Another disappointing move by Romney

Asked by Sean Hannity if he would accept the vice presidential nomination if McCain offered it to him, Mitt Romney expansively declared that he would be honored to be asked and that he would accept. He did not have to say this. He could have simply said it was very unlikely that McCain would ask him.

Maybe Romney wants to show that he is a good sport, and is ready to serve the party, while having no expectation he would actually be asked.

Alternatively, maybe he thinks McCain might ask him, and he sees this as his path to the presidency, because if McCain is defeated in 2008, Romney would become the favorite for the 2012 nomination, and if McCain is elected in 2008, he would probably not run for a second term and Romney would be the favorite for the 2012 nomination.

But Romney must know how unlikely it is that McCain would pick him, not only because McCain does not like him, but because they are so obviously unsuited as a team. Consider how they looked standing together when Romney endorsed McCain several weeks ago: Romney, tall, dark, commanding, extraordinarily articulate, and McCain, this shrunken, mumbling, prematurely aged figure at his side. They looked like figures from different planets. It is vanishingly improbable that McCain will choose a running mate who is so obviously superior to himself.

Therefore the only thing Romney won by his unnecessary kow-towing to McCain was Boy Scout points.

It strengthens my feeling that Romney is highly rational and decent, but lacks the instinct of leadership. He seemed to have no inkling of how his supporters would react to his eager expression of readiness to serve as the lieutenant of John “Amnesty” McCain. He has diminished himself.

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James P. writes:

“Asked by Sean Hannity if he would accept the vice presidential nomination if McCain offered it to him, Mitt Romney expansively declared that he would be honored to be asked and that he would accept. He did not have to say this. He could have simply said it was very unlikely that McCain would ask him.”

The proper response is, “He hasn’t offered it to me yet”—unless he has and it’s already a done deal. But if that were true, one would expect some sort of joint public announcement.

LA replies:

Right. His eager statement about what an honor it would be to be vice president was entirely unnecessary and inappropriate. He thought he was being nice. But he was being foolish.

LA writes:

The Powerline guys, from from being put off by the idea of a McCain-Romney ticket, think it’s a swell idea. Of course they have no problem with it; they are McCainites, signed, sealed, and delivered. The notion that Romney, who ran this year as the candidate of conservatism, would be diminishing himself by running with McCain doesn’t even occur t to them.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 12, 2008 08:25 PM | Send