The Dream is Over

Clayton Cramer pointed me to this Fox News item: John McCain has officially turned down John Kerry's proposal for veep.

If I may indulge in a bit of "I told you so", Captain Holly saw this coming a mile away, and I said so at least twice previously (unfortunately, my writings on the subject were lost in the Great Hraka Crash and Subsequent Move to Blogspot of '04, so you'll have to take my word for it). I knew McCain would not be Kerry's Veep. What is surprising is how many people thought such a relationship would work.

The difficulty of it should have been obvious to anyone who had a basic understanding of politics, but I'm afraid the Media and some pundits were so breathless and lovestruck over McCain that they ignored reality. There are a whole raft of reasons for this, but the biggest is the fact that John Kerry is as scintillating as a bowl of cold Cream o' Wheat, and the Democrats know it. McCain was imagined to be the Virtuously Bipartisan Anti-Bush, one that would unify and deliver the Mythical Moderate Majority in November and then fade into the background when it came time to govern.

In reality, McCain as veep would lead to massive schisms in the Democrat party. It's doubtful someone as egotistical and headstrong as he is would swallow his objections to abortion and higher taxes just to be on the ticket with Senator Waffle. And it's even more doubtful the hard left Feminist wing would allow him to get there. With Democrats, ideology trumps all other considerations.

I noted earlier the idea that McCain is kind of like a political Rorshach test: People see whatever they want in him. The Kerry campaign saw a fellow war hero with a grudge against George Bush; they didn't even consider the fact he might not want to sully his image by cozying up to a war protestor. McCain was more of an object than person to them. He was considered for Veep because of what he is, not because of who he is. They fantasized about McCain the Politician; now that McCain the Person has actually spoken, the fantasy has come to an abrupt end.