Tim Kaine for Veep? Hell to the no!

By Kathy G.

I gotta say, I'm with Liss. Although speculation is running amok that Tim Kaine is being very seriously considered for vice president, he would be a piss-poor choice to be Barack Obama's running mate.

In my earlier post on the veepstakes, I ruled Kaine out because of inexperience, and indeed, he has yet to serve out a full term as governor of Virginia. But it turns out there are lots of other good reasons to oppose him as well.

For one thing, I really, really don't want to see anyone on the ticket who is less than 100% committed to choice. Kaine says he is personally pro-life, and that this position is "faith-based." Fine. But he also doesn't seem terribly committed to the principle of women's bodily autonomy. The most he's said is that he'd enforce the law on abortion, but what if the Supreme Court overturns Roe and leaves abortion up to the states? I've looked and I haven't found him saying anything affirmatively pro-choice like "I strongly support a women's right to choose." Or even "abortion should be safe, legal, and rare." And his views on abortion have been described as "roughly in line with those of George W. Bush."

In addition, Kaine is on the record as strongly supporting a ban on so-called "partial birth abortions" and strongly favoring government funding for that anti-scientific boondoggle known as "abstinence-only" sex education. And how much of an anti-choice wingnut do you have to be to oppose state funding for stem cell research? Excuse me, but we don't need this bullshit. Women's right to choose is hanging by a thread as it is. I'd hate to see this guy a heartbeat away from the presidency, and I'd also hate, eight years hence, for our party's probable standard bearer (which many veeps eventually become) to have such a crappy record on this core value. Not to mention the fact that, to the extent that winning over the Hillary supporters is a problem (and I don't actually believe it is much of one), selecting a running mate who is so weak on choice is not going to help things.

But wait -- there's even more bad news. Kaine ran a gay-baiting campaign for governor and is awful on GLBT issues. Not only does he oppose gay marriage (which, unfortunately most Democrats do), he opposes civil unions, too. He also supported an anti-gay marriage amendment to Virginia's constitution. And not only did he support the Iraq War, but he was super-hawkish about it as well. In addition, he supported a repeal of the estate tax, reneged on his promise to enact universal pre-K, has a poor record on energy and global warming issues and has said he "strongly" supports anti-union, "right to work" laws.

Kaine also doesn't have many accomplishments as governor, and received terrible reviews for his state of the union response a few years back (I didn't see it, but observers said he seemed visibly nervous and spoke haltingly).

And if all that is not enough to put you off this guy, ponder this: the ever-oleaginous Terry McAuliffe has been heavily touting Kaine for the veep slot.

I could go on, but I think I'll stop here.

If Obama wants to go with a popular red state governor, Kathleen Sebelius, who's been re-elected, has substantial accomplishments (which you can read about here), and is also solidly pro-choice (albeit "personally opposed" to abortion), would be much the better choice. As would Montana's Brian Schweitzer or Arizona's Janet Napolitano. And it should be noted that, unlike Kaine, Sebelius opposed an anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution, even though it ended up being approved by 70% of voters in a referendum. (Unfortunately, though, she did support a state law that was on the books albeit not in the constitution which outlawed gay marriage). And unlike Kaine, she has a strong record on the environment.

In short, Barack Obama can do much, much better than Tim Kaine. And I believe he will -- from what I've heard, it's Kaine's people, rather than Obama's, who are floating his name, and that it actually seems like he's unlikely to be chosen.

Comments

[Chris O.]

I'm rather afraid that the PUMAs have scared the Obama people off of Sebelius. Can't actually say whether or not that's true, of course, but if so Kaine may end up being the sorta-Sebelius-only-a-guy choice. Which would be a shame even though I'm not nearly as opposed to him being the pick. I'm pretty much anyone-but-Bayh at this point, though Sebelius is still my #1.

[American Hawk]

In my earlier post on the veepstakes, I ruled Kaine out because of inexperience, and indeed, he has yet to serve out a full term as governor of Virginia. But it turns out there are lots of other good reasons to oppose him as well.

It would be highly unfortunate if Barack Obama's choice for vice president was as inexperienced as, say, Barack Obama.

[David H Brooks]

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