McAuliffe: Joint Ticket Would Be "A Great Idea"
This aired last night, but it's worth a quick look as a sign of what's to come.
Here is top Hillary adviser Terry McAuliffe, talking up the idea of a joint ticket in rather glowing terms in an interview that aired on Sirius radio (transcript sent over by the station)...
TERRY MCAULIFFE: Well first of all, as you know Mark, both of them, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are themselves going to have to decide who they think is going to be their best Vice President. For the rest of us it's speculation and presumption and all that.I'm just -- I'll put on my former chairman of the Democratic Party hat -- I think it's a great idea at the end of this process for us all to be together...
I do get excited about the possibility of having Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton crisscrossing this country in the fall of 2008. I think that would be pretty exciting. But I have absolutely no say in it. Hillary Clinton and I have never talked about it. But as former chairman of the party it does get you somewhat excited.
Prediction: The public enthusiasm among top Hillary supporters for an Obama-Hillary ticket will rise roughly in proportion with their growing recognition that Obama is the party's presumptive nominee.
Comments (310)
No. No. No.
May 9, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
If she wanted to be V.P., the time to make that move was 2 months ago, not after spending tens of millions of dollars trashing half of the democratic electorate.
Count me as pissed & sitting on my wallet if she gets the nod.
May 9, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
May I just add another emphatic NO!!!
May 9, 2008 6:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, you may and I will add mine. NO!
May 10, 2008 12:41 AM | Reply | Permalink
Is that a Rev Wright no, no, no?
May 9, 2008 7:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
No! No! No!
May 9, 2008 7:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree... McAuliffe needs to go to rehab.
May 9, 2008 9:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
No ! NO! and NO! Clear Enough?
May 10, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
if hillary doesn't get the nomination, barack needs her on his ticket. he won't win without her. and if you think he can really beat mccain on his own in november, you're a dumbass.
he can never win. this nation will never vote him into office.
May 10, 2008 1:46 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes.
Nice dry sense of humor, btw.
May 9, 2008 5:04 PM | Reply | Permalink
thanks
May 9, 2008 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Greg, that prediction at the end of the post is the sharpest, most-correct thing you've written since I've been reading this blog. Bravo.
May 9, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
That really was pretty good.
May 9, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Who knew that the "former chairman of the Democratic Party hat" allowed for such magical thinking?
May 9, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
There's a reason he's the former head... it has to do with sucking really really badly.
May 10, 2008 6:16 AM | Reply | Permalink
You are welcome.
May 9, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spot on, handsome.
May 9, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Something tells me I've seen this story before.
May 9, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hillary supporters can think of their candidate when they see Senator Obama's vice president pick. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, she's a democrat, with the experience, intelligence, and she's a woman.
Obama/Sebelius '08 **==
May 9, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sargent's Theorem.
May 9, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Keep Hillary in the Senate!!!
May 9, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
The VP slot would de jure keep her in the Senate (but she's better as the junior senator).
May 9, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thank you for your help:
Keep Hillary as NY Senator!
May 9, 2008 5:44 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good observation about Clinton still being in the Senate as VP...until you start thinking about how Cheney conceptualized the VPency. Can you imagine the damage Clinton could do with Cheney's theory of the unaccountable VP? Add me to the "no" column.
May 10, 2008 6:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
No, take her senate seat from her also
The Clintons need to be taught a lesson.
Obama/Sebelius '08 **==
May 9, 2008 6:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
What lesson would that be, disagreeing without being disagreeable, something you have yet to learn? To think I had the audacity to hope that Obama followers would practice what Obama preaches.
May 10, 2008 12:57 AM | Reply | Permalink
Right on dude. Just because someone doesn;t support a particular candidate doesn;t mean it needs to be full on nuclear war. Hillary and Obama agree on almost every policy position for heck sake.
May 10, 2008 2:43 AM | Reply | Permalink
Quite aside from being an insane pick for Obama, I cannot for the life of me imagine why she would ever want to be anyone's running mate. She wouldn't be a Cheney-type or even a Gore-type VP; the proper parallel, as a primary runner-up, would be George Bush I: 8 years of flying to funerals, toeing the party line, and general irrelevance, in exchange for a chance to run again when she's 69 years old! Versus one of the safest seats in the Senate, where her party stands ready to take a commanding majority, plum committees beckon, and her profile and power will only grow (though the endorsement race shows she's not popular with colleagues there).
That's what drives me batty about this talk: from either perspective, his or hers, it would be the bonehead political decision of a lifetime.
May 9, 2008 8:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Exactly. She can gain something here by pivoting back into a driver's seat position if she cuts a deal with Obama by going back into the Senate. Be the vehicle for healthcare reform in the Senate, be the heir apparent for lioness of the Senate. VP is not a viable path for her. This was really her one and only shot at the PPOTUS (which is why she has been going down ugly).
She can get a real legacy if she pivots back into a Senate role and charge hard there to be the power center in the Senate. But that only works if she gets a working accord with Obama and re-aim her life back into the Senate and go out of the race with full-throated support and positioning to help Obama and repair the damage done by the past few months.
May 9, 2008 9:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Could you be more of a laughingstock shmo, Mitch?
Hillary on point in the Senate for Health Care?
Oh ho ho - ha ha ha!
Just have Big Pharma and the Insurance lobby write the Bill.
Don't be ridiculous without expecting ridicule.
May 10, 2008 10:37 AM | Reply | Permalink
I think Truman should be the model for how totreat her if you give her the VP slot. Keep her so far out of the loop that she does not even use her clearance.
May 10, 2008 12:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
**Perhaps she recognizes that she's done a lot of damage with people she needs to vote for her to be re-elected to the senate. It's all she's got. She needs to take Bill to a quiet place and get him fixed.
May 10, 2008 12:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Trust me, she's got a long way to go before she's in any danger in NY (where she's not up again 'til 2012 anyway). She plays the incumbent game very well, brings home the bacon, does well with constituent stuff, massages all the power folks... no Dem will have the $$, name or guts to challenge her, & the state Repubs are a bleeding mess -- only incumbent inertia is keeping them alive.
May 10, 2008 11:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
the way Hillary is going now, she is making it easy for BO to not ask her to be his vp.
May 9, 2008 5:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am starting to wonder how much of her campaigning is really for the superdelegates and how much is aimed at putting pressure on Obama to choose her as VP.
May 9, 2008 5:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was thinking that too until she spent several weeks basing her entire campaign around how radioactive and unelectable and unacceptable Obama is.
Can you really just do a 180 like that and go from saying "Obama can't win" to "Obama can't win without me in the oh-so-significant VP slot"?
May 9, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes she can!
May 9, 2008 5:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very easily. I mean, it doesn't make much sense, but it's well within the realm of stuff politicians do all the time.
I'm not really sure why she wants the job so badly. It means she has a good chance of winning the nomination in 2016, but other than that it really seems like a lateral move. I don't really think it's the best way for her to help the Democratic Party either.
May 9, 2008 5:43 PM | Reply | Permalink
Reading this I have the same chill in by back than when I read that they have stopped doing security controls in one of Obama's rallies in Texas, Please, no.
May 9, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
they're going to get her in the White House one way or another--Hillary will probably want a bedroom there. I think Obama should then sleep with one eye open.
May 9, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Spoken like a follower of Gandhi who would practice non-violent protest violently. To think I had the audacity to hope that Obama followers would practice what Obama preaches.
May 10, 2008 12:59 AM | Reply | Permalink
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah . . um . . . blah, blah, blah {laugh} . . . blah, blah.
May 9, 2008 5:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
Not.a.chance.
May 9, 2008 5:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
I used to worry about HRC pushing for VP. I think at this point, Obama can not offer and not even have to explain.
May 9, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yep. Hillary is headed back to the Senate.
May 9, 2008 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
Positive reinforcement is the way to go:
Keep Hillary in the Senate!
May 9, 2008 5:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with this. Be positive, but firm.
Hillary for Senate! Why mess with a good thing!
May 9, 2008 5:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Definitely! Don't mess with Hillary! She must remain where she is!
May 9, 2008 5:50 PM | Reply | Permalink
If I were BO, I wouldn't want her as my heir, lusting after my position with every fiber of her being.
May 9, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah I would seriously fear for my life.
May 9, 2008 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
The thing is though, none of the crackpots or GOP would try to take him out with Hillary waiting in the wings.
As long as the Beef-eaters are well-stocked, Hillary as VP has more pros than it does cons, if you ask me.
May 9, 2008 5:45 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why would it have to be a right wing crackpot that wants to take him out?
Actually, it doesn't really have to be life or death. Hillary could simply leak information or stab him in the back somehow in attempts to get him to resign.
May 9, 2008 5:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmmm........lemme think....hmmmm...Hillary for VP huh? That sounds even more lame when I say it out loud.
No way!!! N...O
May 9, 2008 5:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
The thinking goes that she pressures him about the VP slot as she and her supporters will feel she's "owed" the VP slot, or she'll and her hard working, non-college educated white people will take their ball and go home. Tsk, tsk, tsk.
May 9, 2008 5:11 PM | Reply | Permalink
If he doesn't give her the VP spot, she just might go "nuclear"!
May 9, 2008 5:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nice try, Terry!
May 9, 2008 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
In a pig's eye. There is no way that he would let a bomb like this drop without clearing it first.
Bless my stars. I cannot believe that she wants the job. I am not wild about the idea, but I am even less excited about losing, and if this is what it takes to unify the base in order to win, I would count it an acceptable price to pay. I still find the idea very hard to credit, but I am increasingly coming to the conclusion that this is what her present campaign is all about - forcing the situation to a point where Obama has to pick her as his VP.
May 9, 2008 5:12 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama doesn't need her to win. And certainly doesn't need to make any sort of decision now. All he needs to do is secure the nomination (officially), make some very flattering speeches aimed toward Hillary and her supporters (how much he respects her, how historic this race has been, how she has been such a trail blazer, etc.), let some time pass, let nerves calm, then ask whoever he thinks is the best for the spot.
May 9, 2008 5:20 PM | Reply | Permalink
Moreover, the thinking has been done on this already. You can sure that Axelrod, Obama and Plouffe had this figured out a long, long time ago. McCain's choice may cause them to give pause. Then again Obama may preempt McCain, despite recent goings on with Clinton.
Obama already knows who he wants. And the candidate he wants probably knows he or she is wanted. Something this important is not going to be left to the last minute.
When the announcement comes, it will be unexpected. The choice will be super appropriate and logical, even though "no one" or "nobody", as the media like to say, was expecting it.
May 9, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Sorry to rain on your parade, but Barack Obama does need some kind of reconciliation with Hillary Clinton's supporters to win this election. Saying that her supporters can just be dismissed with a few compliments and not adjustments to his platform (i.e. - real universal health care) or, at the most, Sen. Clinton on the ticket, is offensive.
He won't win this election on the coalition he has built so far. That's just the truth. You aren't going to win elderly women and a lot of working class Democrats by having college kids put up Shepard Fairey posters in the neighborhood.
This has to be some kind of healing in the Democratic Party.
May 10, 2008 12:30 AM | Reply | Permalink
I agree with everything you say, Missouri Voter, and I also say if it turns out to be her so be it, but I'd rather see him take a Republican. I think a Republican is how he gets out of taking her.
May 9, 2008 7:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would be exciting to watch as Hillary talks about how he couldn't have won "white voters" without her help... NOT!
Is is 1991 again? Did is just say "...NOT"? Did I fall asleep watching Wayne's World or something?
May 9, 2008 5:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
More like BORAT.
The Clintons only wish it were 1991 again.
May 9, 2008 10:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nowhere in here does he say who's on top of the ticket.
Remember they tried offering the VP slot to Obama weeks ago.
May 9, 2008 5:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
I noticed that one right off the bat. When did we all become such parsing cynics?
May 9, 2008 6:59 PM | Reply | Permalink
That was the first thing that came to my mind.
As for when I became a cynic, it was in 1969 when I saw "Z".
May 9, 2008 10:58 PM | Reply | Permalink
Parsing is almost reflexive now. In a sense it's the true legacy of the Clintons' career in public life.
May 10, 2008 12:21 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sure, it's a great idea for Terry McAuliffe. With a joint ticket, he might still have a job when this is all said and done.
May 9, 2008 5:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
McAuliffe: Joint Ticket Would Be "A Great Idea"
Translation: We are beaten. Only losers talk up a joint ticket.
Senator Obama will make his own selection, and Terry McCauliffe will not be consulted.
May 9, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Even if he wanted to Obama can't put Hillary on the ticket. She took that possibility away with her Commander in Chief Threshold BS. Obama can't put someone on the ticket who has said publicly not only that he does not pass the test to be Commander in Chief but that his opponent does.
May 9, 2008 5:17 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yes, that's right. I believe Nancy Pelosi made that exact point the last time this idea was floated. Clinton kind of screwed herself in that regard.
May 9, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
Of course, that's fundamentally absurd; possibly even more absurd than the notion that there actually is some "threshold" that he has not crossed. But nonetheless, that's what she said.
May 9, 2008 6:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
The public enthusiasm among top OBAMA supporters for an Obama-Hillary ticket will rise roughly in proportion with their success in growing monkeys in their rectums which then take flight upon their unnatural births.
May 9, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
There is no reason for Obama to choose Hillary and thousands of reasonf for him not to.
Just having a Clinton on the ticket will drive up Republican turnout.
Bill came upon his turrettes syndrome late in life, but now that he has it he is a HUGE liablility.
What about those donation to the Clinton Library and the Clinton foundation?
How 'bout them pardons? Obama may be too nice to bring it up, but the Republicans sure won't be. Remember that Iraq Oil for Food Scandal? Who was involved with that? Mark Rich, that's who.
May 9, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
I would love it if some surrogate came out and said she couldn't be VP because she hasn't been vetted this campaign.
May 9, 2008 5:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
NO kidding!
That would be funny!
May 9, 2008 5:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
You said what I was thinking - where are they going to put Bill? And don't even try to tell me he'll be quiet and stay on the porch. Bill Clinton has spent 8 years making lots of money on the grounds of his influence and he has to try to make good. I also think the argument that Sentor Clinton supports are all going to turn to McCain is just silly.
May 10, 2008 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
Imagine that -- Terry Mac is excited.
May 9, 2008 5:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
If McAullife is in fact launching a trial balloon from the Clinton campaign about this possibility, I have to say that it seems to me yet another instance of how tone-deaf they are over there. Clinton represents the very past that Obama has been running in opposition to. But more to the point: in such an administration, Bill as a presence would create, at best, an awkward dynamic between a President Obama and a Vice-President Clinton. Bill has shown on this campaign that he, um, doesn't take direction well, even when it's for the greater good of his wife's candidacy; it's difficult to see how, within the orbit of the Executive Branch again, he'd be any more amenable to direction-taking.
At worst, such a choice would bear a strong resemblance to Bush's choosing of Cheney: Obama can't handle himself, so he's asked a steadier, more-experienced hand to join him on the ticket. I'd think even Clinton supporters whose greater interest lies in the strength of the Democratic Party's ticket can see the potential problems with the optics of such a ticket.
May 9, 2008 5:19 PM | Reply | Permalink
Just to be clear here: I think Obama has proven himself to be more than capable of handling himself.
May 9, 2008 5:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Thanks for a thoughtful comment.
And I agree with you. The dynamics of Obama, Clinton and Clinton are just too tangled to be good.
May 9, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
Me too. He has stood up to similar ham-handed attempts to bully him throughout. For now, he'll keep saying that the question is premature, then he'll say that he's looking at vp candidates, then he'll announce who his non-HRC vp is and that'll be that.
May 9, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I think it would be a disastrous ticket. It gives us all the racists who wouldn't vote for a black plus all the sexists who wouldn't vote for a woman PLUS all the people who make up her 53% unfavourability ratings.
BUT if past performance is a prime indicator of future behaviour, and it usually is, if she wants it, I'd suggest Obama will give her it. All his natural instincts go for `reconciliation and redemption` - he's let her off the hook time and time again in this campaign - `she's run a terrific campaign`... He's a compromiser. He inntuitively always wants to make his enemies his friends. He's inclusive. He'll want to unite the party. I'd bet over all his supporters' and not least Michelle's protests, if she demands it, he'll give it. (Unless he can heed the sage counsel of his staff and senior party people and get her to accept paying of her debt as the deal not to demand the VP.)
May 9, 2008 5:21 PM | Reply | Permalink
Obama will do it only if he believes he has to do it to win in November. There would be no other reason. Certainly not her trying to force him. He has more political power than she does now.
May 9, 2008 5:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
He's said over and over: The campaign is about us. Us is the folks he needs to compromise with! Not her! The campaign is not about her! US!
May 9, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Bingo!
May 9, 2008 6:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Like the VP slot is some kind of second runner up prize...Nope.
She didn't "deserve" the Presidency, she doesn't "deserve" the Veep position, either.
Obama can do better.
May 9, 2008 5:22 PM | Reply | Permalink
No means no. No is always no. When they say no, they mean 1000 times no.
I'm predicting Napolitano or Sebelius.
May 9, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
No plus no equals no
All nos lead to no no no
Finger pointing, eyebrows low
Mouth in the shape of the letter O
Pardon me -- No!
Excuse me -- No!
May I stay?
Can I go?
No, no, no
Do this -- No!
Don't do that -- No!
Sit, stay, roll over
No, no, no
Finger pointing, eyebrows low
Mouth in the shape of the letter O
Red means stop. Do not go.
No, no, no
May 9, 2008 5:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
A "They Might Be Giants" fan! I commend your taste.
May 9, 2008 6:49 PM | Reply | Permalink
A "They Might Be Giants" fan! I commend your taste.
I thought he made it up. In any case, I agree. NO NO NO!
May 9, 2008 7:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
I do too, even though my 4-year-old daughter tests my appreciation by playing "Here Come the 123s" at least 3 hours every day. Sometimes she substitutes her own lyrics, and that's always fun, but after enough consecutive repetitions, even music you like can begin to wear you down.
May 9, 2008 11:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I am so sick of all these damn Godfather tactics from Clinton and her aides.
No one is owed *anything*.
Obama earned the nomination pure and simple and he gets to pick who is best able to carry his message.
Besides, her negatives with voters will not go down just because she's in the veep slot. Obama is smart enough to know this.
May 9, 2008 5:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
I find solace in the comments that seem to show reality is finally settling in. Perhaps now the tone will change and Senator Clinton find her road out in her own time and fashion.
This can go a long way to jump starting the effort for the common goal of ending the eight-year disaster we've all endured.
As to the joint ticket. I think I need more time to make a more reasoned assessment. In the meantime, it seems I'll have plenty to read.
I will be perusing a series over at the New Republic that can be found here:
(http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/05/08/ed-kilgore-on-the-unity-ticket.aspx)
May 9, 2008 5:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. & NO.
That wouldn't not be turning the page on the past and only inviting in the stench of scandal after scandal after scandal that will undoubtedly follow the Clintons into Obama's administration.
NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. & NO.
May 9, 2008 5:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh, and OF COURSE Terry would want it. Just like snake oil salesman, Harold Ford does. As will Evan Bahy.
The DLC is dying right before their every eyes. HRC as VP is the ONLY way to keep the DLC's life support machine on.
The DLC is dead. Long live the Democratic Party!
May 9, 2008 5:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
Can I bump a NO from you..coz I run of No's for Hillary and Need one more NO.
May 9, 2008 5:53 PM | Reply | Permalink
I meant I ran out of Nos for Hill...
May 9, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
I meant I ran out of Nos for Hill...
May 9, 2008 5:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
No 'borrowing' necessary. It's all yours.
See what being cute gets ya?
:-P
May 9, 2008 6:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
Extraordinarily well said. You have hit squarely on its head the final nail in the coffin carrying the DLC to its resting place.
Long live the Democratic Party!
May 10, 2008 12:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Given how much of Obama's campaign relies on themes of unity and moving past existing political division, I think it would be much less discordant to offer Clinton his VP slot than you do.
May 9, 2008 5:48 PM | Reply | Permalink
Again:
NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. NO. & NO.
That wouldn't not be turning the page on the past. It would only inviting in the stench of scandal after scandal after scandal that will undoubtedly follow the Clintons into Obama's administration.
That is short term thinking, you're doing; the kind of thinking that lost us both house of congress for 12 years. The kind of thinking that caused Hillary to cote for the Iraq war. It's the DLC way of thinking. Expedience isn't what's best.
May 9, 2008 6:15 PM | Reply | Permalink
What better way to close the book on the past than make our decisions based on fifteen year-old Republican smears?
May 9, 2008 6:22 PM | Reply | Permalink