Almost four years ago, John McCain came within a Sarah Palin of capturing the White House. But last week, the U.S. senator huddled with several of Silicon Valley’s most powerful CEOs and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed to talk green technology, Obamacare, tax reform and ... sports. The meeting was part of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group’s semiannual trip to Washington, D.C., which features a parade of meetings with Capitol Hill’s influence makers. According to Jeff Janssen, one of the mayor’s policy advisors, McCain welcomed Reed, SVLG president Carl Guardino, Brocade CEO Mike Klayko and VP Jeff Rangel, Varian Medical Systems CEO Tim Guertin and Sunpower VP Jim Parker into his cramped office to talk shop. By the time the 45-minute conversation was complete, though, it seemed the takeaway was McCain might want to call ESPN when he decides to give his day job a rest. “You wouldn’t expect it, but the guy was naming off players and ‘Did you see the game last night?’’ Janssen says, adding that McCain was concerned about the elbow of S.F. Giants closer Brian Wilson—only because he roots for his home state Arizona Diamondbacks, a division rival of Los Gigantes. But while a third of the meeting was devoted to bats, balls and hockey, McCain did have time to address plenty of the Silicon Valley leaders’ concerns, as well as voice his displeasure with President Obama‘s handling of health-care reform. At one point in the meeting, McCain became “animated’ and compared the process to a runaround on the level of the Louisiana Purchase. McCain taking the opportunity to fire some fastballs at Obama? Yeah, we buy that.
Politics
McCain Meets with Silicon Valley Leaders
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During its semiannual trip last week to Washington D.C., members of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed met with U.S. Senator John McCain. (Photo by Wigwam Jones via Flickr)
Sounds more like McCain was swinging and missing. It will be interesting to see who Willard Romney chooses as a running mate—my money is on Marco Rubio.
> It will be interesting to see who Willard Romney chooses as a running mate—my money is on Marco Rubio.
I’ll be looking forward to the Marco Rubio – Joe Biden debate.
Do you think Biden will find Rubio to be as “clean and articulate” as Obama?
Let me check.
McCain lost to Obama.
Obama is the President.
McCain is a member of the United States Senate.
He represents Arizona.
California is represented by DIANNE FEINTSTEIN and BARBARA BOXER.
We could not get a chance to see them?
McCain is going to do what for San Jose?
Democrats are the majority, right, in the Senate?
Reid was busy?
Exactly—why was this a worthwhile use of tax payer dollars to fund this?
And of course when McCain talks sports, Chuck Reed’s face goes blank as he ponders back to always being picked last in elementary school recess games. ERA? touchdown? Power play? Huh?? What do all these words mean??
Nerd Alert
Please don’t attack Chuck Reed as a “nerd”. You’re alienating those of us who disagree with Reed’s policies but are also bad at sports, and it’s not particularly mature.
Which is exactly why you shouldn’t extend your opinions to things you know nothing about. Exactly as Reed should not be venturing to bring baseball to San Jose when he doesn’t know the first thing about sports other than what Madison Nguyen tells him.
I think the politics revolving around a proposed sports stadium have more to do with economics than with which politicians are more familiar with the sport. That’s completely irrelevant. If an economist who doesn’t even know how a baseball game works has a differing opinion from a lifetime baseball fan about the economic effects of a stadium in San Jose, I’ll side with the guy who doesn’t know a thing about sports.
I’m not saying I agree with Mayor Reed, but your argument doesn’t make a whole lot of sense.