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July 27th, 2012 
FAKE NEWS for the Zionist agenda
Scholars, former vice presidential staffers, and current Washington insiders
say the best potential veep will have a combination of the right
temperament, a deep skill set, value-added experience, and a fat Rolodex to
excel in the job. Specifically, they say Romney should be looking for:
Chemistry. It may sound like an eHarmony ad, but those in the know say it is
essential that Romney and his vice president like each other for their
relationship to work. “The most important job of the modern vice president
is to have a sense of trust with the president, where you can help them be
better at their job,” says David Thomas, a former aide to Vice President Al
Gore. “It will be someone whose counsel the president can rely on, who the
president can delegate responsibilities to, and who the president can talk
off the record with, because there are very few people who they can confide
in.”
Joel Goldstein, a vice presidential scholar and professor at St. Louis
University School of Law, says the potential veep also must be willing to
act as a reality check in a sea of yes men. “You need somebody who will be
loyal, but also strong enough to be able to walk into the Oval Office and
say, ‘I think you’re wrong,’” Goldstein says. “If they’re not doing that,
they’re not doing their job.”
Ability: Romney has said it himself—he wants his second in command to
be able to step into the job as president on Day 1. That means he or she not
only will need to be capable of performing as the nation’s chief executive
but also must come with enough foreign policy expertise to take over as
commander in chief in a worst-case scenario. In light of Romney’s lack of
overseas experience, insiders say his second in command will likely need to
have foreign policy chops to spare.
People person: The vice president often stands in for the president at
political functions, but the veep also will need to be able to handle the
unparalleled office politics inside the West Wing and the Beltway. Between
Romney loyalists, GOP party leaders, and diplomatic demands, the vice
president will have to help Romney navigate Washington’s legendary turf
wars, ideally with relationships they’ve developed over their own careers.
*But aides warn of an overly ambitious pick who may have his or her own
post-Romney agenda. “Gore had his own ambitions, but he also relished the
role of being a trusted No. 2,” says Thomas.
Wise to Washington: As Romney is not a creature of Washington, insiders
say he’ll need a fixer for the Capitol Hill crowd. Coincidentally, the only
constitutional role of a vice president is as the president of the Senate,
so a successful Romney veep choice will be able to act as an emissary to
Capitol Hill, wrangling votes, keeping tabs on rebellions, and generally
attending to the care and feeding of members of Congress, a needy bunch if
ever there was one.
A Leader and a Follower: Perhaps the most important but least discussed
requirement for a vice president is the dual ability to lead a nation and to
be willing to act as subordinate for eight years, if necessary. “You’ve got
to find somebody who is presidential, but who is also vice presidential,”
Goldstein says. “If somebody isn’t able to play a supporting role, they may
have trouble as vice president.” Goldstein pointed to LBJ as a No. 2 who
struggled in the role and to Walter Mondale and George H.W. Bush as those
who found a way to lead and follow at the same time. Goldstein adds, “For
somebody operating at that level, it’s not a normal function.”
With these criteria as a guide, let’s see how the names on the short list
stack up.
Rob Portman, senator from Ohio: Likely performance: A
Putting aside Portman’s no-sizzle factor for a moment, those who know Portman
say his boring-white-guy persona belies an affable, trustworthy, and wildly
competent potential vice president for Romney. As a senator and former House
member, Portman knows both sides of Capitol Hill and also worked in the
White House under both Bushes. Portman burnished his foreign policy
credentials as the U.S. trade representative for George W. Bush and now sits
on the Senate Armed Services Committee overseeing the U.S. military. If
Romney were to win, he would need a veep trained in the ways of Washington,
and Portman could be the best in the bunch for those purposes.
Bobby Jindal, governor of Louisiana: Likely performance: A-
Jindal may have bombed his responseto President Obama’s first State of the
Union address, but the conservative base isn’t holding it against the
two-term governor of Louisiana. The well-liked Jindal is also well-respected
inside the Beltway, where he served in the George W. Bush administration and
was also a two-term member of the House, all before the age of 35. The
former Rhodes scholar is also a whiz in health policy thanks to his stint as
Louisiana’s youngest ever director of the Department of Health and
Hospitals. With entitlement reform on the agenda of any president, Jindal
would be a value-add on Day 1. Jindal’s key deficits are his lack of foreign
policy experience and Doogie Howser demeanor, the latter of which could make
closing deals with committee chairmen even tougher than usual.
Tim Pawlenty, former Minnesota governor: Likely performance: B+
The man known as “T-Paw” has enjoyed front-runner status in the D.C.
veep-stakes buzz lately, thanks in large part to the considerable chemistry
he and Romney have shown together at campaign events around the country. The
usually gee-whiz Midwesterner also caught political watchers’ attention last
month in North Carolina, when he traded in his mom jeans for boxing gloves
and delivered a barn burner of a speech that lit into Barack Obama in a way
few thought possible of the original “Sam’s Club Republican.” In addition to
Pawlenty’s potential as a trusted and effective sidekick, Pawlenty would
give Romney a guaranteed “in” with the GOP base, which continues to give the
former Massachusetts governor the hairy eyeball but has always liked the
friendly and unquestionably conservative—and competent—Pawlenty.
The biggest strike against Pawlenty as a potential Romney VP may be that he is
too much like the potential boss. Both are former governors of not-so-red
states, and Pawlenty lacks significant foreign policy experience and
long-standing relationships inside Washington, deficiencies that would do
little to help Romney in the areas he needs it most.
Paul Ryan, congressman from Wisconsin: Likely performance: B
In addition to being on Romney’s rumored VP short list, Rep. Ryan was also on
Time magazine’s short list for “Person of the Year” after passing a budget
through the House that went where mortals dared not tread—entitlement
reform. In addition to winning over magazine editors, Ryan won over
conservatives nationally who have grown to view him as a modern-day,
budget-busting folk hero.
The seven-term congressman would give Romney both a fresh, young presence on
the political scene and a creature of Washington—someone who could work
seamlessly with the House and Senate GOP leadership on Romney’s behalf to
get his agenda through the Hill’s considerable hoops.
But the budget-obsessed Wisconsinite may be too one-note to fill out the
demands of the vice presidency, with no military or foreign policy bona
fides to bring to the table while Romney learns on the job.
Kelly Ayotte, senator from New Hampshire: Likely performance: C+
Dick Cheney said he didn’t have a long list and a short list, but a private
list, for people who were being considered, and a public list, for people he
wanted to the world to believe he was considering.
Ayotte, along with former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, seems to be a
public-list, female-friendly candidate, rather than a real possibility for
the Romney team.
Although she is seen as a fast-rising star by Republicans in Washington, her
biggest challenge is time—the 43-year-old Ayotte has been in the Senate for
just 18 months, making her a dangerous choice for any Republican looking to
erase memories of Sarah Palin’s disastrous tryout.
Republicans say with a few more years, Ayotte will be a quadruple threat for a
VP pick, as a trusted conservative, member of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, eventual Washington veteran, and mother with young children.
Earlier, Sen. John McCain predicted to The Daily Beastthat the “incredibly
quick study” will end up in the Republican leadership “very soon,” adding,
“I would imagine that over time she may go even further than the Senate.”
Marco Rubio, senator from Florida: Likely performance: C
Count Rubio as another rising starwho could help the 2012 GOP ticket as a vice
presidential candidate but who would make a lousy vice president in 2013.
Beloved by the Republican base and admired by Latinos for his personal
story, the junior senator from Florida clearly has a major future ahead of
him. But Senate staffers also say the charming Rubio needs seasoning before
he could step in as a president’s top adviser, let alone step up as
president if necessary. And with just 18 months of experience in the Senate
and a youthful demeanor to boot, it’s hard to imagine Rubio calling the
shots in the event of a worst-case scenario.
Evidence of Rubio’s inexperience came out recently when he gave what was
billed as a “major foreign policy speech” at the Brookings Institution.
After delivering the lengthy speech from notes, Rubio paused toward the end,
looking for something. “I left the last page of my speech. Does anyone have
my last page?” he asked.
Supplied with the final bit of his address, Rubio read on but left an
impression with those in the audience. “Not ready for prime time,” observed
a veteran Republican.
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