[Iron Eagle]

"Your so-called rationale for McCain doesn't make any sense"

How so?

You answer analysis with insult -- which is not surprising anymore on FR.

Mine was not an "article." It was a vanity. Which, by the way, was posted right next to the title. Yet you chose to partake anyway. So, now that you have wandered in, why not weigh in with something substantive. Plain talk can be substantive too.

Which part of my analysis makes no sense? Why? As I ask earlier -- how does Cheney -- who I prefer too -- help us win one more vote than we already have?

As for Cheney on the ticket. He may stay. But, having sat in a few of these meetings, I can tell you that the party has always wanted him to go -- and he has always understood that he hurts the Party in '08 if he stays. (This is not a single game transaction. The GOP must look ahead, and Cheney knew that when he picked himself.) Cheney is not running in '08, nor can he win. The Party prefers, and Cheney prefers, that we be in the driver's seat in '08.

In fact, Cheney staying is more likely now, because he probably envisioned leaving with the race in the bag. Leaving with Bush under duress, sends a signal the party is not keen on sending.

Picking this President is about winning -- plain and simple. All I ask is, putting aside our conservative love for Cheney -- how does Cheney help us? And, if Cheney does not stay -- who will we pick?

How about some plain talk on that.

[TaxRelief]

Plain Talk has made the most important point: The Bush/Cheney '04 bumper stickers are already printed.

[Engine82]

If the job was open I would pick Zell Miller. That would tick off the liberals and Miller (prolife) might bite. I like cheney though.

[conshack]

Rudolph Guiliani would be my choice.

[birbear]

Picking this President is about winning -- plain and simple. All I ask is, putting aside our conservative love for Cheney -- how does Cheney help us? And, if Cheney does not stay -- who will we pick?

Let me answer your question with a question... how does changing from Cheney help us?


Some of your thoughts make a lot of sense, and I see Cheney as kind of a lightning rod (which can be good or bad)... but how does picking somebody other then Cheney help the cause... yeah, it may help the cause in 08, but how does it help us win now.

The waves that a change would cause, now, would overwhelm any political capital that might be picked up. Cheney's a known quantity. If you were to change candidates right now, you're riling up that big old hornets nest known as the media...distracting people from doing what needs to be done in the campaign and in Iraq.

Sometimes keeping things at status quo is the proper thing to do.