Pat Toomey for VP? Bring it on!
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Pat Toomey for VP? Bring it on!
I never thought I'd say this, but today looks like a good day for the Obama campaign. Herman Cain's never-ending implosion and the attention from the Manchester Union-Leader endorsement continues to strengthen Newt Gingrich's hand as the anti-Mitt, foiling Romney's divide-and-conquer strategy to work around the fact that 75 percent of GOP voters can't stand him. But Obama does much better in head-to-head polls against Gingrich than against Romney.
And now this brilliant idea: Pat Toomey for vice president.
Seriously?
Here's the argument in favor of the freshman Pennsylvania senator, courtesy of the Inquirer's ever-insightful Tom Fitzgerald:
If Romney wins, he will need somebody who can reassure the GOP base without scaring the pants off moderates and independents, the thinking goes. And that could be Toomey, a sober though doctrinaire conservative who has emerged as a leader on fiscal issues - most recently as carrier of the Republican negotiating position on the congressional deficit supercommittee.
Toomey grew up in a blue-collar Democratic household, and represented a swing House district in the Allentown area for three terms in the 1990s. He then went on to lead the Club for Growth, a leading anti-tax advocacy group.
Those who like Toomey for Veep say that his ability to win in a moderate swing state is crucial, considering that the race for president may come down to Rust Belt electoral-college prizes such as Pennsylvania and Ohio. He is seen as more accomplished than another conservative favorite - Florida Sen. Marco Rubio - and outscores Gov. Christie of New Jersey on some measures of fidelity to conservative principles.
All sort of true, but -- on top of the fact that the "supercommittee" was a super failure -- just imagine if the ticket did turn out to be Romney -- the multi-millionaire Bain Capital job destroyer -- and Toomey, the Wall Street derivatives-trading job destroyer:
Toomey's an easy target for economic-centered attacks. As a Wall Street banker, Toomey helped pioneer the use of some of the same financial products that have caused fiscal chaos for American towns, cities, and states. He spent years as a derivatives trader for Chemical Bank and at Morgan Grenfell, a British financial firm. While at Morgan Grenfell, Toomey focused on things like interest rate swaps—complicated debt instruments that poisoned many a municipality's portfolio. Shortly after he was elected to Congress in 1998, a trade magazine rejoiced that "now the derivatives industry can claim representation by one of its own." Toomey parlayed his trading experience into a spot on the House banking committee, where he crusaded against regulation of financial markets—especially derivatives. And unless Sestak can stage an epic comeback, Toomey will soon be back in Congress, with a vote on banking regulation, if not a seat on the upper chamber's powerful banking panel.
Even the ultra-conservative publisher of the Manchester newspaper realizes that a ticket comprised of the 1 Percent of the super-rich could be toxic in 2012. This is what Joe McQuaid said on Sunday:
“I think — and this is crazy, but so are we — that Gingrich is going to have a better time in the general election than Mitt Romney. I think it’s going to be Obama’s 99% versus the 1%, and Romney sort of represents the 1%.”
Pat Toomey may or may not be part of the 1 Percent, but he helped America's super rich get richer. Does the GOP really want to run an all-Wall-Street ticket next year?
Sure they do -- if they're extremists like Toomey and Gingrich.— Susie from Philly- Toomey is a crook like all the GOP.
Bob Casey is the real hero— tynol10 - Isn't one religious fanatic tea bagger for VP enough for one generation?— mick-of-the-moment
- Toomey is rabidly "pro-life" and rabidly pro-gun. That's absurd. That is stupid. He looks to me like in in-bred hillbilly, and yet he worked for the big Wall Street firms, helping to fleece the middle-class some more. Sure, name Toomey as Veep candidate...and watch America recoil in horror once they figure out who this reactionary is. One of the primary reasons why the Super Committee got nowhere is because of the hyper-partisan Toomey. Jerk.— sophistry
- supercommittee got nowhere because it was a failure from start...it was a response to get the budget passed when Obama knew that a group of people could not come up with enough cuts to satisfy this country...want to cut things? start cutting salaries of legislators and start eliminating certain departments that are unneccesary....why is the federal goverenemnt involved in education again? what the states cannot handle that even though teachers need to be certified by the state? Dept of Education should be the first thing eliminated — mathieuobrien
- rather have Pat Toomey as Vice President than Joe Biden who thinks that rapes are happening at a higher rate because of unemployment (even though research shows that rapes in Flint actually went down). Why is it that people in this country do not like business minded individuals but rather elect people who have no clue how to run a business let alone a country— mathieuobrien
- Are you from around here, @mathieuobrien? Because if you knew who Toomey was bought by, you wouldn't be so, um, generous and open-minded about him. He works for The Men...the men who want to control you and your wife's uterus and your kids' schools and keep you enslaved. He is All Wrong, out of touch, and downright scary to me as a freethinking individual.— sophistry
- Toomey is scary...I hate living in PA.— jmg7738
- then move to your paradise, camden, new jersey
— oliver north 
Comment removed.- democrats are responsible for everything bad that has ever happened, and they will only do more bad things in the future. they even kill babies! republicans are responsible for all that is good in the world and will never do anything bad. if you want to be in God's favor, you will vote for republicans.— Good Catholic
- I heard that Obama is going to boot the useless Biden off the ticket, and have Sheila Jackson Lee be his VP candidate.— Mr. Smith
- Will's hate for all things conservative blinds him. The landscape is a changing and he cannot see it.— CD75
"The landscape is a changing and he cannot see it." . . . . Let me guess....Romney's been using Just For Men?- this guys a joke.just repackaged santorum with equally narrow views.he led the way w/the rep postition on the super comittie? ok so he's another shill for the rich and wall street.and he sounds like eric cartman from southpark.— FedupDem
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