McCain ad suggests Lieberman is strong contender for VP John Byrne

Published: Wednesday August 27, 2008





Print This Email This Novak claims Lieberman warned McCain picking him could be a 'disaster' The McCain campaign is currently running an ad campaign through Google which suggests that Sen. Joe Lieberman is a strong contender for the Republican's vice presidential slot, RAW STORY has learned.



The ad, which appears below, has appeared on myriad political sites which employ words related to politics and the 2008 campaign, including Raw Story. Google's Adwords program allows advertisers to have their ads appear on sites which use certain words in their content. Raw Story's advertising policy does not prohibit advertising from particular candidates of either party.







While the ad could simply be an attempt to win over independent voters, or increase the campaign's war chest from Jewish voters (Sen. Lieberman is Jewish), the choice of words could offer a hint as to McCain's decision-making in picking a running mate.



Lieberman joined former Democratic Vice President Al Gore on his 2000 presidential ticket. McCain's campaign floated his name among possible running mates last week.



The Connecticut senator told the Hartford Courant Monday that he hasn't ruled out joining his Republican colleague on the ticket.



"The rest of us, particularly those of us who are privileged to be his friends, ought to take a temporary vow of silence," Lieberman said. "So, there's not much I can say about this."



New York Times columnist Bill Kristol -- a longtime GOP pundit -- wrote Sunday that McCain may be hankering to formally include the New England independent in his White House.



Kristol wrote: "He could select the person he would really like to have by his side in the White House -- but whose selection would cause palpitations among many of his staffers and supporters: the independent Democratic senator from Connecticut, Joe Lieberman."



"Reports of strong support within John McCain's presidential campaign for Independent Democratic Sen. Joseph Lieberman as the Republican candidate for vice president are not a fairy tale," conservative columnist Robert Novak writes in his first "occasional column" since he retired from the regular beat after he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. "Influential McCain backers, plus McCain himself, would pick the pro-choice liberal from Connecticut if they thought they could get away with it."



However, Novak continues, "they can't get away with it -- and this has been made clear to McCain by none other than Joe Lieberman himself."



Novak claims a Republican friend "prevailed on Lieberman to tell McCain that a McCain-Lieberman ticket would be a disaster for all concerned, and especially for the GOP," because "aside from the war, he votes the straight liberal line, including pro-choice on abortion."



"Lieberman's Republican friend told him that the Republicans would leave Minnesota in a state of disarray with a McCain-Lieberman ticket, alienating social conservatives who now make up the core of Republican voters," Novak adds.



Lieberman has given McCain visible and important counsel already. When McCain said Iran had been allowing al Qaeda fighters to enter Iraq during a trip to the Middle East in March, Lieberman, who was among the delegation, was seen to whisper in his ear.



Im sorry; the Iranians are training the extremists, not Al Qaeda. Not Al Qaeda," McCain said. "Im sorry.







