Hillary Clinton has made a great choice for Vice President, in selecting Virginia Senator Tim Kaine as her partner to run the executive branch for the next four to eight years.
Tim Kaine comes from a crucial swing state, and would be the third Virginia leader to be Vice President, after Thomas Jefferson and John Tyler, who both became President. He is also the first Virginian to be on the Presidential election ballot, since Woodrow Wilson in 1912 and 1916, not a native Virginian, however, as Governor of New Jersey.
Kaine would be the second Catholic Vice President after Joe Biden, with John F. Kennedy the only Catholic President.
Kaine is a steady, stable, pleasant, well liked political leader who has proved by his experience and interaction with other government leaders that he is well qualified to be President, if the emergency arises. He is also, like Joe Biden, well liked personally by Republicans in the Senate and House of Representatives who have dealt with him.
Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine are very comfortable together, and Kaine has a tolerant and mild temperament that engenders confidence.
Kaine has served as Richmond Mayor, Lieutenant Governor, Governor, Senator, and chairman of the Democratic National Committee, and his resume is very diverse and broad.
Kaine has served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and Senate Armed Services Committee, crucial committees and experiences in an age of terrorism.
Kaine has the great advantage that he speaks fluent Spanish, a big plus for the Latino community, which is now one out of every six Americans.
If Kaine is elected, his replacement is appointed by Virginia’s Democratic Governor Terry McAuliffe, which would not be true had Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown, or New Jersey Senator Cory Booker been selected.
Kaine was already on the short list for Vice President with Barack Obama in 2008, a sign that he is well regarded in Democratic circles.
Kaine went to the University of Missouri, Columbia as an undergraduate, and to Harvard Law School, so has excellent academic credentials.
Kaine’s Catholicism and Spanish language ability will help him in states including North Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Arizona, Colorado, and Nevada, and his working class roots will help in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
Tim Kaine can be criticized on the issue of free trade, and on supporting the Iran deal, but it will not have that much of an effect on the election, as this blogger sees it. He is certainly not “perfect”, but then no one is.
This blogger was correct when he said that Kaine was the front runner for Vice President, and that the history of the Democratic Party nominees for President choosing a US Senator for Vice President would be continued, all but 1972 and 1984.
This nomination also shows once again that Southerners are favored for Vice President now 9 times since 1944 onward in the Democratic Party, even though Tim Kaine is very different than most earlier Southern nominees for Vice President, much more progressive. Also, Southerners have been on the Presidential ticket at either end of the Democratic ballot in all elections since 1944, except 1968, 1972, 1984, 2008, and 2012, a total of 14 out of 19 times.
Tim Kaine will be an asset to Hillary Clinton, both during the campaign, and as an active Vice President in the mold of Walter Mondale, Al Gore, and Joe Biden!
Cecile Richards, David Corn, Ari Melber, Joan Walsh, and VA’s own Jeff Shapiro responded to many of the progressive wing’s concerns last night on Hayes and Maddow shows. The more people learn of Kaine’s stances and voting record, the more they’ll understand this pick.
Clinton/Kaine campaign needs to meet with progressives like Ben Jealous, former leader of NAACP, Nina Turner, and others to “give us something to fight for†to solidify the Sanders vote. I’m positive that Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren will do everything they can to assist in making 2016 successful for the presidency and senate. They know the stakes, are desperately needed in the US Senate, will benefit from key chairmanships, and most of all. . .
will put the GOP’s vindictive, bigoted, narcissistic, conspiracy theorist, sexist, authoritarian liar out of business!
Great statement,Rational Lefty, and do not forget the importance, also, of the Supreme Court!
If Hillary had picked Warren, these same people would be shrieking that Warren was a corporate whore sell-out for accepting.
I’m watching the rally right now. The two of them make Trump/Pence look pathetic.
Booman tribute makes a good point. This is an opportunity to get crossover votes.
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2016/7/23/103710/238
Booman nails it. You can’t get much progressive stuff done without the House. To get the House, you’re going to HAVE TO elect people who are called “Blue Dogs”. And to get that far you need to have people on the national ticket that don’t scare right leaning people.
Stonekettle blog also nails it. http://www.stonekettle.com/2016/07/the-decider.html
That old cliche is that a Vice President is a heartbeat away from the Presidency. A Candidate for Vice President should be chosen for their temperament, experience, and qualifications, not on their ability to pass a liberal purity test. Republicans have litmus tests and ideological purges, for the reasons that the Stonekettle blog mentioned in their excellent essay. Democrats should be better than that.
Clinton is the best qualified and most experienced candidate for President, and I believe she made a good choice.
And as to the e-mail kerfuffle Part Deux, I think that Sanders supporters might want to ask themselves a question. What would the emails from the Sanders campaign look like if we could see them? What would they say about Hillary, and about the DNC?
Finally, these emails were stolen by Russian hackers, and being released by Wikileaks at a time they consider to be opportune. Dr Paul Krugman isn’t exactly a tin foil hat kind of guy, but in his latest NYT column, titled the Siberian Candidate, he gives a lot of reasons why Trump may be receiving support from Putin.
Bloomberg is endorsing Hillary. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/25/us/politics/michael-bloomberg-hillary-clinton-dnc.html?_r=0
Russia trying to tip the scales of the election in favor of Trump is disturbing. http://washingtonmonthly.com/2016/07/25/putin-attempts-to-tip-the-scales-of-a-u-s-presidential-election/
Excellent article pointing out why “Bernie Holdouts” will not decide America’s fate.
http://www.thepeoplesview.net/main/2016/7/25/bernie-holdouts-will-not-decide-election