Who Will Pick A Worse Running Mate, Obama Or McCain?

This one I'd sit out

All the Obama running mate trial balloons or rumors being bandied about in the media sound absolutely horrible: Tim Kaine, Joe Biden, Evan Bayh... I voted, much to my eternal sorrow, for Gore-Lieberman. That'll never happen again. If Obama picks some right-wing bigot like Kaine or Bayh or a corporate shill like Biden or Bayh or Kaine... well, I live in California and he doesn't need me to win this state's electoral votes anyway. Glenn Hurowitz already painted a picture yesterday of the disintegration of hope as Obama takes on the role of defensive jello.

To most voters, campaigns are not an egghead mental Olympics between two walking policy platforms. They're primal battles that test how candidates respond under fire. And for the last several weeks, Obama has been failing that test: crying about McCain's attacks and then surrendering. To most voters, this sends a simple message: if Obama can't stand up to a babbling incompetent like John McCain, how is he ever going to stand up to the oil executives, the health care lobby, or, for that matter, Osama bin Laden?

If the media is to believed, Obama is veering way to the right of the Democratic Party-- or even over to the Republican Party-- to look for a running mate. A running mate is not just a strategic move to help win the election. It's also someone who could become president at any time. Tim Kaine? I have a recollection that the first thing he did when he got into office was sign some anti-gay bill. If Obama wants to make the case that women need to turn out for him in big numbers, an anti-choice throw-back like Kaine is the wrong move.

Evan Bayh is just as putrid a choice. There are only 2 Democratic senators who vote more frequently for the Bush agenda than Bayh: Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Tim Johnson of South Dakota. Bayh is a worse voter than Lieberman or than Dixiecrats Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana. His record shows he's barely more trustworthy than your garden variety Republican. Biden, a notorious corporate shill, is positively liberal compared to Bayh-- or Obama. It amazes me that Obama immediately runs to the right to make his first important decision. Everyone I know likes the idea of Wes Clark. But compared to the tragic choices we keep reading about in the newspapers, Hillary looks better and better with every passing day.

McCain, of course, is Obama's most constant saving grace-- although I suspect that most of the brilliant electorate who gave us 8 years of Bush-Cheney will be easily fooled again and eager to find an excuse to vote for the white man. Unlike Obama fleeing in disarray from his party's base, McCain seems to be, at least today, going right for the heart of his: Eric Cantor (R-VA), one of the most radical right extremists in the history of Congress. His voting record is beyond description. I've never seen so many zeros in my life. There isn't a single issue he isn't at the very bottom of the barrel on, right down there with the lunatic fringe-- Dan Burton (R-IN), Steve King (R-IA), Lynn Westmoreland (KKK-GA), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Marsha Blackburn (R-TN)... He's actually worse than sociopaths like Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Kline (R-MN), Michele Bachmann (R-MN), Scott Garrett (R-NJ), Mean Jean Schmidt (R-OH), Marilyn Musgrave (R-CO)... you getting the picture? He is beloved of the furthest right Republican propagandists and would do McCain tremendous good among the 10% of the GOP further right than Benito Mussolini.

Strange that both candidates are looking for running mates among supporters of all the policies that have made Americans sick of the political landscape and angry at the horrible job government has done.

UPDATE: A REMINDER

In the comments, Noah reminded me to include an appropriate song by Judy Collins: