# Politics aside, what Republican VP choice would be best for the country? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Created:** [May 14, 2012, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843 "2012-05-14T04:06:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/41 "2012-05-25T20:20:19Z")
Maybe he should ask Cheney to head a committee to find a VP for him. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/42 "2012-05-25T20:31:48Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Maybe he should ask Cheney to head a committee to find a VP for him. I wonder what the results would be for something like THAT!? I mean, sure he picked himself once, but would he have the chutzpah to do it twice? ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/43 "2012-05-25T22:32:02Z")
> [@Measure\_for\_Measure](#): > > > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > > Not following. Do you mean, which would make the best POTUS if necessary? You can’t set politics aside from **that** call. > > Right. Here’s what I mean. Rubio is considered a great candidate because he will assist in capturing part of the Hispanic vote. Huckabee is thought to have cross-over appeal to evangelicals and more mainstream people. I want those considerations set aside. Ah. The word you are looking for is “electability” I think, not “politics”. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/44 "2012-05-25T23:01:27Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I wonder what the results would be for something like THAT!? I mean, sure he picked himself once, but would he have the chutzpah to do it twice? Chutzpah, yes. Durability, no. When you’re 71 and using a hand-me-down heart, ya gotta face it that your career has peaked. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/45 "2012-05-25T23:10:57Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Was LBJ like JFK? Was Palin like McCain? Is Biden like Obama? “Ticket-balancing” is a long-established tradition. And the voters will be voting for/against the whole ticket of Romney/X, and (we may hope) take X’s characteristics into account when they decide how to vote. Romney is not old, but you never know. Ticket balancing is done for political reasons which we are trying to do away with in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2012, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/46 "2012-05-25T23:35:52Z")
> [@DigitalC](#): > > Ticket balancing is done for political reasons which we are trying to do away with in this thread. Well, setting aside electability still leaves (only) two irreducibly political considerations: 1) Who would make the best Veep? 2) Should, Og forbid, Romney die/be incapacitated/resign before his term is complete, who would make the best POTUS? And 1) is all but meaningless – it is the nature of that not-worth-a-bucket-of-warm-piss office that there is no such thing as a great Veep – all we can reasonably expect of a Veep is that he not be embarrassing to the Administration/country like Quayle was (yes, way the fuck worse than Biden), and not try to play vizier/ventriloquist like Cheney did – it’s a low bar. So, let’s go with 2). And that’s a challenge. A Pub, still in the GOP after all these decades of its crazy-creep, who would make a good POTUS . . . would pretty much have to be a RINO, or, more specifically, a [Rockefeller Republican.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_Republican) Jeez, how many of those are left?! ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/47 "2012-05-26T01:42:20Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > **Nobody** makes a great VP, it is the nature of the office. Agreed. I propose we get rid of the VP. Ties in the senate are decided by the President. The First Spouse can attend all the BS functions the VP usually attends. Everyone moves up a spot in the line of succession list. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/48 "2012-05-26T01:49:03Z")
Great idea! I want to live in a country where it’s theoretically possible for the President to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate one day, and veto the bill the next. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/49 "2012-05-26T03:04:08Z")
Let’s just merge the offices of VP and SoS; then the VP will actually have something to do and, if called on to be POTUS, will at least have immense foreign-policy experience. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 26, 2012, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/50 "2012-05-26T20:36:20Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Great idea! I want to live in a country where it’s theoretically possible for the President to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate one day, and veto the bill the next. > > 😃 That’s how it is **now.** What, you think the Veep ever votes a way his POTUS doesn’t want? Cheney might have, but in every other Admin the strings are pulled from the other end. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/51 "2012-05-31T14:15:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Maybe he should ask Cheney to head a committee to find a VP for him. How many assassins were put off killing Bush because they didn’t want President Cheney? ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/52 "2012-05-31T15:20:05Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > How many assassins were put off killing Bush because they didn’t want President Cheney? W learned a **very** useful lesson from his Daddy, there. Remember the “President’s Prayer Club” bumper-stickers? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/53 "2012-05-31T18:18:23Z")
> [@](#): > > Great idea! I want to live in a country where it’s theoretically possible for the President to cast a tie-breaking vote in the Senate one day, and veto the bill the next. Why not? We already have senators filibustering legislation that they themselves sponsored. ---
**Author:** ![BigAppleBucky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigapplebucky/32/178_2.png) [@BigAppleBucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigAppleBucky)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2012, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843/54 "2012-06-03T17:14:55Z")
Intrade update. Their top 5 Republican vp candidates Portman 28.5 Rubio 20.5 Pawlenty 6.5 Daniels 6.4 Christie 6.2 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/politics-aside-what-republican-vp-choice-would-be-best-for-the-country/621843.md?page=2)