comMITTed to Romney!

Either Rice or Romney would rock

I must confess that Mitt was not my first. When I first began to look at 2008 candidates back in late 2006, it was not Mitt Romney but Condoleezza Rice that caught my eye and received my first 2008 campaign donation. Now, with John McCain as the somewhat lackluster (to we conservatives, anyway) Republican standard bearer, either Condi or Mitt look like tantalizing ticket mates for McCain.

Nicholas von Hoffman made a good pitch for Condi in The Nation recently, saying she is the VP candidate that could give the Democrats “indescribable angst” during the general campaign.

What makes Rice such a tempting pick? Of course one thing is that she is “the greatest two-for in GOP history,” as von Hoffman puts it, a black female who would conveniently counterbalance either or both Democratic candidates. She “deprives the Democrats of the we-are-more-diverse-than-thou argument,” as well as opening doors into both black and female voting blocks and allowing McCain to wage a stronger offense, according to von Hoffman.

With Rice on the ticket the Republicans are freed up to run a much stronger negative campaign against either Clinton or Obama because the Secretary of State provides them with cover against charges of sexism or racism. They would be able to go after Obama’s membership in Chicago’s Trinity United Church of Christ. Its minister, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., with whom Obama is close, has won himself the militant tag from conservatives because of his association with Nation of Islam leader the Rev. Louis Farrakhan. They can attack Hillary’s experience claims as consisting of her being Bill’s wife. They can challenge her boast that she is a strong, independent woman and paint her as a weak, hopelessly-in-love woman under the spell of a man subject not only to “bimbo eruptions” but also eruptions of smarmy deals with shady business figures.

Of course Rice would bring far more than gender and race to the table. She would bring good, solid conservative principles, unquestioned Christian morals and eight years of high-level Executive Branch experience. While not all have enthusiastically applauded her work as secretary of state or the directions the Bush administration has taken in international policy, she unarguably has held the post during a most trying time and has performed quite capably.  She has been mentioned many times as a possible candidate for high office, including Dick Morris’ 2007 book ‘Condi vs. Hillary,’ which argued that she was the only Republican who could beat Hillary Clinton. Web sites, including www.rice2008.com, have begged her to run for the past two years. (The rice2008.com site is now peddling McCain/Rice bumperstickers.)

Von Hoffman notes that Rice has the star power and magnetism usually associated with Democratic candidates and that she should be a worthy foe in a V.P. debate. While the NFL commissioner is a job Rice has often said would be of much more interest to her, von Hoffman believes “she would probably settle” for a spot on the GOP ticket. Perhaps McCain could convince her to do so to help keep her work for the past eight years from going down the drain under an Obama administration.

Personally, I would be happy with either Mitt or Condi on the ticket. Of course I would really be happier with Mitt and Condi as the ticket, but I’ve managed to lower my expectations a notch during the past month.

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