Andrew Sullivan (who, by the way, is doing a reading at the Chelsea Barnes & Noble in Manhattan next Monday) has a piece in TNR wishing- likely in vain, even he admits- that John McCain will be chosen as John Kerry's running mate.
It will never happen, of course, for several reasons. In a base vs. base election, it doesn't help to choose a veep of the opposite party. McCain has spent nearly four years swearing that he'll never run for president again and never switch parties, so he would look pretty silly reversing field. And most of all, it'll never happen because McCain is ten times more appealing as a candidate than Kerry is, and no presidential hopeful wants to be upstaged by his veep pick.
Despite his hawkishness and general social conservativism, McCain is the one Republican many liberals have learned to love. Indeed, many Democrats, I've noticed, have a Huck-Finn-and-Jim relationship with McCain: they love him so much, it's almost as though he's a Democrat inside. This is because the senator has taken the liberal position on campaign finance reform, because he's willing to dissent from GOP dogma every so often (such as his defense of the "Nightline" episode) and -most of all- because he hates Bush, just as much as they do.
I admire McCain as much as anyone, and if I were up to me I'd love to see him as VP (if not president). But come on- the bipartisan unity ticket Sullivan speaks of would be nice, but just plain doesn't exist in today's political climate.
Posted by Stephen Silver at May 12, 2004 12:54 AM