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Sunday, July 24, 2016

Even GOPers Have Nothing Bad to Say About Tim Kaine

Like many Democrats, the more I hear about Kaine, the more I like him. 

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/07/tim-kaine-talks-language-of-social-and.html

Even GOPers have nothing bad to say about him. 

"Tim Kaine's Republican fan club."

"Hillary Clinton's running mate is viewed as a deal-maker, not an attack dog."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/kaine-gop-buds-226071#ixzz4FKsEHqbg

It seems that maybe sometimes nice guys do become Vice President. And while some may scoff, the fact is that in 2016 this simply quality might be what we''re lacking more than any other.

"Tim Kaine is not going to be an easy target for Republicans. After all, they all but love the guy."

"As a rank-and-file Democratic senator, Kaine has shown deal-making tendencies with top GOP lawmakers and an affinity for breaking with his own party that’s earned him respect across the aisle."

"Those traits would make him especially valuable as Hillary Clinton’s vice president: the Virginia senator would be her line into Senate Republicans, a direct conduit to a group that’s been extraordinarily reluctant to work with President Barack Obama."

"Kaine’s most high-profile achievement is work in the trenches on a bill that allowed Congress a vote on Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Working with more conservative Democrats and deal-cutting Republicans, Kaine’s blessing for the bill helped drive a 98-1 vote in the Senate, effectively forcing Obama to sign it and begin the task of lining up Democrats to support it in a roll call vote."

“He’s sort of Biden-lite on the engagement with the Hill,” said South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, who’s been part of negotiating groups with Kaine on Iran and preventing terrorists from buying guns. “Tim would be a good steady hand for her. He’d be well received on our side of the aisle if he’s an emissary from the president.”

"But it’s not just aisle-crossing Republicans like Graham that Kaine knows well; he's also rubbed shoulders with the Senate’s conservative firebrand class. Upon entering the Senate Kaine began getting to know Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who would later run for president as a rock-ribbed hero of the right and is perhaps the least compromising lawmaker in the halls of the Capitol."

"After being oriented together as part of the class of 2012, Kaine dined with Cruz at the house of Independent Maine Sen. Angus King, and the two have spoken regularly about books and legal issues."

“We get along great,” Kaine said of Cruz in an interview in 2014, reported for the first time here. “We’ve socialized together. Took dinners, sometimes he and I together, just the two of us. Sometimes with others. We’re often disagreeing but we’re both serious about our work.”

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/07/kaine-gop-buds-226071#ixzz4FKt3mVpR

Wow. He even gets along with Ted Cruz. That's impressive. By the way, after Cruz's epic snub he is fast becoming a cult hero among movement conservatives as I suspected he would

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/politics/2016/07/ted_cruz_s_refusal_to_endorse_donald_trump_will_make_him_a_conservative.html

At this point, I think the country might well embrace a Tim Kaine in the year of Donald Trump.

Even conservatives like Jason Taylor appreciate her choice of Kaine.

"I know Trump and the republicans are going to make this a very nasty election season. The sooner it’s over, the better. When the dust settles, we will have democrats in the White House and a democratic majority in the senate. I have never been a fan of Hillary and would like to vote for someone else; however, having said that, I can’t imagine spending the next 4 years listening to Trump expound on how great and smart he is. I can’t imagine him at meetings with world leaders or who he would appoint as “advisors” (I don’t believe he would listen to even the smartest of them anyway). Commander in Chief of all the Armed Forces? Really? I’ll go out on a limb here and predict most Americans, when they walk into the voting booth, will feel the same way."

"After the trauma inflicted on the nation by the GOP — I mean the Party of Trump — four day hate orgy, I welcome Hillary’s boring VP choice and hope the Democratic four day convention is at least that boring as well. It will be a relief and the contrast will make Hillary, Kaine and the Democrats look incredibly good — even if boring — after the last four depressing days of nonsensical anger."

"Hillary Clinton picked the best man for her Vice-President — with his great blue-collar principled background (and fluent Spanish.) All the chops of Yale, political success as a liberal Democrat who has the pragmatism to be able to work effectively with Republicans, his boundless hope and optimism, and his “no surprise” factor, makes Tim Kaine the perfect Vice-Presidential candidate. He could take over the Presidency in a heartbeat, as Joe Biden could have, but was not called upon to do. Trump and Pence cannot hold a candle to Clinton and Kaine. May we see a happy ending to this awful Presidential campaign in November."

http://theresurgent.com/donald-trump-is-in-trouble/

HT: Tom Brown.

This is why she made the right choice with Kaine not Elizabeth Warren. That would have stepped all over Hillary's message as a healer and mediator for the nation's gridlock and divisiveness.

A lot of Americans are tired of 'exciting.'

For more see this other post, also by Jason Taylor. HT again to Tom Brown.

http://theresurgent.com/electoral-politics-kaine-vs-pence/

Hillary is not running on an ideological holy war. The point is not to out populist Donald Trump.

"Yet the professional left is chafing in large part because Clinton is not sharing its theory of the electoral case. The PCCC statement released after the announcement argued that the uninspiring pick puts additional pressure on Clinton to run as an unabashed populist: “since Tim Kaine voted to fast track the Trans-Pacific Partnership, Republicans now have a new opening to attack Democrats on this economic populist issue. … it’s now more important than ever that Hillary Clinton run an aggressive campaign on core economic issues… .”

"Clinton doesn’t wholly disagree about the need to embrace populist economic positions—after all she did renounce the TPP (as did Tim Kaine shortly after being chosen) and propose free college tuition for middle-class and poor families. But her body language following the close of the primaries indicates she ultimately believes the path to victory isn’t in trying to shape-shift so she can out-populist Trump, but leveraging her resume and demeanor to draw favorable contrasts on stability, diversity and decency."

Read more: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/07/tim-kaine-hillary-vp-pick-middle-of-the-road-214094#ixzz4FKvFpPDO

I like Warren and was impressed with her on the stump with Hillary a few weeks ago. But what this election is about is a referendum on Donald Trump. Warren as VP would also make it a referendum on Warren who is very popular on the Left but not so clearly so amongst the larger public.

http://lastmenandovermen.blogspot.com/2016/07/why-tim-kaine-pick-is-very-good-news.html
What Kaine does is keep her on her strategy for a 70-30 not 51-49 election. She's running the LBJ strategy. 
Most elections are not 70-30, but the Trump threat gives her this potential. 

2 comments:

  1. You saw GOP senator Jeff Flake's tweet about Kaine, right?:
    https://twitter.com/JeffFlake/status/756654936599859200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    Trying to count the ways I hate @timkaine. Drawing a blank. Congrats to a good man and a good friend.

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  2. Yes. I saw that. She was smart to get a guy no sane GOPers could hate

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