Clarence Thomas for Vice President?

I’ve refrained from mocking Bill Kristol’s last couple of New York Times columns, but today’s piece, on John McCain’s difficult road to the White House, included one notable gem.

In specific, Kristol notes that McCain could use a great running mate.

Perhaps the most obvious way McCain could upend the normal dynamics of this year’s election would be a bold vice presidential choice. He could pick a hawkish and principled Democrat like Joe Lieberman.

He could reach beyond the usual bevy of elected officials by tapping either David Petraeus or Raymond Odierno — the two generals who together, in an amazing demonstration of leadership and competence, turned the war in Iraq around last year. He could persuade the most impressive conservative in American public life, Clarence Thomas, to join the ticket.

Clarence Thomas? As Vice President? I suppose it’s possible that Kristol is thinking about the racial dynamic — if Obama is on the Democratic ticket, Republicans might want “balance” for their ticket — but if Clarence Thomas is “the most impressive conservative in American public life,” the right is in much deeper trouble than I’d realized.

And the notion that Lieberman might make a good choice — a point Kristol has made in print before — continues to confound. Even Kristol ally Fred Barnes isn’t going for it: