I'm not a fan of the Wise Power Plant either and I fully encourage people to continue standing up on the issue...but lobbying Obama on the VP nomination?  The man is running to be the President of the United States.  Commander in Chief.  Leader of the Free World.  I don't know what it's supposed to say about our respect for his leadership and his ability to make his own decisions for himself when we act like he can't or shouldn't be free to pick his own Vice President.  It didn't make much sense to me when people were trying to petition on behalf of Jim Webb, and it makes about as little sense with people trying to pre-emptively veto Tim Kaine.  

Keep fighting the good fight, but let Obama be Obama.

...we should never have started the "Draft Wesley Clark" or "Draft James Webb" movements.  I mean, don't we have "respect" for these people's "ability to make [their] own decisions?"  I guess we all owe Wes Clark and Jim Webb a huge apology.  Not.

The American people get to vote on the President, petition to get him on the ballot and have a say in the nomination process.  It is only right that they have the opportunity to ask someone to run for President.  Likewise ever since the 17th Amendment was ratified in 1913, the electorate of each individual state has been free to directly elect its Senators, to petition to have their names on the ballot and to participate in the nomination process.

The running mate, however, is selected by the nominee.  It's the only executive, "Presidential" decision to which he is entitled during the course of the campaign.  If you don't have confidence in him that he will make an informed, intelligent decision that is right for him, I don't know why you would trust that person to do anything else as President and should therefore probably not have voted for him in the primary in the first place.

I don't think anyone is trying to take away Obama's decision.  But like many other things in politics and life, you're much more likely to get a positive outcome if you voice your opinion than if you stay quiet.  I can't see anything wrong with letting Obama know, in no uncertain terms, how we feel about various VP options.  

After that, the choice is up to him.  

The choice is up to Obama, let's help him out by giving him as much information as possible! :)

This is a Democracy, we have both the right AND the obligation as citizens to make our voices and our wishes known.  Why do you think I started this blog?

I always figured that what you meant by naming the site 'Raising Kaine' was in fact that the point was supporting Tim Kaine. Not attacking him for failing to agree with us on every possible issue.

...things have changed quite a bit the past 3 years. And no, it's not "attacking him for failing to agree with us on every possible issue," but it's definitely making clear where we disagree with him strongly, on issues like:

*Repeal of the estate tax
*Dominion Power reregulation bill, written largely by/for Dominion Power
*Metro to Dulles no-bid deal to Bechtel, including an "aerial option" as opposed to a tunnel in Tysons
*Wise County coal-fired power plant
*Offshore drilling
*Last year's transportation "monstrosity," including abuser fees and balkanized "regional authorities" (now declared unconstitutional)
*Etc.

The point is - and frankly, I don't know why this is difficult for certain people to understand - we are an independent PROGRESSIVE blog, overwhelmingly pro-Democratic, but not blindly so by any stretch of the imagination.  What's really hilarious is that we get criticized (as hacks, shills, etc.) if we support Democrats no matter what they do, and we get criticized by people like you if we DON'T support Democrats no matter what they do.  Well, sorry, but we're going to keep doin' what we think is right.  And that includes calling 'em like we sees 'em, even if it's a Democrat involved.

By the way, what have you done recently to help elect Tom Perriello?

the choice was between a moderate Democrat (Tim Kaine) and a right-wing Republican (Jerry Kilgore). That one was a no-brainer, not to mention Leslie vs. Bolling, Creigh vs. "Taliban Bob," and numerous House of Delegates races...

funding of embryonic stem cell research.  Kaine said:

I don't think we should be publicly funding it in Virginia. You will not see me proposing that. I think there are huge advances that can be made in adult stem cell research. I think that's the way to go.

I strongly, strongly disagree.

Who says he's not free to pick his own VP? Do we not have the right to voice our opinions? Are we all supposed to stop talking until November? What a weird argument to make.

That's a clue.

amirite?

What is this, the Soviet Union?  Saddam Hussein's Iraq?  Last I checked, this is America, the country of "government of the people, by the people, for the people."

I'm against the Wise County plant and generally against coal.

It's one thing to push a specific person as a good candidate. But this whole thing of loudly demanding that whomever the nominee is, they must be 100% doctrinaire on this one issue above all others? No. I want no part of it.

Personally, I have issues that are important to me. Notably 2nd Amendment rights. But even though Tim Kaine and I disagree about the details about where concealed carry permit holders should be able to travel, I'm not going to let a disagreement on that one issue dictate my opinion of him. I still support Tim Kaine.

TheGreenMiles, I respect your sophisticated knowledge of and passion for environmental issues. But perhaps you may have noticed that the name of this website is in fact RAISING KAINE. So this habit of yours of constantly trashing him for failing to agree with every single environmental position that you and I want is, in that sense, something akin to trolling. Like if I went onto the Daily Kos to trash Obama.

We're all Democrats, right? We come together in general election time to rally behind our elected leaders. We're members of a political party, not a special interest group. So stop trying to weaken someone who is not only our governor whom we all fought hard for to get elected, but may also very well be our candidate for Vice President this fall. Why are you trying to engineer a cloud over Obama's campaign in the event that Kaine is chosen? When does it end? Are we going to keep hearing these attacks on Kaine if he ends up on the ticket?

Some of us, myself included, believe that Barack Obama would be best served by a running mate with strong national security, foreign policy and military credentials.  Tim Kaine doesn't have any of those.

I'm curious and opinionated and like to debate. But sophisticated? Hmmm. Considering how upset I am about having to wear a suit to work tomorrow, I'm going to have to politely decline that adjective  ;)

I will back the two of them, unless he chooses someone along the lines of McCain, Bush or worse of course. But until then, while I have the chance to help deter him from choosing someone I think would be a poor running mate for several reasons, I will. Especially when he has so unabashedly supported a huge C02 producer, and in the face of obvious and more economically sound alternatives, and especially when the next presidential term will have to be strong on coal if we want to have the slightest chance of doing anything about climate change or mountaintop removal. In fact I think its my duty to do so. It seems that our difference is over the time at which we should all line up behind the candidate rather than argue our differences. If I thought calling Kaine what he is (and judging solely by policy: for increased climate change) would get McCain closer to being elected I wouldn't be for it either. But at this point I think its critical we help him make the right decision by vetting our grievances about poor candidates, before we do have to line up behind him.

Its just too big of a deal for people not to speak out about before the decision is made.

Besides this trial by fire on this small scale can only help him choose a candidate that can stand up to the inferno the VP will have to walk through before the election. Any problems we have with Kaine now will likely be expressed on the national level as well, whether by Dems or the GOP or both, even if all of us here remain quiet. Its in the best interest of our energy future, and Obama's electability that Kaine is not chosen if he can't stand strongly against big coal.  

Kaine's traditional leanings may have something to do with getting him on the short list in the first place; Obama may think he needs to appeal to the few sociodemographics where McCain has the edge. Let's hope they don't go too far right and dampen the enthusiasm of the core.

for being consistent on holding kaine accountable. When are we going to get some politicians in this state who actually want change when it comes to the sprawl/coal/sprawl/coal/more sprawl cycle?