Our favorite Dickensian villain Robert Novak will be penning the occasional column despite his illness. He starts his run spitting fire, blasting the hopes of Influential Republicans who would want a McCain moderate ticket of the Senator from Arizona and "Joe-mentum." Bill Kristol, for example, who spent last week on Fox News Sunday creepily pushing the Hillary Clinton was wronged narrative -- since when have Kristol and the neoconnivers loved Hillary? -- is all about Lieberman. Kristol, we cannot fail to note, often gets things wrong. His "Kristol Ball" is opaque. On August 13th, on Fox News, he stated "(Colin Powell) may well give a speech at the Democratic convention explaining his endorsement of Obama." And we know how that turned out.
But back to our favorite Dickensian villain and those Influential Republicans. From Robert Novak (via Wonkette):
"Reports of strong support within John McCain's presidential campaign for Independent Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman as the Republican candidate for vice president are not a fairy tale. Influential McCain backers, plus McCain himself, would pick the pro-choice liberal from Connecticut if they thought they could get away with it.
"But they can't get away with it -- and this has been made clear to McCain by none other than Joe Lieberman himself.
"Lieberman surely doesn't know that much about Republican politics, but he has close Republican friends. One of them prevailed on Lieberman to tell McCain that a McCain-Lieberman ticket would be a disaster for all concerned, and especially for the GOP.
"Actually, Lieberman is a heroic figure among Republicans for having risked his Senate seat to support President George W. Bush's war policy. But aside from the war, he votes the straight liberal line, including pro-choice on abortion. Lieberman's Republican friend told him that the Republicans would leave Minnesota in a state of disarray with a McCain-Lieberman ticket, alienating social conservatives who now make up the core of Republican voters.
"...The Republican operative who urged Lieberman to dissuade McCain from picking him believes that there is still a very useful role for the maverick Democrat in this campaign: as McCain's secretary of state. While an announcement in St. Paul of Lieberman as vice president would bring groans from the assembled Republicans, placing him at the State Department would evoke a standing ovation.
"At this writing, nobody knows McCain's choice. He is keeping the selection process secret, and his closest aides are in the dark. Could he still name Lieberman after being told by Lieberman himself that it is not a good idea? Nobody absolutely rules it out."
Newt Gingrich -- or, as we like to call him, "Gingy" -- took to Hannity to say that a McCain-Lieberman ticket would get Barr 15% of the electorate. Yay! Cue to: "Operation: Barr Tab." More here.
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