WI: Kerry picks McCain

I remember reading the following in a "behind the scenes" article following the election:

During the 2004 election, John Kerry offered the VP slot to John McCain. Some polls showed a potential Kerry/McCain ticket leading the Bush/Cheney ticket by a solid 14%. To entice McCain, Kerry offered to make the role of Vice President far more relevant...I can't remember the specifics, but it was something along the lines of the Secretary of Defense or National Security Director or something would report directly to Vice President McCain or something.

Of course, in our timeline, McCain refused...arguing that he wasn't even sure that the offer was constitutional.

But...what if he had agreed?
 
Maybe Kerry could have won with a strong candidate like McCain. That is, if McCain didn't go the way he did in '08 and sell his soul to the GOP base with things such as flip flopping on taxing the wealthy more than the middle and rescinding the Bush tax cuts, and his and Ted Kennedy's immigration bill and so forth, and if he remained a moderate candidate. Kerry was, after all, very close, and most Democrats and non-Republicans thought that a monkey could have beaten Bush.

Frankly, with this last election in the OTL, I don't know what McCain really believes any more so I can't comment on what McCain would do as VP if Kerry were elected.
 
My ordinary instinct would be to declare it a disaster.

McCain would be the most conservative Democratic veep pick since John Sparkman. He's pro-life. He's never gotten higher than a 40% from ADA (in 2001). He has a lifetime ACU rating of over 80. He's actually pretty decent on fiscal issues, but inconsistently. He's got a terrible record on civil liberties. The NEA hates him. In fact, all the unions hate him. I don't think he's Bush III, but he's no Lincoln Chafee.

If McCain were a Democrat, it'd be unthinkable. If he were any other Republican, it'd still be unthinkable. But he's John McCain -- at the time, the most popular politician in the country. His efforts from 2000-2004 bought him genuine love from the liberal base, while still keeping him credible to conservatives. (Remember: even in 2001, the height of his apostasy, he supported the American Conservative Union's positions 68% of the time.)

If McCain accepts, Kerry wins. Ross Douthat wrote a post about the possible results of that: basically, a neoliberal, hawkish administration that employs surge tactics much earlier.
 
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