Random Nuclear Strikes

David Gergen probably doesn’t care, but Ouch! From a fascinating profile of McCain’s new top guy, Steve Schmidt:

Nonetheless, Schmidt says he won’t allow the campaign to get thrown off by momentary distractions and pundits shooting from the hip. To that end, he and his colleagues have developed what they jokingly call the “Dave Gergen theory of the campaign” — a metaphor for all talking heads.

Gergen, a veteran of four presidential administrations, is a frequent pundit on cable news. If senior members of the campaign disagree on a strategic move, they watch what Gergen has to say. They then do the opposite.

Nobody noticed it yesterday, so I’m bumping it to its own post. Comments from Marylanders on this purported outrage would be appreciated. This means you, Kirk.

Okay, last one. Remember how Bush chose Dick Cheney for veep after Cheney vetted everybody else, and Bush was left thinking Cheney was the best-qualified of ’em all? Well, it’s a bit farfetched, but those in the Obama Must Choose A Woman camp who, unlike me, think Obama won’t pick Hillary, have put forth Gov. Kathleen Sebelius as the other option.

But wait! What about the Cheney parallel? That would be Caroline Kennedy, daughter of JFK.
Considering how this photo of a young Bill and JFK energized the base in 1992, I think an Obama-Kennedy ticket would be pretty attractive. Others do too. From Insty:

READER KEVIN GREEN thinks he knows who Obama wants for VP: “Obama has chosen Caroline Kennedy to be his running mate in a bid to include a woman who is not Hillary Clinton. Kennedy is the only woman Democrats would accept who is not Hillary.” Hmm.

I dunno. It’d be an attractive ticket, too be sure, but that’s about it. Way too vulnerable on other counts. My money’s still on Hillary.

In the Saddleback Forum event the other night, when asked to name three wise people on whose counsel he’d rely as President, McCain mentioned three people: Gen. David Petraeus, Rep. John Lewis, and eBay CEO Meg Whitman.

Could one of these three be his VP pick?

Not Petraeus — he’s got a job to do.

Not John Lewis — although an interesting guy with a stalwart record of heroics during the Civil Rights era, he’s even more of a Democrat than Lieberman.
The buzz now is, could it be Meg Whitman?

Please, please, please no, don’t let it be her.

Meg Whitman presided over eBay’s post-Virginia Tech overreaction. Although I suspect she didn’t give it any more thought than simply reacting to the eBay legal department telling her (correctly) that eBay faced potential legal and PR problems in the future if they didn’t ban sales of firearms-related items, if McCain picks her … well, she’s gonna have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Would it mollify me if she said that her obligations to protect shareholders from liability as a CEO are different from her obligations to protect and defend the Constitution as VP, and that she understands RKBA to be part of the Constitution? I dunno….

Okay, I made my predictions on the VP choices yesterday. Here’s where I hedge my bet with The Inside Stuff (TM) that has been percolating along in my clippings file for the last four years.

Back in 2004, McCain’s right-hand man John Weaver was spotted in a lunch meeting with Karl Rove. Washington, DC was instantly atwitter. The two had been mortal enemies since Rove orchestrated the successful hit pieces that sunk McCain in the South in 2000. What, pray tell, could be up?

The rumor seemed to be that McCain had sold his soul agreed to do a 180 and become the President’s Most Loyal Supporter, and certainly during the 2004 campaign he did, with full-throated statements about how the GWOT was the defining challenge of our times, etc., etc. The thought was that he did this in exchange for access to Bush’s donor lists and contacts, and presumed behind-the-scenes backing by the Bush White House in 2008.

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