Laura Ingraham's Veepstakes Advice for McCain

This is a rush transcript from "On the Record ," August 22, 2008. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN, FOX NEWS HOST: Conservative radio host Laura Ingraham recently had this message for Senator McCain. "From the conservative's perspective, we are literally imploring you to not to turn your back on your great pro-life record over decades now." Well, Laura could not be plainer. She does not want Senator McCain to pick a pro-choice candidate to be his running mate.

Earlier, Laura Ingraham went "On the Record."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

VAN SUSTEREN: All right, Laura, big news, of course, will soon be, is who Senator McCain chooses for a running mate. But I understand you gave him a little trouble.

LAURA INGRAHAM, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST, FOX CONTRIBUTOR: Well, look, John McCain has got to come to grips with this fact. There are still a lot of people in the Republican Party who are feeling a little anxious about him. And they understand that the reality is he's not, you know, the type of conservative maybe they'd like, but he's conservative on a lot of issues.

Watch Greta's interview with Laura Ingraham

And clearly, he is the alternative to Barack Obama. And that really came out last week in that Saddleback forum answer to the question, When do human rights accrue to a person? Obama couldn't answer, and of course, McCain, very straightforward answer, at conception. Even if you disagree with McCain on other issues, you hear him on that and you say, OK. He knows where he stands and he's not afraid to say what he thinks. And Obama, as Peggy Noonan said, his response was strange and disturbing. And I think stayed with a lot of conservatives...

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: ... Good for them.

VAN SUSTEREN: So why are you giving McCain a little bit of a hard time?

INGRAHAM: Well, I think on this issue of who he's going to pick for his veep. You know, it's floated out there over the last few days that he's going to consider Lieberman and Ridge and -- who knows if this was all some big smokescreen to make someone like a Mitt Romney look more palatable.

VAN SUSTEREN: Maybe he didn't even float it.

INGRAHAM: Maybe, but the campaign wasn't dissuading people of that notion, either. And the fact that he -- I asked him specifically, Are there any issues that are non-negotiable that you have to agree with this pick on? And he said, I'm not going to go down -- I'm not going to down that road. And I understand he doesn't want to hint about who he's going to name.

But if he picks someone, at this point, Greta, who has voted as Joe Lieberman has against the partial- birth abortion ban, something like that radical on that issue, there is -- it's a no-win situation for McCain. He has great momentum right now. People are pretty happy and they're pretty jazzed up for him. That would be a buzzkill at the Republican national convention, and that would be the narrative all these people in the old media would focus on, the rift in the Republican Party. It's absolutely no reason he should do that, and I don't think he will, ultimately.

VAN SUSTEREN: So who do you see as ideal, from a totally strategic point of view, not for who necessarily would be the best to serve as vice president, but strategically?

INGRAHAM: It's tough. I mean, Romney, I would say, has the economic acumen. That's nothing new. I'm not saying anything new. But you know, Rob Portman -- a lot of people like him in Ohio, and of course, Pawlenty in Minnesota. I'm not sure there is an ideal person. I mean...

VAN SUSTEREN: What about a woman? Because I mean, there are lot of women who are...

INGRAHAM: There are a lot people like Sarah Palin. Bill Kristol, our colleague here at FOX, he thinks the governor of Alaska. I happened to have the pleasure of sitting next to her at lunch last summer. I found her to be delightful, total regular person. I mean, she goes out with her husband on this fishing boat, a commercial fishing boat. She's like a total, you know, regular Josephina. So she's a...

VAN SUSTEREN: It seems...

INGRAHAM: She's cool.

VAN SUSTEREN: It seems to me if it was only on strategy, is that there are a lot of women who are unhappy in the Democratic Party and just sort of peel them off, if you could -- if -- I would think, tactically, that...

INGRAHAM: Hillary's free now, I understand. So I mean, they're old friends. They traveled to Iraq together.

VAN SUSTEREN: Yes. Indeed.

INGRAHAM: I don't think the vice presidential pick does anything all that much for a candidate, but it can...

VAN SUSTEREN: I think this time, a woman...

INGRAHAM: It can tick people off.

VAN SUSTEREN: I think this time, a woman might make a difference.

(CROSSTALK)

INGRAHAM: That would be the unconventional move. Some people think Kay Bailey Hutchison in Texas. I think that's unlikely. But Sarah Palin is someone whose name continues to get raised. And I think -- I think that's an interesting idea. I think...

VAN SUSTEREN: Or Carly Fiorina or...

INGRAHAM: Carly Fiorina's too liberal. I think that...

VAN SUSTEREN: Meg Whitman. What about Meg Whitman?

INGRAHAM: He likes Meg Whitman a lot -- obviously, eBay founder, brilliant strategist. But I ultimately think it's going to be someone probably like -- maybe -- maybe Mitt Romney. And I hate this guessing game because a year ago...

VAN SUSTEREN: I think it's fun.

INGRAHAM: A year ago, you and I were sitting here, and I was absolutely sure that Hillary was going to be the nominee. I look -- you know, egg on my face. Do you see it? It's right here.

VAN SUSTEREN: I don't know. I always -- I think it's fun. Anyway, fun strategy. Laura, thank you very much.

INGRAHAM: Great to see you.

VAN SUSTEREN: Nice to see you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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