Vice Presidential candidate Bobby Jindal still gaining steam
Methinks Jindal doth protest too much. There was no “explicit talk” at the ranch over Jindal for V-P. Of course, that doesn’t mean that topics of conversation that are relevant to the choice of V-P where avoided. Jindal may “have the job [he] want[s]“, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t open to looking for an even better one.
Like it or not, his name continues to be one of the names that is being touted for McCain’s vice president. The endorsement of Jindal for V-P by the Washington Times does little to silence the hype over “the next Ronald Reagan” (or Dan Quayle). You can read my response to the W-T on their site or on Oysters.
Clancy doesn’t believe Jindal will make the cut. Yellowblog, Adrastos, and Oyster agree. Jindal may very well be using this hype to gain himself a keynote speech at the GOP convention which he could then use to propel himself to the national scene after 4-8 years as Governor. The Jindal hype may also be a smokescreen that allows McCain to look at other candidates without scrutiny.
I cannot say that Jindal ran for Governor just so he would be picked as a V-P choice (like he ran for Congress in 2006 just so he could turn around and run for Governor). However, the scent of power has been released and Jindal will grasp for it sooner than later. Why? Because Jindal cannot afford for too much time to pass by. The more time he spends as Governor, the more people see that he is all talk and no action. Better for him to act now while the majority of the people are still fooled.
For fun, you can play the MSNBC “veepstakes” home game.
One weird thing did strike me as odd from the meeting. Former EBay CEO Meg Whitman, champion of allowing fraud to occur on Ebay, was also at the weekend meeting. Interesting lot McCain hangs out with. Mike Brunker of MSNBC has a great series of articleson the fraud that occurred at EBay under Meg’s watch.
May 28th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
It’s not going to be Jindal. It’s gonna be Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and therefore here’s an important piece of advice for McCain: If it looks like it’s going to be McCain/Palin anyway (and that should be a “no brainer” for Team McCain), McCain should announce NOW or VERY SOON, rather than later towards the convention. There’s currently a growing chorus for Obama/Hillary (as VP) ticket (in fact the Dems are likely aware of the Palin phenomenon). If the GOP waits while movement for Hillary as VP grows — even worse until after it is solidified that Hillary will/could be VP pick — selecting Palin will be portrayed by Dems/liberal media more as a reaction by GOP selecting its own female (overshawdoing Palin’s own remarkable assets), rather than McCain taking the lead on this. Selecting Palin now or early (contrary to the punditocracy) will mean McCain will be seen as driving the course of this campaign overwhelmingly, and the DEMS will be seen as merely reacting. And, there’s absoultely no down-side to this because even if Hillary is a no-go as VP for Obama, the GOP gains by acting early. McCain the maverick. Palin the maverick. Do it now!
There’s no reason, and actually substantial negative, in McCain waiting to see what the Dems do first insofar as his picking Palin as VP, because, no matter who Obama picks, Palin is by far (and I mean far) the best pick for McCain and the GOP, especially in this time of GOP woes. The GOP can be seen as the party of real ‘change’ (albeit I hate that mantra, change, change, bla bla), while not really having to change from GOP core conservative values, which Palin more than represents.
In light of the current oil/energy situation, as well as the disaffected female Hillary voters situation, and growing focus on McCain’s age and health, Palin is more than perfect — now.
(Perhaps Team McCain is already on to this.)