Welcome to Doubletake, your morning mash-up with Tribune correspondents Jim Tankersley and Jim Oliphant. Now in new Extreme Arctic Blast flavor.
Jim Oliphant: So, get your text message yet?
Jim Tankersley: No. And my new rule is, no text, no veepstakes in the chat. This is non-negotiable.
Oliphant: I haven’t gotten mine yet either. But this I am pret-ty sure this art student in Denmark has me confused with someone else.
As for the veep, the guessing game has reached critical mass. I’ve read LeBron James is “confident” it’s going to be Tim Kaine, but he’s also hearing Bayh’s name again.
Tankersley: And your streak of mentioning Ohio sports reaches an unprecedented 12 days! Quick, tell me something about your hair. What I’m saying is, I’m not taking your running-mate bait. I refuse.
Oliphant: Sebelius up? Biden down? Hillary in an “October Surprise”?
Tankersley: Say, what do you make of that situation in Pakistan with Musharraf leaving?
Oliphant: Uh, unstable? A tinder box. Yes, a geopolitical tinder box. I think that is always the safe answer.
Do you think he would make a good veep? Build that bridge to the Muslim community?
And–do I have to say it?
Tankersley: You might as well.
Oliphant: Pretty decent head o’ hair for a deposed head of state.
Tankersley: And there it is.
Yes, I took over in a military coup, fired the Supreme Court, and
couldn’t find Osama if he came equipped with a Lojack, but check
out this head of hair. All mine, baby!
Oliphant Here is an excerpt from a recent story on Musharraf by our colleague Kim Barker. Gotta love the introductory graf to the quote.
Many insiders said his resignation was part of a deal allowing him to avoid the humiliation of a public impeachment in Parliament and perhaps avoid criminal charges for actions during his almost nine years as president, including seizing power while army chief in 1999, declaring emergency rule in November, and firing the country’s top judges, also in November.
“I am leaving with satisfaction that whatever I could do for this country, I did that with honesty,” Musharraf told the nation in a televised speech.
Classic stuff.
Tankersley: OK, here’s a topic more up your alley. We’re about to hit the party conventions – I’m off to Denver in fairly short order, in fact – and polls show the race basically tied.So — who’s position would you rather have at this point in the race? McCain or Obama?
Oliphant: McCain.
Read the rest at the Swamp, the blog of the Tribune’s Washington bureau.
Writ Large 