Please Say Never, Tom

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported on Friday that Tom Ridge, as national co-chairman of the “Straight Talk Express” for John McCain, is in the process of doing a political “fan dance” of sorts about whether or not he’s interested in the role of McCain’s running mate (assuming of course that the two-faced opportunist from Arizona gets the nomination next year…must have been another slow news day for the Inky).

Here’s is what Ridge has to say about this…

"I never say never, but it's probably unlikely," said Ridge, sitting in the office of the international consulting company he formed after resigning as head of the Department of Homeland Security in 2005.

And of course, this is titillating somehow to Repug party operatives…

"I think he would complement and be of value to almost any Republican presidential nominee," said Republican pollster and adviser Whit Ayres. "He was a popular, successful governor of one of the largest swing states in the country. He's probably popular enough to bring that state into the Republican column. That makes him a very valuable commodity."

Whit must have been ingesting SEPTA bus fumes to come up with a prognostication like that (God, waaaay too early for this stuff, I know).

As we know, there are an infinite number of variables that determine who will win PA’s electoral votes next year, such as how well the candidate can hunt, turn a blind eye to rampant graft, and remember to do the “Philly flip” with the tie when eating a cheese steak sideways at Pat’s (and I can envision Hillary Clinton having an issue with at least two of these scenarios).

But for anyone to think any one candidate with a link to this commonwealth (not a state, let’s not forget) can accomplish this by himself or herself is a fairy tale (probably making too much of the obvious, I realize).

This is also true because, though Ridge did show flexibility as a governor on choice and as a congressman on an assault weapons ban (something that truly takes guts in this state), he also has some baggage, in particular (as noted here)…

In July the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette investigated a law enacted under Ridge that compelled teens charged with certain crimes to be tried as adults. The paper found that "the law has proved to be both unfair and ineffective," noting that "teens sent to adult lockups are more likely to commit new crimes when they get out than teens sent to juvenile reform schools, where they get education and counseling."

David Corn of The Nation also notes that, under Ridge, thirty seven crime bills passed, mostly increasing the power of police and prosecutors, though courts in Pennsylvania determined later that some of this legislation was unconstitutional.

Also…

Ridge was an ardent fan of the death penalty, signing more than 200 death warrants; three people were executed on his watch. While he was governor, state funding was shut off for the Center for Legal Education, Advocacy and Defense Assistance, which in five years had won more than 160 stays of execution and overturned a dozen death sentences. Ridge declined to undertake a statewide review of death-penalty cases, and after the legislature in 2000 approved $614,000 to train defense lawyers handling death-penalty appeals, a spiteful Ridge administration delayed releasing the money. Ridge also championed a roving-wiretap bill. He did not complain when state police infiltrated political groups planning protests at the Republican convention (in 2000) in Philadelphia.

Corn also notes Ridge’s anemic response to the Anthrax scare that followed the 9/11 attacks, for which no one has ever been convicted or even prosecuted (I know that ultimately falls on the shoulders of Ashcroft and Gonzales, but as former head of Homeland Security, Ridge shares some of the blame also).

And going back even further to Ridge’s military service, Jeffrey St. Clair and Alexander Cockburn bring us this…

Like Bob Kerrey, Ridge won his Bronze Star for an operation that seems to have been little more than outright murder by ambush which was almost immediately sanitized as an act of heroism. Ridge's own account has made the operation seem like a firefight between US troops and regulars of the North Vietnamese Army.

But in fact it appears that on March 30, 1970 Ridge and his squad sneaked up on a group of Vietnamese who were having lunch under a tree near the hamlet of Vinh Lac 4 and opened fire on them. The subsequent incident report claimed that one 25-30 year old man wearing "a blue uniform" was killed. They recovered a rifle, a grenade, US Army ammo pouch and "15 bushels of potatoes and a small amount of rice". The report says the lethal shots were fired from the unlikely distance of "500 meters".

Ridge was later credited with firing the shot that killed the young man, an action that led Harris to belatedly put him up for the Bronze Star. "I'm not 100 percent sure who fired the shot", said Ridge. "I have a pretty good idea. I think it was (me).''

But Ridge's radio man doesn't think that Ridge was the triggerman. In fact, he doesn't even remember finding a body. "I don't remember T. Ridge getting a KIA", the radio man wrote to a website maintained by veterans of Ridge's battalion. "I could be wrong and wouldn't want to swear to it because it was 30 years ago. I do not remember finding any bodies that day. 500 meters is a long distance."

By the way, I might have decided to give Ridge a pass on the matter of his bronze star, but with the example of the Swift Boat Liars who maligned John Kerry in 2004 fresh in all of our minds sadly, I think the military service of any candidate running for office, particularly Repugs, deserves the highest possible level of scrutiny (and I’m at least endeavoring to report the truth).

Among others in his party, Tom Ridge is not too bad of a candidate, and I have no evidence to conclude anything but that he’s a fundamentally good man who served our country as well.

But he’s a dyed-in-the-wool Repug who would flip in a heartbeat for the fundamentalist nut jobs who call the shots in his party of pretenders (during the election anyway, since those people always get “played” to ensure victory, to the point where the “status quo” returns once the hoopla is over, and if Richard Viguerie and CPAC are to be believed, they’re becoming wise to that fact only now).

Update: Oh, and I forgot to point out that, as former head of the Department of Homeland Security, Ridge unveiled his fabulous color-coded alert system five years ago today.