McCain VP Names Floating Around

RUSH: Kelly in Denver, welcome to the EIB Network. Hello.

CALLER: Rush, thank you very much for taking my call. It’s an honor to talk to you.

RUSH: Thank you, sir, el mucho.

CALLER: (laughs) A little nervous today. Proud member of the cutting edge. Over the last few weeks, it just seems like you’re not saying something. You’ve got something in the back of your mind or maybe right on the front of your mind, but you’re not saying it yet. I talked with the owner of the company that I work with —

RUSH: You mean ‘the guy who lays people off’ —

CALLER: No, no, no, no.

RUSH: — quote, unquote, Governor Huckabee?

CALLER: No, sir. I am an independent contractor, so… But you said several times in the last few weeks that we had to endure a Carter to get a Reagan, and you sort of leave it hanging for us to ponder and think about. I’m just wondering if something like this might be in play. I don’t know what the relationship is between Newt Gingrich and John McCain. But is there a possibility if McCain — well, McCain’s going to win the nomination for us — of a McCain-Gingrich ticket?

RUSH: Um… (sigh) I don’t think it’s in the cards. Here are the names. I’ll tell you the names I’m hearing. I’m hearing at the top of the list Tim Pawlenty, the governor of Minnesota. That’s a liberal state and McCain would want to win it. I’m hearing Mark Sanford, South Carolina. That might be problematic because McCain carries grudges and Mark Sanford did not endorse him in 2000 in South Carolina, and it was huge there. He was in Congress. Charlie Crist, governor of Florida, who wants it so bad — he wants it so bad! — and he’s owed because the Drive-Bys, the political pundits are saying, ‘If it weren’t for Crist’s endorsement of McCain on the Saturday before the election, McCain would have lost to Romney.’ A lot of people are putting credence in that. You know, Romney had a ten-point lead in Florida, and on that Saturday before the election McCain came out with a lie about Romney and the ‘timeline.’ Crist came out and endorsed him. With some voters in Florida, Crist is pretty popular because he’s trying to cut property taxes and so forth. So he’s on the list. But McCain may not need Florida. I’ll tell you somebody else on the list is Richard Burr, a senator from North Carolina, but McCain doesn’t need North Carolina. I’ll tell you…. I’m going to give you a name that would make me jump for joy. It’s not going to happen because he’s not been…

Bobby Jindal. I did an interview with Bobby Jindal. He is the next Ronald Reagan, if he doesn’t change. Bobby Jindal, the new governor of Louisiana is the next Ronald Reagan. He’s young. He was just sworn in for his first term. He’s the guy that beat the liberal Democrat machine throughout Louisiana. He did it on 100% conservatism. We interviewed him for The Limbaugh Letter about three issues ago. In fact, I am hereby ordering the editrix of The Limbaugh Letter, Diana Schneider to make — since it’s a past issue — the interview with Bobby Jindal in The Limbaugh Letter available at RushLimbaugh.com this afternoon. You can send it up to Koko as a PDF file or text or whatever you want. This guy could be the next Ronald Reagan. If McCain chose him, here’s a Southern state; this is Louisiana, but I think he may be too conservative for McCain. That depends on who they think McCain will need or want, but Jindal is very young, and he’s only in his first year as governor and doesn’t really have… He came from the House of Representatives. Also being talked about is Haley Barbour, the governor of Miss’ssippi, but it is said by those in touch with the conventional wisdom that Haley’s got too many lobbyist ties for McCain. These are some of the names. There are others that I can’t think of right off the top of my head, but they’re out there. But I don’t think it would be Newt.

CALLER: Well, Newt is the guy that I was thinking could probably be the next Reagan.

RUSH: Yeah, a lot of people are harboring fantasies about Newt.

CALLER: I haven’t read his new book yet.

RUSH: Well, I got a couple of copies in the backseat of the car.

• With Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana (PDF)