement election
Delete@9:29 AM That's fine. That person will have time to settle into the jobs and make a record. If Kelly's influence helps, that too is good.
DeleteNow don't crawl all over me for suggesting this, but how about having Kamala sit down with Mitt Romney or Liz Cheney? Even if nothing comes of it, it might help to welcome Republican moderates into the fold.
ReplyDeleteFor Cabinet yes, for VP no: Romney for Secretary of State and Cheney for Homeland Security.
Wes Moore, the new governor of Maryland, will be President someday, but he's too new on the scene to be elevated to VP right now.
ReplyDeleteSo, my money is on Senator Kelly or Governor Shapiro. LFG!!!
lumpy trumpy too old to run but still can lie like a rug and divide our country,
ReplyDeleteWhere's Melania?
DeleteHis wife doesn't support him? That's weird. She doesn't want to be around an obese guy who's 80 and smells? That seems perfectly normal to me.
DeleteTim Walz is the perfect Harris VP unicorn for this moment.
ReplyDeleteProfound.
DeleteYes, Trump's a trainwreck. But:
ReplyDeleteHe’ll lose the election, then get slapped with some minor fines and probation, which will be tied up in appeals courts till he’s dead. Meanwhile, he’ll go right on being a private citizen in charge of half the government, half the media and the majority on the Supreme Court, using social media to taunt and race-bait President Harris, and will never stop trying to wreck our democracy and our civilization. We will never be rid of him until he’s reunited with the devil.
The Republican Party is returning to its basic game plan for the last 55 years or so: Appeal to white racism to win. They used to just shout the N-word, now they have to try to be slightly more subtle about it.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is:
1.) The white electorate is not as racist as it used to be. People younger than around 50 don't think of white supremacy as The Way Things Are.
2.) The electorate is less white than it used to be, so winning white people only doesn't allow you to win the election.
Echo that.
DeleteREPUBLICANS FOR HARRIS encourage former Trump VP Mike Pence to endorse Harris: "Your voice can make an enormous difference"
ReplyDeleteYou are never going to find a "perfect" candidate. I am one of those independents looking for an alternative to Trump. I lean more towards a conservative stance, but Trump is a "never" for me. I'll be voting for Harris, and I know of MANY others who will be doing the same.
ReplyDeleteThere is a reason why so many (40!) members of Trump's administration are not supporting him for a second term.
Get money out of politics and put the insane in institutions. We want our country back from these Fascists and this year we have a fighting chance to save ourselves.
ReplyDeleteTrump wants to get rid of Social Security, Medicare and slash VA healthcare. That should be enough of something to think about before voting. JMHO
ReplyDeleteHe's losing the Senior Vote!!!
DeleteIt is time to end the domestic terrorism of MAGA, Trump Family, and Trump himself as well as the Heritage Foundation.
ReplyDeleteWe need Kelly in the Senate, especially since that kook Kari Lake won her primary.
ReplyDeleteDemocrat Ruben Gallego will swamp Kari. She's the Ted Cruz of Arizona!!!
DeleteNY Times writes Kamala's decision on her VEEP will come tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteI am a lifelong republican voter until Jan 6th, I am ashamed to have voted for him. As a 65 year old veteran I support Harris all the way, please keep in mind that there are non MAGA Republicans that do not support trump. don't vote the fascism ticket, vote blue all the way.
ReplyDeleteVoting for Kamala in this red state of Texas… Who is with me? Ladies, let’s Roar!!!
ReplyDeleteThe evangelicals should ask Trump to rate Mary Magdalene. Is she a 10? Since he can’t or won’t say his favorite bible verse.
ReplyDeleteI mean, he's said his daughter is hot, so......
DeleteGlad to see many Republicans who still care about democracy. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteIt is nearly 2 p.m. on the East coast and no word on the VP pick. They are struggling which is not a good thing.
ReplyDeleteDown to Walz or Shapiro
DeleteJoe Biden stepping aside for Kamala Harris has been a master stroke. There is now a new and vibrant candidate, but also continuity. Seeing both of them together welcoming the prisoners home from Russia was a very powerful image.
ReplyDeleteSimple. Who believes tomorrow kamala will stand on Stage in Philidelphia and say there was a better choice than Shapiro.
ReplyDeleteGo for Tim Walz!!!
DeleteHarris up by double digits in Michigan and Pennsylvania. I say, keep it up, boys.
ReplyDeleteI was just about to post about Walz. He strikes me as a real salt of the earth blue collar type. And I have been very impressed with his messaging. In addition to being a two-term governor, he's served in Congress. I'm not sure he puts any states in play that Harris shouldn't already be capable of carrying. But he deserves serious consideration.
ReplyDeleteTrump wats RFK, Jr as his vice president now. LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteLet's see, Trump's initial Veep candidate Kristi Noem of South Dakota once shot and killed her puppy because it had killed a chicken. RFK, Jr dumped a dead bear in NY's Central Park - Yep, he'd fit right in!!!
DeleteMan, JD Vance has really faded. Is he still on the Republican weirdo ticket? ha ha ha
DeleteDon't you just love how Trump can hurl lies and vile insults at people with impunity, but the moment he's asked a direct question holding him accountable for this behavior, then HE'S the victim? Gaslighting at its finest, ladies and gents.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteStocks are tumbling. But, no, America's market is not "crashing" Foreign countries like Japan are hurting.......
Props for calling republicans bloodthirsty. I do it all of the time because they are all of the time. Yeah, the corporate media will only ride this wave as long as they must or until the profits from it quit outweighing the benefit of gaining power over us. Then they will start in. That's what was so annoying about the NABJ shit show. That f'en train wreck pissed me off. But hey, it gave rump the exposure to the low information voters who are only now beginning to pay attention and it hurt him more than it helped him. But we all know the media is coming for Kamala. Just give it time.
ReplyDeletePart of the newfound interest in Trump’s age and mental fitness (the Geriatric Old Party) is the result of the media being able to take their laser focus off Biden’s age, which gives them a bit more time to reveal/explore/discuss Trump’s issues in this regard. They barely gave it a paragraph’s worth of consideration while Biden was still in the race, despite the problems being absolutely plain.
ReplyDeleteI haven’t seen anyone else say it, so I’m going to: of the two candidates, only one has Presidential hair. And it most definitely is Kamala :)
ReplyDeleteWell, I would hope that people don’t think Harris is too old. I look at her and think “My God it’s hard to believe she’s almost 60!”
If Harris picks Walz I’m literally going to jump for joy. I’m a progressive and my view on democrats is quite bleak, but this recent Harris momentum plus Walz would give me actual hope in a potential candidate and administration since Bernie 2016!
ReplyDeleteImagine bulldog Tim Walz on Trump & Vance? Every day, every day until November 5th. Love it!!!
DeleteVirginia Man Threatened to Kill Kamala Harris
ReplyDeleteFrank Carillo, 66, also made threats against President Biden and Christopher A. Wray, the F.B.I. director, according to federal prosecutors.
What happened to the Trump ear story? I never believed it but was the darn thing ever resolved? Anyone know? AR-15 bullet my ass!!!
ReplyDeleteHoax.
DeleteUsha Vance, hated by MAGA for the color of her skin, has to be a glutton for punishment. Get your butt and your clueless husband away from that racist party, woman!!!
ReplyDeleteWhat will JD and Usha say to their children?
DeleteDisgusting.
DeleteA majority (51%) now see Donald Trump as too old to be president, and more than a third of voters doubt he would be able to serve a full four-year term.
ReplyDeleteMorning Consult, in a new poll released Monday, offers additional good news for Vice President Harris, saying she has "widened the trust advantage that Biden held on handling issues such as abortion (her biggest lead), climate change, education, health care and protecting American democracy, while Trump’s advantage over Harris on gun policy, crime, the economy and foreign policy are smaller than they were for Biden."
Watching Joe Biden take his American flag pin off and give it to the prisoner coming home shows how a President should act. He'll forever be my favorite President. I'm voting for Kamala! She's on his team.
ReplyDeleteThat was presidential, something Trump does not know anything about.
DeleteTrump sure isn't motivating folks to vote for him: in fact, it would make anyone want to vote for someone else. He is soooooooo repulsive.
ReplyDeleteGeorgia, welcome back!
I'd like to remind Republican women that the ballot booth is private, and no one needs to know who you really voted for.
ReplyDeleteIn Texas, not even your husband can find out how you voted.
DeleteIt is bizarre the amount of deference that is paid to the orange con man by the media, and even by his Democratic opponents. He's a misogynistic jerk, a racist liar, and a sociopathic thief -- why does he get the kid gloves treatment?
ReplyDeleteANSWER: He's great for ratings.
Time to pull his passport cause I feel he will flee once he finally realizes he’s going to PRISON. LOCK HIM UP STOP THE EMBARRASSMENT TO AMERICA!!
ReplyDeleteTrump lost the election when he called America's Veterans "suckers and losers"
ReplyDeleteHey, republicans, You can suck-up all you want to Benedict Donald, he will still throw you under the bus.
ReplyDeleteAlito and Thomas just made the argument for their removal even stronger. Missouri's AG tried to stop the sentencing of Donald Trump in the NY case. So, they brought a direct action against NY before the Supreme Court. They also argued the gag order Trump is under makes it impossible for the people to be informed before they vote.
ReplyDeleteIn a 7/2 vote the Supreme Court was rejected and the gag order will remain and the sentencing. In what is shocking to even the fake conservative community, Alito and Thomas found Missouri could sue NY to stop a criminal case under NY law.