Sen. Cory Booker, after being part of the short list to become Hillary Clinton's running mate, on Tuesday downplayed talk that Tim Kaine had been chosen instead to attract the votes of more white men to the former secretary of state's side, but still said that the choice was "obviously a political calculation" based on who would be next in line for the presidency.
"I think Donald Trump did this as well," the New Jersey Democrat, who spoke at Monday night's convention, told
Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program. "This is a person that could be the president. So, I think there were a whole bunch of things that went into the algorithm and when it spat out, it spat out the best person for the job."
According to an article in
The New York Times, just after Clinton revealed her pick, she had considered, in addition to Booker, Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez and retired Navy Admiral James Stavridis, the former supreme allied commander at ATO.
But instead of picking them, or Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, to make a two-woman ticket, Clinton's campaign was concerned about its lack of backing with white men and focused on Kaine, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, and Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, The Times article claimed.
Booker said he does approve of Kaine as Clinton's running mate, saying the Virginia senator is an honorable man.
"I was blown away to be in the consideration," Booker said. "But Tim Kaine is someone I want to be the vice president because he does belie this partisanship of this country . . . There's a decency and mercy about him. Before you tell me about your religion, show it to me, how you treat other people, and that's what he does."
Also on the program, Booker told the host that he does "love" Donald Trump, even though the GOP nominee trashed him in a tweet while he was on the DNC stage speaking:
"I love Trump," said Booker. "I love his family and his kids. I won't match his hate with hate, but with love."
But at the same time, he does not want him to become the president, following his statements about Sen. John McCain and other actions.
"You should not be president when you talk about other Americans that way," said Booker. "People who have military service. People who have disabilities. So I'm not going to answer his tweets and stuff like that. I'm not going to hate on him."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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