Tuesday, August 07, 2012

AN ANTI-TORTURE, ANTI-GITMO ROCKEFELLER REPUBLICAN AS ROMNEY'S VP CHOICE?

The Drudge Report has this right now:
President Obama whispered to a top fundraiser this week that he believes GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney wants to name Gen. David Petraeus to the VP slot!

"The president wasn't joking," the insider explains to the DRUDGE REPORT.

A Petraeus drama has been quietly building behind the scenes.

Romney is believed to have secretly met with the four-star general in New Hampshire....
I actually think Romney/Petraeus would be a very difficult ticket for Obama/Biden to beat, especially at this "love the troops even if you hate the war" moment -- but it's bizarre that the notion could even be suggested. We don't know much about Petraeus's politics, but there is this hint from a 2008 New Yorker article by Steve Coll:
Petraeus is registered to vote as a Republican in New Hampshire -- he once described himself to a friend as a northeastern Republican, in the tradition of Nelson Rockefeller -- but he said that around 2002, after he became a two-star general, he stopped voting.
A guy desperately running from his moderate Northeastern Republican past picking another Northeastern moderate? Um, that could get awkward. Of course, Petraeus could pretend he simply never thought about most of the issues a politician has to deal with until just now (the way Supreme Court nominees do, unconvincingly, in their confirmation hearings). Whatever his faults, he doesn't strike me as duplicitous enough to pull that off.

In 2009, he did say he thought Guantanamo should be closed -- a couple of years after Mitt Romney proposed that what the U.S. really needs is to "double Guantanamo."

Petraeus has expressed opposition to torture (although last year he seemed to qualify that opposition). Romney has been unwilling to oppose torture, or even define certain acts as torture.

Oh, and Petraeus has worked for Antichrist Obama throughout Obama's term. Jon Huntsman quit Obama's employ after a couple of years to try to run against him, and that didn't save him in the GOP primaries.

I don't know why I'm reviewing all this -- there were Petraeus-as-running-mate rumors four years ago, and nothing came of those. Petraeus has made his lack of interest in running for office unusually clear.

I just have to wonder if Mitt Romney's ego could endure this, in the event Petraeus was interested. I think Romney would instantly be overshadowed by his running mate. Would he see the ticket as a shrewd way to leverage the goodwill someone else engenders for his own selfish ends? Or would his pride be hurt? I can't tell if he's so cynical he'd happily get to the White House on Petraeus's shoulders or if he's too narcissistic to endure that.

So I don't see this happening -- but if it did, it would demonstrate that all the VP talk emanating from the Romney camp was just bait-and-switch. I've been thinking there's something infantile about the way the Romneyites are handling the running mate situation -- all that "auditioning," all those leaks (have there ever been this many stories about the exquisitely careful labor with which a candidate is settling on his #2?). Romney seems to want his ring kissed by VP wannabes in just the right way, and he wants the media and the public to see his selection process as the manifestation of his excellence and brilliance. Gosh, Mitt, it's all about you, isn't it? But maybe it's all one massive head fake, and Petraeus (or some other wild card) has been the pick all along. In which case the campaign has been screwing with our heads all along, just for the fun of watching us rise to the bait. And that would be really childish.

8 comments:

Victor said...

Remember, this came from Drudge, whose interpertations of tea leaves and chicken entrails have proven to be far short of the Oracle at Delphi's record.

And why would Mitt not only want such a high profile VP candidate, but also one who was key not only in President Obama getting the troops out of Iraq, one of Bush's epic disasters, and was also involved in the killing of Osama bin Laden, whose escape from Tora Bora was another of Bush's epic disasters.

Mitt's already doubling-down on W's economic policies, why hang a reminder of Bush's failures, and Obama's successes, around his neck at the same time?

File this with the usual idiotic word-truds coming from Drudge.

Unknown said...

Again, leaving out important facts from your party's disasters. Blaming Bush for Obama's, oops, Osama's escape from Tora Bora is ridiculous. There were a handful of Spec Ops teams in the area that were hunting him. There weren't a lot of troops on the ground in Dec '01. However, if Clinton, who I'm starting to like more and more since he seems to want to disrail Obama, would've pulled the trigger on Osama in '98, we wouldn't be talking about this. That fact seems easy for you Dems to dismiss.

Oh, I really wouldn't credit with Obama with getting Osama, I'd thank the SEALs. Apparently it was Panetta that gave them the go since Obama couldn't do it. Obama has very few successes, don't get too excited.

I think Petraeus would be a great choice.

Steve M. said...

Do you recite Fox News talking points all day and night? In your sleep? When you're having an orgasm? Just askin', sport.

Unknown said...

Well, champ, those are facts. Something that you seem to ignore when they're used against you. Go ahead and do some research before you run your suck.

Victor said...

No, those AREN'T the facts.
I'd provide links, but I know that if you went to them, you would never believe them - they don't fit with your pre-conceived world view.

So, I'll leave it to you (which is stupid, but, what the hay...) - try to research beyond the right-wing echo chamber.
You know, places where rational thought, facts, and figures, rule - aka: places you fear and loath.

Jayzoos, your mind's so well scrubbed, it should be an ad for laundry detergent.

Steve M. said...

I'm in a cranky mood and you're annoying me, Griffith. You're banned.

Anonymous said...

I put this in the same category as the great Condi Rice VP pick *leak* The conversation about Willard's taxes was getting too uncomfortable so they tossed out a red herring. Petraeus would be a terrible pick for them and I can't imagine he'd do it either. But if they can get a few people to quit speculating if Romney paid taxes or not and how much for at least a couple of days they'll probably consider it a win.

Tommy said...

I think using the "Obama..oops, Osama" line is a banishment worthy offense all by itself. The self fulfilled glee they exhibit when they get a chance to bust out that old chestnut is just too much for people with an actual sense of humor to have to tolerate.