Condoleezza Rice Terrible Choice for V.P.

Dana Mathewson gives us the heads up:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304050304577375851104232184.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop


A NOTE FROM TIM:

Since Dana has thoughtfully left commentary on this to me, I intend to give my dim assessment of the prospect.

I like Condoleezza Rice for a number of reasons. She is level-headed. She is reasonably competent. She would appeal to a fairly large swath of the public for a variety of reasons as Veep, being a woman and an African American. That said, she would be a miserable choice for Romney's running mate for any number of reasons. First, while she has been reticent to give her political views in the past, there is every reason to believe she is at best a moderate Republican, or about as conservative as Mr. Romney himself. Romney can ill-afford to ignore his Conservative base, who is none-to-pleased with his candidacy to begin with. Rice really isn't going to alleviate any conservative fears. And its his base that Romney needs to worry about; while he likely won't have any conservatives voting Obama, many may sit at home. Also, they may fail to open their wallets - a critical thing against a man who should be able to marshall ten times the campaign cash as Mr. Romney.

It should be pointed out that Van Jones, Obama's communist hanger-on, suggested Romney ask Rice to be his running mate.
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2012/04/01/van-jones-romney-should-pick-condi-rice-vp-and-watch-obama-campaign-g

A good rule of thumb with these people is to act in direct opposition to any advice they give. If Jones says this would be catastrophic to the Administration he means it would be high-five time.

And Dr. Rice really does not have that broad of an appeal; she has never held elective office, and the Vice Presidential candidate needs that experience as they are the hatchet-men for the Administration. Remember, the Veep is the President of the Senate and has to preside on occasion. Also, the V.P. has to go out and fight for the Administration, strongarming the opposition on occasion. Dr. Rice does not have a combative personality, and was actually rather embarassed during testimony to Congress and in press conferences because of her meek manner. She does not have the experience the political wars bring.

Furthermore, I am mindful of the Russo-Georgian war; Condoleezza Rice, despite being an expert on Russia, was completely blindsided by the invasion by Russia. I remember her first press conference; she seemed flabbergasted, at a complete loss. This is rather pathetic, given that I knew something was in the wind; I read Pravda. No doubt Condi read only her white papers and whatnot; had she followed the Russian Bolshevik paper of record she would have known that Putin was planning something evil. For an expert she was caught flat-footed; hardly a confidence booster.

Also, it would reinforce the shibboleth the Obama people are going to try to advance that this is the second coming of George W. Bush, and they'll be able to run against a third Bush term. If a top Bush advisor is on the ticket we have given them a wonderful gift.

So, where do I stand on this? I think Dr. Rice has potential, but she is unseasoned where it matters, and her views are less than conservative. She would be a pick designed with political correctness in mind; a black woman.  That would be the primary reason to choose her. We just had our affirmative action President, we don't need an affirmative action Veep in the GOP. The GOP should offer a candidate based on qualifications and if that candidate happens to be a woman or a minority so much the better, but that shouldn't be the first order of business. If Alan West wants the job I am first in line at the polls...

But not Condi.

We cannot afford to make these same mistakes of the past. We are busy doing precisely that.

Hey, I wonder what Colin Powell is doing these days?