McCAIN-LIEBERMAN OR McCAIN-ROMNEY?

“Senator John McCain and his independent fellow-traveler -- formerly a Democrat -- Senator Joe Lieberman wound up their most recent Mideast foray in Israel, where the Republican candidate for the presidency got a little help from the man widely tipped to be his choice for vice president in adjusting his yarmulke,” wrote Arnaud de Borchgrave, editor-at large for the United Press International wire service and The Washington Times in his March 26 column. Most politically-savvy people like de Borchgrave, who for a quarter-century was chief foreign correspondent for Newsweek magazine before becoming editor-in-chief of The Washington Times in March 1985, believe McCain’s recent widely-publicized Middle East and European trip with Lieberman, Connectict independent, signaled that a possible McCain-Lieberman ticket is shaping up. On the other hand, Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney’s endorsement of McCain and nationally televised press conference, after the two GOP presidential hopefuls went at it hammer-and-tong in the Republican presidential primary campaign, may change the dynamics by bringing a younger, conservative proven government executive of a liberal state into the picture. Tongues are already wagging that Romney, a multi-billionaire business executive raised in Michigan, might make a better VP running-mate to shore up McCain’s lack of government or business executive experience. Romney, a Mormon, is loved by conservative Republicans, more glamorous and articulate than Lieberman, a terrific campaigner, and Romney unquestionably would fire up the Republican political base. Lieberman, on the other hand, has been a moderating voice in the United States Senate since he left the Democratic Party and was-re-elected to the as an independent –- although he still caucuses with Senate Democrats.  Lieberman is Jewish and very popular with that important segment of the electorate and business community. Lieberman is more seasoned on national and global policy issues than eith McCain or Romney. than McCain, but would have to move further right to energize the Republican base during the general election. However, that be dangerous politically, because that would turn off moderate independent and Democratic voters who McCain as GOP presidential candidate must have to win the White House in November for the next four years starting next January, and maybe another four years thereafter. De Borchgrave, one of the finest world-class journalists, saw Lieberman’s global trip with McCain, where he was shown right at the Arizona senator’s shoulder in every camera shot, as highly revealing.  He wrote that the “yarmulke gesture” sent an important signal or many Mideast bloggers and “was proof McCain would be even less inclined than President Bush to coax/cajole/pressure Israel into the kind of concessions that would make a Palestinian state possible. “To understand the chasm between mainstream media and the blogosphere,” de Borchgrave noted. “Lewis Carroll's ‘Through the Looking Glass’ is a helpful guide. Tweedledum and Tweedledee, they are not. But they are frequently fact and factoid (an invented fact that is taken to be true because of its appearance in print). And many blogs have achieved the status of print by virtue of the fact that countless millions get their news online. The average age of a newspaper reader is 55. Onliners? Try 30…. “McCain also fueled the speculation [of Lieberman as his possible choice as VP running-mate] when he said Jerusalem was to remain the indivisible capital of the Jewish state and that Israel must not be asked for anything that might jeopardize its security. Without a Palestinian capital in Arab East Jerusalem, no Palestinian leader could sign a peace agreement -- and expect to stay alive. “Anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic epithets flooded the blogs, a lethal blend of extremist outbursts from the far right to the far left, e.g., ‘Hitler saw the tremendous danger posed to Germany by communism’ and ‘although Jews formed less than 5 percent of Russia 's population, they formed more than 50 percent of its revolutionaries.’ Or, ‘the major role Jewish leaders played in the November (Russian) revolution was probably more important than any other factor in confirming (Hitler's) anti-Semitic beliefs.’ Holocaust deniers, along with those who say the six million Jewish victims of Hitler's death camps were wildly exaggerated, get a free ride in the blogosphere. “Another free-fire zone among the millions of blogs is the notion that Bush will have one last throw of the geopolitical dice by bombing Iran 's nuclear facilities. Vice President Dick Cheney, on his most recent trip to the Middle East, left little doubt he believes the Iranian mullahs have resumed their nuclear quest after a brief interruption following the U.S. invasion of Iraq . "Tehran ran scared in the spring of 2003 and concluded Iran might be next on Bush's hit list. That fear subsided quickly as the insurgency, stoked in part by Iranian Revolutionary Guard agents, spread all over Iraq . Cheney indicated clandestine lethal aid from Iran was still continuing. “General David Petraeus, commander of Multi-National Force-Iraq, went one better when he said the Easter Sunday rocket-and-mortar barrage against Baghdad 's Green Zone was made possible by Iran providing the rockets -- in complete violation of promises made by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and other most senior Iranian leaders to their Iraqi counterparts. “And if Bush doesn't order the bombing of Iran , bloggers write matter-of-factly, McCain, as president, will not hesitate. Both McCain and Lieberman have said on separate occasions that there is only one thing worse than bombing Iran -- and that's Iran with nuclear weapons. Bombing thus becomes the lesser of two evils. “Blogs also speculate on whether one Iranian nuclear weapon against Tel Aviv would knock out the state of Israel . Blog opinion is evenly divided between those who say Israel could not survive such a blow and those who say Iran would be pulverized by nuclear retaliation from Israel and the United States , and the Western world would coalesce around an Israeli reconstruction effort. “Important pieces of the Mideast jigsaw fail to make it into mainstream media but can be found online. The United Arab Emirates-based newspaper Gulf News said last week that with Bush in office Washington is effectively maintaining low-intensity warfare with Iran and the potential exists to ratchet it up to more open hostilities. Recurring visits by Cheney and McCain to Iraq and Israel, added Gulf News, are 'surely not "coincidences" but a means to ensure Israel remains fully in the picture for any plans the U.S. could have against Iran.' “The latest iterations about Iran's nuclear ambitions are seen by Arab blogs as a pretext for fresh adventurism in the region, bearing in mind that Iraq has now suddenly taken a turn for the worst and Afghanistan isn't faring well either. Arab media speculate the Bush administration may feel engaging the United States militarily in Iran is its only option for seeing a Republican president elected in November. “Blogs -- factoid or fact? -- quote an aide to Cheney saying the United States will need the cooperation of Oman, Saudi Arabia, Israel and Turkey to mount air attacks on Iran. Blogs, newspapers, radio, television, all in fierce competition, al-Jazeera's forced competition in the Iraqi war zone, imams double-shifting as spies, thousands of volunteer Pakistani spooks for temporary duty in Afghanistan , and it soon becomes multi-dimensional chess. “Reporting these days requires speed reading -- and what Hemingway called a bullfeathers detector.” As always, Arnaud de Borchgrave understands the dynamics of the unfolding politics in the U.S. presidential campaign, and the volatile global scene that requires a very strong next administration to protect and advance U.S. interests on both economic and national security fronts.