McCain, the Anti-Veep

by David Corn

Usually, when a non-frontrunning presidential candidate surges, he's bombarded with an obvious question: Will you settle for the vice presidential slot? Earlier this year, there was much chatter about a George W. Bush-Elizabeth Dole ticket for the Republicans. In recent weeks, various pundits have speculated that Sen. John McCain might be a good copilot for Bush.

While the Arizona Senator insists he is not interested in sidekickery, McCain-as-veep talk persists. After a recent GOP debate, NBC's Tim Russert said, "Perhaps that's a good ticket and that's why [Bush and McCain] were embracing each other. John McCain said that George Bush was an attractive candidate. It was quite striking how these two men went out of their way to be kind to one another."

A Bush-McCain merger would be a dream joint venture for GOPers, but it would pose McCain mighty difficulties. His campaign, he tells us, is about reform. He wants to rattle the Establishment. He is for ending big-money politics, for tossing the lobbyists out of the temple of Congress, for sending pork-barrel politics to the slaughterhouse. In a recent TV ad, McCain vows that if he is elected president he will "refuse to sign any pork-barrel bill that crosses my desk. And if Congress overrides my veto and tries to force me to waste your money, I'll make sure you know who they are, every single one of them." He's promising to brand individual Republicans and Democrats with a scarlet P. That's not how most presidents try to promote their agendas in Congress.

But what if McCain were residing not in the Oval Office but in the one-heartbeat-away cubicle? Say a Republican Congress sends President George W. Bush a goodies-loaded appropriations bill: Will Vice President McCain name names of those GOP legislators who swipe taxpayer dollars for their favorite projects? Would Vice President McCain decry all those corporate lobbyists who poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into George W. Bush, Inc.? On the campaign trail, would McCain -- as the vice-presidential nominee -- still rail against big-money politics? (This week, McCain is scheduled to hold an event with Democratic candidate Bill Bradley, where they would pledge not to raise soft-money contributions should each become his party's nominee.)

As the GOP's number-two man, McCain could not continue as a would-be reformer without indicting his boss and the Republican portion of the Establishment for which Bush fronts. To be Bush's understudy, McCain would have to shudup and sacrifice what he claims are his most basic principles for position. In his anti-pork ad, a narrator pronounces McCain, "A man we can believe -- and believe in." If there's any truth to that, McCain has no choice: he will be the party's top gun or a noncombatant.

By the way, McCain recently released his medical records, which noted that his IQ is between 128 and 133. Do you think he hopes reporters ask Bush to make public the same information?