Why Romney Won’t Pick Condoleezza Rice As VP

Mitt Romney is not going to put Condoleeza Rice on his ticket. This is a head fake that many people have fallen for.

Coming on the heels of his successful appearance before the NAACP, Mitt Romney has flipped the political script. By mentioning Rice, he has put Barack Obama on defense on the issue of race, something nobody, least of all Obama, ever expected.

By floating the possibility that he could pick former George W. Bush Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, an African-American female, as his Vice President, Romney has slammed the Left into a Hobson’s choice that will require them to either praise the choice or attack the idea of having Rice on Romney’s ticket. This is a “heads I win, tails you lose” situation for Romney. But it’s not real.

The Drudge factor

To help stoke this Rice “fire”, Matt Drudge, who has been in the tank for Romney since day one, has put a poll on his opening page. With 300,000 votes, the “Yes” vote is running 2 to 1 ahead.

Romney’s plan relies on the “experts” on both sides playing their parts – and they will. Immediately, the conservatives started to howl that they hated the choice – I do so rightly as well.  Condoleeza Rice would be a terrible choice. Rice is not a conservative and is on record as being a “mild supporter” of abortion. As a member of Bush’s inner circle, Rice would be an invitation to the Left to change the subject of the campaign from Obama to Bush whom they have been running against for four years.

Van Jones, a Communist who served as Obama’s Green Jobs Czar, commented on a possible Rice selection. He said, “… if you want to do something shocking, you want the tea party base excited, nobody has talked about Condoleezza Rice….”

The Sunday Morning talk show factor

The Democrat talking heads on the Sunday morning shows will fall into same trap they did in 1988 with the Willie Horton ad. They will repeat it several times and give Romney lots of free coverage before they realize they have been had, which they have.

Rice is on record as saying she would not accept – this is a head fake.

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Photo credit: World Affairs Council of Philadelphia (Creative Commons)