Who will be the Mc’s veep choice?
With the Republican nomination race effectively decided after Mitt Romney’s departure from it yesterday, talk today has turned to who McCain should select for his VP running mate.
Club for Growth president and former Congressman Pat Toomey (R-PA), a great conservative who I hope runs for Senate again one day, has an opinion piece in today’s Wall Street Journal with suggestions for who McCain should pick. The candidate, Toomey asserts, needs to be one whose small government and fiscal discipline bonafides are rock solid:
The Republican Party spent decades building its brand as the party of small government, free enterprise and fiscal discipline. That brand put Ronald Reagan in the White House in 1980 and gave Republicans control of Congress in 1994. When it became clear two years ago that Republicans had abandoned those principles, voters swept them from power.
The path back requires re-establishing the GOP as a party of limited government and economic freedom. This is essential to Mr. McCain’s political future, the fortune of his party, and the economic well-being of the nation. And the first big indication that he intends to bring back the party of Reagan will be who Mr. McCain taps as his running mate.
Some have suggested Mike Huckabee. But that’s a legacy of a hard fought primary season. Moving forward, Mr. Huckabee on the ticket would be a disaster. The former governor has a record of raising taxes and increasing spending. Picking him would only make it more likely that conservatives will sit on their hands come November.
His suggestions are: South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint, Indiana Rep. Mike Pence, former Texas Senator Phil Gramm, and flat tax guru Steve Forbes.
Of the above, the one I would support the most would be Gov. Sanford, who has won the respect of many in the South with his commitment to fiscal conservatism, small government, and family values. I like Senator DeMint, too, but we desperately need his strength in the Senate.
How about you? If you are a McCain skeptic who hasn’t completely ruled out voting for him in the general, who would you like to see running alongside McCain – and would it make a difference?
On a related note, I have heard/read that President Bush raised the roof at CPAC this morning with the speech he gave – and raised the blood pressure of the left when he called Cheney the best VP in history.
Go get ’em, Mr. Prez 