The Candidates
Interesting news from Politico:
Republican strategist Karl Rove called Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (I-Conn.) late last week and urged him to contact Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) to withdraw his name from vice presidential consideration, according to three sources familiar with the conversation.
Lieberman dismissed the request, these sources agreed.
Lieberman “laughed at the suggestion and certainly did not call [McCain] on it,” said one source familiar with the details.
“Rove called Lieberman,” recounted a second source. “Lieberman told him he would not make that call.”
Rove did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Rove, President Bush’s former top campaign adviser and arguably the most prominent political operative of the past generation, has no formal role in McCain’s campaign. But he knows much of the Arizona senator’s high command and has been offering informal advice, both over the phone and in his position as a Fox News analyst, since McCain wrapped up the GOP nomination.
I really don’t care who the VP selection is at this point, but Rove has left a very bad taste in my mouth. I don’t particularly like the idea of Joe Lieberman as the VP, to put it mildly, but stilll…
August 27th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
Ok this story makes me think romney isn’t gonna be the veep pick…why cause this story about lieberman is a headfake, its not about joe, its about sources tying romney to rove to W bush and that is something the mccain folks don’t want to touch…
August 27th, 2008 at 10:16 pm
Maybe it’s all part of the master plan to make mcCain look independent and have his sister souljah moment.
“Karl Rove and George W Bush urged me not to pick Joe, but I’m my own man”
also, apparentlt Rove was KBH’s 1st campaign manager back in 1990. interesting
August 27th, 2008 at 10:17 pm
I’d hope others besides Rove were trying to stop McCain from making the stupid VP pick of Lieberman.
This report is unsettling to me not because it might evidence some inner efforts to sway McCain away from a political disaster, but the idea that McCain’s inner circle *may* have been concerned enough with McCain’s reasoning to the point of trying to get others involved to change the situation such that Lieberman is no longer even an option.
We all know that McCain is going to be McCain and will do whatever the heck he wants to with the pick, but I don’t like the thought of McCain being so hard-headed that someone(s) ‘in the know’ flinched.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
I’m not for a Lieberman pick either, and I don’t mind Rove giving McCain direct advise, but going behind his back and trying to undercut candidates is just low. He should butt out.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
I’m fine with anything Rove, or anyone else does, to dissuade McCain from picking Joe Lieberman. The moment that selection is made, I’m going to go into weeks of cocooning. I simply can’t stand to watch Obama run away with the Presidency.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:24 pm
Imagine the ads: “Mitt Romney: Karl Rove’s pick” … Yeesh
August 27th, 2008 at 10:30 pm
NO LIEBERMAN
Every conservative blog should headline with:
NO LIEBERMAN
August 27th, 2008 at 10:31 pm
Karl Rove failed twice to win Michigan and Pennsylvania and other northern states at the presidential level and poisoned the GOP well in those states so much that the electorate spat out their GOP officeholders in 2006, meaning that we won’t control the House again for the foreseeable future now that most of the traditional northern Republican seats are held by Democrats.
Rove is a provincial political strategist and always has been. He thinks that all of America is culturally similar to the south and still hasn’t a clue that voters in other places don’t want a politics that’s a combination of pork and exaggerated religiosity. I’ll be glad when Rove is out of presidential politics and accepts a full time gig on Fox News, where he can’t do any more damage.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
I agree.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
Holy Crap, PBS (Charlie Rose) just reported that McCain is picking Lieberman! They say it will kill the McCain = Bush strategy.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
“The Architect” couldn’t even ever get Bush to 300 electoral votes.
Bush first had 271 electoral votes, then 286.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:36 pm
#8 and #9 you guys are flawed. Rove orchestrated a win for Bush in 2000 that was simply amazing. We had no pluses at all that year yet we won primarily because Rove knew what he was doing, and in 2004 he did it all over again. He knew Ohio would be the key and he focused on it.
Whether you like his style or not you cant argue with the results. he knows his craft well!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
I like Rove.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
alex pretty sure thats sarcasm right?
August 27th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
What’s sarcasm, corep?
August 27th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
touche
August 27th, 2008 at 10:42 pm
Huh?
No, I was never being sarcastic. If you took my original as sarcastic and #15 and sarcastic, then I suppose it’s funny, but, er, what did I say that could have been construed as sarcastic?
August 27th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
Karl Rove’s reputation is built on the spinning of exit polls and a few votes in Florida and Ohio. For all of the talk about how he engineered a huge “values voters” turnout that benefited Bush, it’s an inescapable fact that Gore actually got more votes in 2000, and Kerry (a horrible candidate) was a few thousand votes from victory in 2004. If Republicans try to emulate the “Rove model”, they’ll lose this year.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:43 pm
10: What??? More details please!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:44 pm
#11 seemed sarcastic to me. See even though we didnt get to 300EV we still won the elections so who cares if you didnt reach 300.
I took that to mean the “architect” did his job
August 27th, 2008 at 10:50 pm
19 - Barely!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
Kristofer #10, that isnt all it will kill!
August 27th, 2008 at 10:55 pm
How does picking Bush’s favorite dem who kissed him at the SOTU kill the McCain=Bush theme?
August 27th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
but barely is enough when EV counts.
You could also say that Gores and Kerrys guys “barely” failed but they still failed.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Charlie Rose? PBS getting the inside scoop from McCain’s inner circle sounds iffy.
August 27th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Halperin said, a Time reporter has the news. They said it is a reaction to the Democratic fact that the Democrats have decided to use the McCain-Bush line of attacks.
Then Charlie Rose went on to the Obama worshiping again. I was shocked they did not discuss further.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:02 pm
Did you see how Lieberman totally tanked the ticket in FLorida. It went from even to losing by serveral points.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Everyone knows Lieberman tanks the ticket, except apparently McCain.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Gore Lieberman = Sore Loserman
August 27th, 2008 at 11:06 pm
#25, that is false. Lieberman made Florida competitive. It was the only southern state that Gore was successful in.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:07 pm
Btw, today’s poll of Florida showed McCain only getting 78% of the votes, and 50% of the Republicans said they would be more likely to vote for McCain if Romney is on the ticket. He also raised his chances amongst Independents.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:09 pm
Kristofer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTH are you talking about…I’m talking about today’s Mason Dixon poll. WHen he added Lieberman as the running mate he tanked. Mitt boosted him by a full 17% amongst all voters. Lieberman tanked him badly.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Oh, you though I was referring to another election….no, I”m talking about todays poll Kristofer.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:12 pm
Kristofer,
A McCain/Lieberman ticket would get around 65-70% of the Republicans a McCain/Generic Republican would get. Therefore he tanks Mac everywhere, Jewish background or no.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:18 pm
#33 sorry, I thought you meant the 2000 election.
#34, If you believe 35% of Republicans are staying home because of Lieberman, you are smoking some of Obama’s finest.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
#35,
You’ll see. McCain doesn’t have enough goodwill with Republicans to even begin to pull off a Lieberman selection. Reagan running for his second term would have had a hard time of it. McCain will fail spectacularly if he goes that route. Spectacularly.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:22 pm
I really think you can’t judge a joint ticket untill it is done. Sort of like Obama did not start polling into the 90’s with Blacks untill after Afican.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:25 pm
#36, Bush 1 had a very similar record to Lieberman before he was picked as VP.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:27 pm
Of course, I could be totally wrong, and this is all a head-fake for someone else. I mean Beck, Limb augh and others have all come out in favor of Pawlenty now, so maybe McCain got what he wanted.
Then again, this could all be a double head-fake, and McCain could walk on stage with Jindal, Palin, Hutchison or others?
August 27th, 2008 at 11:32 pm
Tommy! where you been? too bad we can’t get your boy fred on the ticket. the grumpy old men thing wouldn’t fly…
August 27th, 2008 at 11:44 pm
I really think McCain knows better, he team is not THAT stupid… Now a ridge or a rudy I could see and understand and most after beotching for 24 hours could probably get on board with but Lieberman is an election ending event and McCain knows it, and one better is if he didn’t know it 30 days ago it’s been made crystal clear to him since.
I think we’re being a little to paranoid, course this is McCain after all so it’s no wonder it’s happening.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I’m sure in the end he will pick Pawlenty — really sure. But, just to go along with the speculation, if McCain IS seriously considering Lieberman his thinking probably goes something like this: (i) he will peel off many more Hillary voters than with any other selection (which is devastating for Obama); (ii) enough of the social conservatives will vote for him because they are afraid of the Obama anti-Christ; (iii) all of the fiscal cons will vote for him because they are afraid of Obama’s higher taxes (I think he really calls (iii) right). Don’t know if his thinking would be correct — as I say, I am sure Tim’s somewhat annoying face (at least to me) will show up on the screen fairly soon, but that would approximately McCain’s thinking.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Rove is the reason McCain is getting more republicans that obama gets democrats and mccain is getting more independents and mccain is STILL slightly behind in the national polls. rove is the reason there has been such a massive exodus from the gop.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:57 pm
Lieberman would be a total disaster of a pick. He will not grab any democrats. Even the Clintoncrats hate him, if anything he will push the Hillary obsessed right back into Obama’s arms. At the same time it signals that both the fiscal and social conservative wings of the party can be kicked to the curb indefinitely while the party stands for nothing but warhawks. McCain-Lieberman loses this thing by double digits.
August 28th, 2008 at 3:58 am
This is obviously Lieberman’s reply to the Novak article.
Don’t see why Tommy has a problem with Rove trying to avert a disaster.
August 28th, 2008 at 4:57 am
Everyone is freaking out about Lieberman. What you don’s understand is that it is just a pr stunt directed at independents, so they can say “OH! So he is not the same as BUSH!
No one who reads this blog is the target audience for this publicity stunt. Stop freaking out, it is not true. It is called politics.
August 28th, 2008 at 7:33 am
Tommy says, “but Rove has left a very bad taste in my mouth.”
And, I say right on Tommy! He (Rove) has left a very bad taste in my mouth for many years! The strategic disaster that befell the GOP these last ten years can be laid squarely at the feet of Rove.
August 28th, 2008 at 8:47 am
What happened to Lieberman? McCain finally figured out he didn’t have a snow balls chance in ___ of winning with his buddy Lieberman.