What if John Danforth had been selected as the vice presidential candidate instead of warmonger Dick Cheney? Would Danforth have been able (allowed) to play the ‘adult father’ role to George Bush, something that Bush has so desperately needed and missed? George Bush might have enjoyed the opportunity for such oh-so-necessary personal growth with Danforth as his counsel and the world would be much better off as a result. But Danforth and Bush seem like two pieces of a puzzle that would never fit together.
Danforth, a former Republican Senator from Missouri and an ordained minister, was supposedly on Bush’s shortlist in 2000 but with Dick Cheney in charge of vetting possible candidates, well, you know how it turned out. Danforth is from the softer side of the GOP, a non-neocon and an individual who was reasonable in debate and disagreement–which were certainly the biggest factors in his losing out on the vice presidency spot. He would have been more Colin Powell-like and certainly no fit with the neo-cons and their show-the-world-our-power agenda. Can you imagine Karl Rove for an instant allowing Danforth to settle into the second-in-command post? It would have been a cosmic clash of the immoral conscience-less and the ethically scrupulous. If it’s anything this current brand of Republicanism has no use for, it’s the principled.
Danforth has a forthcoming book and he lays into the Bush-aholics and their exploitative and venal scheming.
Bush’s second choice for Vice President to assail GOP over Schiavo, gay rights
John Byrne
September 15, 2006
Raw Story
Republican shortlisted to be Bush’s Vice President to lay out most explicit case for gay rights; Blasts Frist, GOP handling of Schiavo case
The former Missouri senator shortlisted to be then-Governor Bush’s running mate in the 2000 presidential election — said to have been second choice only to Vice President Cheney — will come out vehemently against administration and Congressional Republican policy in a book to be published next week., according to an advance copy obtained by RAW STORY.
John Danforth, who retired in 1995 after four terms in the Senate, briefly served as Bush’s ambassador to the United Nations but resigned after Condoleezza Rice was tapped to be Secretary of State. According to CNN, he was second on the list of Bush’s potential vice presidential choices in 2000.
In Faith and Politics, to be released Tuesday, Danforth blasts the alignment of the Republican Party with the Christian right, lays out his most aggressive pro-gay stance to date and attacks the handling of the Terri Schiavo case.
To read the complete article, go here:
By the way, the July 22, 2000 CNN article referenced in the above contains this dollop of irony:
“Bobbie Kilberg, former public liaison for President Bush, told CNN that Cheney was “an extraordinary human being, extraordinary if Bush picks him and extraordinary if he doesn’t.
“The country would be very lucky to have Dick Cheney. He is extraordinarily competent, he is a very deliberate, rational person, he works very hard to build consensus among individuals on public policy but then he goes and makes a decision and sticks with it…”
Is there another Dick Cheney somewhere who we don’t know about?
