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Are you withholding support for Mitt Romney until you see who he chooses as the person who will be "a heartbeat away..."?
I'm reading a book right now about the assassination of James Garfield. His VP was Chester Arthur. Arthur was pushed into the VP spot by a certain powerful NY politician and a pretty all-round awful guy named Roscoe Conkling. The book says that during the course of the campaign, there was some discussion about the fact that Arthur would be president if something happened to Garfield, but the idea of anything happening to Garfield "seemed so remote as to be hardly worth considering." Garfield was in the prime of his life (late 40s), the picture of robust good health, and would be president in a time of peace. When it looked as if Garfield might die after being shot, it says that, among Dems and Republicans alike, the very idea that Arthur could actually become president "caused hearts to sink and shoulders to shudder." Too late at that point!
Arthur himself didn't really want anything to do with being president and only went along with being the VP choice because he was doing Conkling's bidding--that's how much power and influence Conkling had in the party.
We always think that our current days are "the worst of times," but some things were as bad (or worse) politically in past times, too.
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