With Enemies Like This, Who Needs Friends?

I love the Republican Party. Who could do more for building long-term progressive success? No one.

Next week, the Republican National Committee is going to approve a resolution renaming the Democratic Party, the "Democratic Socialist Party." Awesome. Considering that almost as many people under the age of 30 identify with socialism as with capitalism, this sounds great.

What Republicans don't get is that for a lot of people today socialism means Sweden and Norway and Denmark. It does not mean North Korea, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. But stuck in a Cold War mindset and bereft of ideas, they are destroying their own body in a desperate attempt to make themselves relevant. As Harold Meyerson says, "Rush and his boys are doing what Gene Debs and his comrades never really could. In tandem with Wall Street, they are building socialism in America."

Meanwhile, the conservative base is going ballistic that the NRSC under John Cornyn is supporting Charlie Crist's candidacy for the Florida Senate seat. You see, Crist could actually win the seat. But he is a responsible governor who wanted stimulus money. And for conservatives, responsible governance takes a back seat to ideological purity. So they are supporting Marco Rubio for the seat instead, a young, attractive, and extremist candidate who could only win a general election against a completely inept candidate (which given the state of the Democratic field in Florida is actually possible).

McCain's Three Choices

So it seems that McCain's VP choices have come down to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, and Mitt Romney.

If he's smart, he'll go with Crist, which will almost certainly assure him of Florida. Crist is a joke waiting to happen, with all the rumors about his sexual orientation, his absurd tan, etc.

But I really hope McCain goes with Jindal or Romney. Mittens is a ridiculous choice in itself. I can't help but thinking of the McCain campaign as Dole '96 redux. And Mittens would be a perfect Jack Kemp. Totally worthless uninspiring candidate who will bring no one to the ticket but will satisfy the loco wing of the party.

Jindal is even better. They want Jindal because he's not white. And he's really their only choice who is not white. On the other hand, he's totally insane. I really want a VP candidate who runs on creationism, anti-abortion extremism, and other loco positions. A message to the Republicans: just because a candidate is appealing to Louisiana Republicans does not mean he is appealing to the rest of the nation.

But then I hope McCain doesn't listen to me at all. McCain-Jindal '08!