I believe I was among the first bloggers to throw out the name Bobby Jindal as a possible running mate for John McCain — I made the speculation back in February, not too long after McCain emerged as the front-runner in the Republican primaries. At the time it seemed a bit out there, even to me, and there was never any indication from anyone close to McCain that Jindal was on their list. Still, the story kept floating around, and now it seems to have moved to the next level.
For the first time, there are signs that Jindal is being considered among a very short list of possible running mates by the McCain camp:
Senator John McCain is planning to meet this weekend with at least three potential Republican running mates at a gathering at his ranch in Arizona, suggesting that he is stepping up his search for a vice president now that the Democratic contest appears basically decided, according to Republicans familiar with Mr. McCain’s plans.
Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida, Gov. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts and a one-time rival for the Republican nomination, have all accepted invitations to visit with Mr. McCain at his ranch in Sedona, these Republicans said. (link)
A couple of other names are also mentioned by the New York Times article, including Governor Tim Pawlenty of Minnesota, and Bob Portman. Lindsay Graham will also be invited to the “Veep Vet” party in Sedona, though thus far it appears he’s going as a close friend of McCain’s, rather than as a potential VP.
Given all that competition, it still seems unlikely that Jindal would be chosen. The strongest reason I was able to come up with before was a presumed Republican anxiety about a game-changing, mass-movement emerging around Obama. And while that has happened to some extent, it’s also become clear that there are limits to its reach (i.e., Appalachia). So the idea of off-setting a minority Democratic candidate with a minority Republican Vice-Presidential candidate is probably seeming less urgent now.
Still, perhaps we’re due to have our first Punjabi Vice President.
I will appear nude on SM if he is picked. There is no way any sane adviser would recommend Jindal to McCain. Nothing against Jindal, its just not a good fit. I say Crist has it.
My reading is that he is in fact being considered quite seriously. I think he should take it if asked. If the ticket loses, it’s nothing to him, he has his Governorship to come back to, and he gets national exposure for his own run in 2020 (he’s still very young for a national politician to run on his own any sooner). The GOP Establishment will be beholden to him for accepting, and he gets the visibility to set himself up for things like Senator, UN Ambassador, etc in the 2011-2019 period, after he decides he’s done what he can for Louisiana.
Of course if the ticket wins….Abhi may have to appear nude on SM all the time.
1 · Abhi said
I’m officially oppossed to a Jindal vp bid.
Any ladies want to join Abhi? ANNA? Cicatrix?
Would be better to just dress up in SM gear – latex/leather, ball gag and face mask. Two birds with one stone.
Though I suspect you’ll just create a fake picture, using the GIMP.
Crist has these persistent rumors that he’s closeted, while Romney polls poorly as a VP pick–that said, Jindal is awfully young, so I predict future greatness for him rather than present VP-dom, but who knows . . . .
3 · Manju said
Ah! Now we see the
violencenudity inherent in the system. Help! Help! I’m beingrepressedopposed!It makes sense. The VP is the ‘attack dog’….I’m sure if the Republicans have Jindal on the ticket, any talk of racism/bigotry against Obama would be zero. He should take it if asked. If McCain loses or wins, Jindal would be a viable presidential candidate in 2012 or 2016 or sooner.
chachaji:
I agree. Why is there so much hate/jealousy for Jindal on Sepiamutiny?
My love for McCain will turn into hatred if he picks that son of a bitch Mitt Romney as his VP. I hope the invitation to Romney is just to thank him for his recent fundraising. Pawlenty, Crist, Jindal are all fine with me but Hillary beats them all on the McCain ticket. They are good friends and surprisingly hold similar views on many issues. Also it’s time for McCain to fall like a million bricks on the Limbaugh, Freerepublic.com types. This isn’t going to stop the left wing extremists at Daily Kos from unjustifiably hating on McCain but he’ll allay the doubts of millions of independents. It’s their vote he needs more than that of the bigot base of his party.
Something to do with crabs and a bucket, though I forget the details! 😉
I doubt that McCain will pick Crist, and run the risk of any potentially embarrassing incidents from the past with another not-gay republican (imagine the reruns of the Larry Craig jokes!), especially with the risk of hardcore republicans staying home in November. As for Jindal, he is going to drive the moderates away with the thought of a religious nut just a step away from the presidency.
Mitt Romney is the safest bet, since he seemed to be the conservatives’ first pick, and is not too offensive to moderates. McCain personally seems to despise Romney, but he seems to have discarded any shred of self-respect and consistency in his quest for power, so this won’t be such a big stretch. If he could hug Falwell and Bush, a little Mitt-love surely can’t hurt.
LOL–yeah, let’s opportunistically take things at face value when it suits us, but be subtle at other times.
Jindal is an extremely pragmatic fellow (i.e., you are deeply missing his underlying pragmatism if you seize on his religious views as other than political). That (plus his intelligence) is a big reason behind his outsized success. His critics would do well to heed the Saudi saying: “The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.”
This country is still reeling, and will probably be staggering for at least a decade (optimistically), from the last time we elected a governor of a southern state based on his “pragmatism” and “reasonableness”. That one believes in crusades and that god speaks directly to him, this one in exorcisms and hellfire for non-catholics.
Thanks, but no thanks.
C’mon, Bill Clinton wasn’t that bad! 😉
Isn’t Jindal a Baniye name like Aggarwal and Jain? Punjabi names are Singh, Kapoor, Khanna, Kaur?…..
-Confused Desi
Isn’t Romney a Mormon nut?! Nooooooo to Romney as VP!
Slightly off-topic but I’m 22 (almost 23), unemployed (useless finance/economics/business degree, d*mn you Bear Stearns! going to ride out the economy by working in international affairs/politics/medicine/law) and an independent.
I’m going to do the Obama Fellowship (http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/fellowsapp?source=SEM-register-recruit) this summer. Its funny though, I will volunteer for Obama but will defintely vote for McCain in November. I’m just too racist. However I will vote for Hillary over McCain in 2012 ;).
Seriously, f*ck Romney and Huckabee. We don’t need a religious nut as VP. Romney and Huckabee are Dick Cheney version 2.0
McCain/Crisp or McCain/Jindal
all 3 VPs are lean
Yeah, great. Poster-child for raising the voting age. . . .
Romney is a Romney nut. He believes in only one thing – himself, and epitomizes the republican party exactly, as it searches for rebranding without actually thinking about the product it is selling. Romney the businessman ran his campaign on that same principle.
If you don’t want a veep who peddles religion, stay away from Jindal. Don’t know much about Crisp, except that he’s a good switch–hitter.
funny 🙂
i was talking about dubya, the late bipartisan, isolationist, fiscally-responsible ex-governor from texas, though 🙂
what about john kerry as mccain’s veep?
I have no problem with Jindal as Governor of LA. But President of the US with his right wing religious nutbaggery?
I personally do not think Romney is that extreme in his religious fundametalism. THat guy Crist seems like the best choice for McCain among the three.
i hope crist does for republican prospects in nov 2008 what another great son of florida, mark foley, cemented in nov 2006.
well you dont have to be an idiot to see this, but i think ur missing the point here, amardeep. Mccain, is going after crist and jindal, for fundraising purposes. I will bet u my two goats and my daughter, that neither of them is going to get the nomination. In fact, it is more like that we see romney receive the call, since mccain would like the michigan vote.
peace
Piyush is Punjoo? Hell, I thought he was Redneck. With Obama as the Dem candidate how can old white McCain (yes, I voted for him in the ’99 primary) not pick our brown brother. WTH is our country coming to? McCain is going to kick it while in office (sadly, I feel like he will win) and Piyush will be our POTUS.
17 · rob said
unfortunately, i don’t think that is the answer, as this article vividly and sadly proves. and this is by people who should know better, as they themselves probably lost family members or know people who lost relatives in one of the most notorious genocides in history, and further lived through a period in american history where they themselves experienced discrimination, and likely have contemporaries who changed their names, or daughters who went so far as to undergo surgery so as to avoid being on the receiving end of anti-semitism. and still, they shamelessly declare:
disgusting.
if anything, it is the younger crowd that seems more likely to break out of this cycle. as i hope it will be with our own south asian community.
The reason Jindal is being considered is because he has nothing to lose. He can take 6 months off and do the VP thing. Hes the darling of Rush Limbaugh/ Michelle Malkin crowd, “Regan Conservatives,” and his accolades are going to be talked about on talk/hate radio. If he has any skeletons in the closet they will not be talked/exposed on talk radio like the Wright issue was. The ethnicity factor will allow the GOP present itself in parallel to the Dems ticket. His accomplishments will dwarf Obama’s. His immigrant story will again offer a parallel to Obama’s. His executive experience and ethics reform accomplishment will overshadow Obama’s experience/message. His religion will not be a factor since everyone in the press will talk about his conversion and his commitment to intelligent design. He solidifies the talk/hate radio party base. Mccain can then go out and get the independents/ people not comfortable with Obama.
I suggest you start listening to Obama supporters. They have left me with the distinct impression that America under Bill Clinton’s had degenerated into Sodom with a sub saharan economy …. and Bill Clinton is a closet KKK grand poopah who drowns cute kittens for fun.
What we need is CHANGE (and so here was my $.02)
I predict it’s going to be Pawlenty. Romney won’t woe social conservatives, Jindal is too young, and there are rumors out there that Crist is gay. Safest bet: Pawlenty out of Minnesota.
Romney was appealing to a few conservatives considering the few options they had – McCain, Guiliani. However, his flip flopping on pro life issues, his ideas on fixing health care (MA – the WSJ just came out with a sharp article on how his plan is failing in MA) and the fact that he is a mormon were a problem with conservatives. If McCain wants someone to bolster his conservative credentials, he can always find someone more appealing to them than Romney (Sonny Purdue??) and thus I am not convinced that Romney brings enough to the table for McCain to choose him. OTOH, much as I dislike Jindal, he has started seeming promising from McCains point of view – appealing to the religions nutcases, non white and thus ‘diverse’ (the republican machine has already started branding the people who McCain has invited as ‘very diverse’) and knowing what we know of Jindal, he’ll make sure he has the correct chemistry with McCain (which to McCain will be important). Plus something which is not being mentioned is the fact that Jindal being young may be a good thing, I think McCain will be able to use Jindals youth to say that the ticket is more balanced in youth and experience than an Obama-whoever ticket. Also, Jindals apparent problem of his ethnicity for a white base party wont be so since the voters other option is again a non white person.
And yes, there are plenty of baniya Punjabis. There are Hindu punjabis, there are Muslim punjabis and there are Sikh punjabis. A punjabi is a person from Punjab who shares a common language and to an extent culture. Traditionally it had nothing to do with caste, religion, etc.
The Republican attack machine (Limbaugh, Hannity, & other talk show hosts) are raving about Jindal. If they say to vote for Jindal, these guys will vote for him in the years to come.
Still, perhaps we’re due to have our first Punjabi Vice President.
Are people gonna hop on one foot, then alternate which foot they hop on in the oval office? but that would be flip flopping.
Republicans can really only win when they have strong imagery associated with their candidate.
Ron Reagan – cowboy hat and a smile. (and Jelly beans?) Arnold – this is pretty damn obvious. W – Cowboy hat and two holstered pistols and chaps.
actually, it is well-known that log cabins are safe spaces for queer talk.
14 · rob said
rob, that was very sharp 🙂 really, i can’t pick between manju and you for my favorite republican. it’ll have to be both (especially because edging out manju from the running might exacerbate his weight/self-esteem issues).
Agree, although I always suspected Jindal’s public piety to be a necessary price to pay if you want to run in modern American politics.
Jindal isn’t a religious nut as people perceive him to be. Think about it. How would he get the vote since he’s a minority. Be the most ultra conservative guy out there. I mean he went to Brown and Oxford. Do people really think he believes in Intelligent Design? Hell no.
My guess is that one of the reasons Jindal would be considered is because it would allow white voters who are slightly conflicted about voting on solely racial grounds a way out. They could rationalize to themselves; “well, I’m no racist, I may not have voted for the black fella but I did vote for Mcain with that brown guy”. I, admittedly, am no fan of Jindal even if he is a Punjabi brother. I have to agree with Abhi, it doesn’t make sense for Mccain, who, in my opinion, shouldn’t be pandering to the right but moving toward the center with a Repub. VP who appeals to independents.
Age and Electoral College Arithmetic
McCain is quoted as saying in the NYT article linked in above, that age will be a strong factor in his running mate selection – so, other things being equal, the younger the better – and Jindal is the youngest, so he should be ahead of the other two (Crist and Romney) on this factor alone.
Louisiana has 9 Electoral College seats, Mass. has 12, and Florida has 27.
On this Crist should be ahead, provided Florida would otherwise go Democrat without him on the ticket. But Florida has gone Republican every year since 1984 – except in 1996. And in Florida, McCain’s age might be an advantage, so that even Democratic-leaning older voters might vote for him. And with Crist being not-gay, that could hurt him. McCain might be counting on the fact that just by letting on that he is considering Crist, without actually doing so seriously – he can help himself with that constituency a little bit.
Massachusetts, on the other hand, has gone Democratic every year since 1984 – except 1984 itself, when Reagan carried it. So it’s hard to see Romney helping McCain carry Massachusetts. He’s also a Mormon, which would impact nationally on the ticket, so that, and the fact that he can’t be counted on to bring in his home state, especially in 2008 – should go against him.
Louisiana has been the most erratic of the three states – Republican in ’84, ’88, ’00 and ’04 – but Democratic in ’92 and ’96. Thus it has shown a tendency to go Democratic during big surges. This should count in Jindal’s favor; I can see how he could bring in Louisiana for the Republicans in 2008, having just won last year, even if there is a Democratic surge in the country. That, his youth, his policy wonkishness, his Rhodes scholarship, his immigrant story, his skin color, are all in his favor. I don’t see any negatives. If there are constituencies where his skin color is a negative,
Old GrandadOlder Than DirtThe White Tornado will pull ’em in.If McCain’s analysts see it my way, Jindal is the frontrunner for Veep on the GOP ticket right now.
I wonder if Republicans want Jindal badly because this could attract Indians & other Asians (where there are many affluent people..= more donation). But then again, only 4 million Asians, so that really isn’t a lot.
I am glad Condi is not on the short list. Better to get rid of the nasty smell coming from the present white house.
I think Charlie Crist is the best choice. Florida might be in play if Hillary is chosen as the VP. Interesting article in today’s times about the distrust of Obama with jewsih voters but Hillary can change that. With Crist I think Florida will remain Republican.
How would you feel if I were to tell you that Jindal might be the presumptive nominee’s illegitimate black (wheatish) baby?
In all due respect, I don’t think charecterizing Jindal as Punjabi is accurate, he is Christian and we should respect that rather then applying tags that suit our purpose.
Punjabi is an ethno-linguistic identifier, Christian is a religious one. You can be both Christian and Punjabi.
I mean he went to Brown and Oxford. Do people really think he believes in Intelligent Design? Hell no.
so are you saying he’s pandering?
Piyush is Punjoo? Hell, I thought he was Redneck.
Bobby Jindal is punjabi, as much as I am.
louiecypher,
True, even by that count I don’t think he identifies as a Punjabi so it is correct to lable him as such.
35 · portmanteau said
port: your comment made me puke
48 · Manju said
there’s nothing a good binge won’t cure. maybe there’s donuts in the lunchroom?
Jindal has next to zero national name recognition and would be a poor choice. Not that I want McCain to make a GOOD choice (whatever that would be).