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Department Of Spectacularly Bad Vp Suggestions

In September, Brad and Noam profiled the shady dealings of lobbyist–governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi. For some reason, Barbour's name is being bandied about quite a bit as a potential running mate for John McCain. Josh Barro, who's been keeping close tabs on some of the crazier entries in the McCain veepstakes, points out a few of the many reasons why Barbour would be a disastrous choice. Josh unearths a choice passage from a 1982 New York Times story on Barbour's failed U.S. Senate campaign that year:

The racial sensitivity at Barbour headquarters was suggested by an exchange between the candidate and an aide who complained that there would be 'coons' at a campaign stop at the state fair. Embarrassed that a reporter heard this, Mr. Barbour warned that if the aide persisted in racist remarks, he would be reincarnated as a watermelon and placed at the mercy of blacks.

Stay classy, Haley.

--Josh Patashnik