Kerry putting McCain in his new cabinet is excellent strategy.

Think of what's gained here:

McCain is a well-known Republican who isn't an incredibly hawkish asshole. Granted, he and Kerry disagree on a lot of things, no doubt; having McCain in his cabinet, because of this and his Republican affiliation, would imply an air of bipartisanship the voters would probably appreciate. A lot of people get turned off by what they see as squabbling, I suspect.

Moreover, McCain in the cabinet means that he gives up his seat in the senate, which is a win-win for the democratic party. Someone who either votes similarly to McCain but doesn't have the mile-long record and the tons of voter respect gets in, or a democratic candidate gets in.

Because of this, I would submit that McCain's presence in a Kerry administration would be a good thing. (I'm thinking secretary of defence.)

-C

I grow weary of all the McCain praise. He's a generally self-serving politician. Just because he's one of the few Republican voices not perfectly toeing the party line does not make him a centrist.

McCain is a conservative, period. And anti-abortion, at that.

And talk of McCain as the VP candidate is just mind-blowingly, m-f-ing insane. Any Democratic leader suggesting such a ticket needs to be lambasted (and sent for a private dressing-down by Arianna Huffington).

p.s. And I'm sitting here watching my Replay'd recording of today's 'Meet the Press', and they've just spent 10 minutes talking about McCain as VP... starting with a quote from Bob Kerrey and then Joe Biden endorses the idea. Un-fricking-believable. The Democratic "leadership" continues to demonstrate incompetence.

there could be an even WORSE Republican waiting in the winds- Despite its Governor, Arizona is a pretty strongly Republican state.

"there could be an even WORSE Republican waiting in the winds- Despite its Governor, Arizona is a pretty strongly Republican state."

.. wouldn't he get to appoint a replacement til the next election?

Under the general rule, Arizona's Governor Janet Napolitano could appoint a replacement until a special election (pursuant to the 17th Amendment) except that Arizona is the ONLY state that requires a special election to fill all vacancies and does not allow for temporary appointments.

So, assuming that McCain wins reelection this year and then accepted a cabinet post, his absence would only affect Senate votes for as long as it takes to hold a special election- one in which you can be sure that the Republican would have significant advantages.

and he is willing to let his loyalty to Bush, supercede his loyalty to his wife and family.

Says a lot about this bloviating, stage hogger.

He would probably do more harm than good:

http://www.salon.com/news/1998/06/25newsb.html

No Republicans in the White House. No Republicans in the cabinet.

Though the media has been labeling presidential hopeful John McCain a "liberal", his ADA voting record tells a different story. With a lifetime rating of 9%, National Director Amy Isaacs said, "It is a great defamation of our character to call John McCain a liberal. The very few places he has voted for the 'liberal' position just go to show a person can't be wrong all the time." The only area where McCain's voting record is even in the moderate range, with a 45% voting record, is in the area of campaign finance, which brought him to the spotlight in the first place (the McCain/Feingold bill being a well-known good bill on campaign finance). On such valued ADA issues as Education, Housing, and Social Security, McCain scored a 0%. Listed below are the three candidates with ADA voting records, side by side for comparison. A full voting record of individual votes can be obtained from ADA, although it is quite lengthy.

Statistics from the ADA:

http://www.home.earthlink.net/~nycada/newnews/news0003-2.html

Project Vote Smart

http://www.vote-smart.org/issue_rating_category.php?can_id=S0061103

ACLU

http://archive.aclu.org/vote-guide/239.html

Daily Kos

On the other hand, he's, what do you call them... a Republican. His 2002 ratings, with Kerry's in parenthesis:

Americans for Democratic Action (liberal): 20 (85)
ACLU: 0 (60)
AFSCME (labor): 29 (88)
LCV (environmental): 41 (94)
Concord (pro-balanced budget): 95 (65)
National Taxpayer's Union (anti-tax): 75 (18)
Chamber of Commerce: 79 (55)
Christian Coalition: 79 (55)

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/4/3/213110/5512

McCain has an ACU lifetime voting record of 84% which makes him more conservative than any Democrat in the Senate. He supported tax cuts, supported a ban on partial birth abortion and supported the appointment of judicial nominees by President Bush.

http://www.enterstageright.com/archive/articles/0404/0404veepstakes2.h...