Boehner Says He Once Urged Scalia To Run For Vice President Over Pizza

U.S. Supreme Court Justice-designate Antonin Scalia, left, meets with Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole of Kansas at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, June 25, 1986. Scalia will fill the vacancy created by t... U.S. Supreme Court Justice-designate Antonin Scalia, left, meets with Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole of Kansas at the Capitol in Washington on Wednesday, June 25, 1986. Scalia will fill the vacancy created by the retirement of Chief Justice Warren J. Burger. (AP Photo/Lana Harris) MORE LESS
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Former House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says he once tried to persuade late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to be Sen. Bob Dole’s (R-KS) running mate on the 1996 Republican ticket.

In a op-ed published Tuesday with the Independent Journal Review, Boehner wrote that he thought Dole’s campaign needed to be reinvigorated. He recalled that while choosing Scalia would’ve been a left-field choice, he reasoned Scalia was a “brilliant, engaging, conservative Italian-American justice with a large, Catholic family, with potential cross-generational appeal.”

Boehner said he made the pitch to Scalia over pepperoni and anchovies pizza. Two days later, he said Scalia telephoned him and said, “The possibility is too remote to comment upon, given my position.”

Ultimately, Dole would choose Jack Kemp to be his running mate, which Boehner wrote “accomplished the goal of bringing excitement to the ticket.”

Read the full thing here.

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Notable Replies

  1. Reagan’s corpse would have brought more excitement then Jack Kemp.

  2. Boehner Tried To Get Scalia To Be Dole’s VP Over Pizza

    Wasilla Kardashian got a job as headline writer?

  3. Ultimately, Dole would choose Jack Kemp to be his running mate, which Boehner wrote “accomplished the goal of bringing excitement to the ticket.”

    Yeah, I remember filling my shoes with piss when Kemp was named VP nominee.
  4. The pitch might have been more effective if Boehner didn’t bogart the wine.

  5. Avatar for mantan mantan says:

    The Veep of Pizza? Sounds appropriate…

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