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Sabato: ‘Cheney Has Blown It’
NewsMax ^ | July 14, 2004 | Carl Limbacher

Posted on 07/14/2004 8:14:47 PM PDT by Kaslin

Vice President Dick Cheney has destroyed himself and is creating a mess for President Bush, says one of the nation’s premier political analysts.

Larry Sabato, Director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics, offered the cutting assessment in his online analysis "Crystal Ball.” Even though John Kerry hasn’t received the usual bounce after naming his running mate, Sabato writes in his latest newsletter that the Democrat campaign "has put George W. Bush in a box with the selection of John Edwards. And there is probably no way for Bush to win this part of the presidential battle.”

"To put it bluntly, Cheney has blown it,” the straight-shooting Sabato wrote.

He continued: "One would have expected a classic Washington establishment insider to know how to keep his reputation intact through innumerable controversies -- calling the ‘right’ people here, consulting the ‘wise’ men and women of D.C. there, taking the puffed-up press poobahs of the Capital City to lunch at the White House here and there.

"Anybody recall how Henry Kissinger came out of the Nixon sleaze and the Vietnam disaster smelling like a bouquet of yellow roses--at least with the bunch that counts in D.C. and New York--despite the fact that he was in both situations up to his eyeballs?

"Instead of being Kissinger, Cheney has been Nixon in the Bush term. He has hunkered down in the White House and ‘undisclosed locations.’ He's been uncommunicative with the broader public and unconcerned about his image until it's too late. He's often appeared to be the sinister puppeteer, pulling Bush's strings on critical matters like Iraq.

"He's more associated with the Halliburton scandal than anything else in the public mind. And most importantly from a political standpoint, Dick Cheney is now seen as a rigid ideologue, unconcerned about facts that do not fit into his preconceived notions of the world, too closely tied to the far right and too unacceptable to the voters as a whole to be what he once was: workable standby equipment, a potential president who could take office with popular support.

"In short, Cheney has failed his president and become a significant liability.”

Despite all of Edwards’ flaws – his "single term of office in the Senate has been remarkably undistinguished, noted mainly for his overweening ambition,” and he has "a left-wing voting record and a shockingly low attendance record on roll call votes that would make any serious senator blush with embarrassment,” this extremist but telegenic lightweight looks good in comparison with Cheney, Sabato says.

He notes something NewsMax has already pointed out: the media establishment’s enormous hypocrisy in gushing over Edwards even though it attacked the far more experienced nominee Dan Quayle as being too green for the office.

"Be that as it may, there is a deeper story here: The thin resume of Edwards looks so much better because the thick resume of Cheney now looks so bad.”

He concludes Bush is stuck.

"The streets of Washington's political district are filled with rumors and scenarios where Cheney disappears from the GOP ticket. Yet if Bush drops Cheney, the party conservatives -- ever sensitive to a slight -- will wail and gnash their teeth, threaten to go fishing on Election Day, and ruin any bounce Bush might get from a substitute veep.

"If Cheney wants Bush to win, he might want to help the process along by stepping aside. Have you stopped laughing yet? We all know that Cheney still labors under the illusion that he is a plus for Bush, and if doubts ever occur to him, the addiction of the power and the glory of high office acts quickly to banish the thought.”


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: cheney; gwb2004; sabato; wishfulthinking
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To: Charles H. (The_r0nin)

I don't understand. Those margin of error numbers you cited is typical of any poll. The fact that they had 1001 registered voters mans that their sample size was larger than a lot of national polls.


301 posted on 07/15/2004 10:47:57 AM PDT by Cableguy
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To: Kaslin

sabato is a democrat shill.


302 posted on 07/15/2004 10:49:49 AM PDT by no_problema
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To: Cableguy
Heh-heh. You said... dude.

Dues or not, you're a troll. If monetary contributions are the surest sign of loyalty, then your little revelation has just changed the life of every CINO.

303 posted on 07/15/2004 10:50:49 AM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: McGruff

Check out; http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml%3Fi=20040705&s=ireland . It has been reported on the radio in Boston as a breaking story. That is all I can say right now. Keep listening.


304 posted on 07/15/2004 10:51:21 AM PDT by Final Authority
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker

I will keep reporting you as a slanderer. Anyone can look at my previous posts over the last few months, and see that I am a loyal conservative, and none of my posts can be characterized otherwise.


305 posted on 07/15/2004 10:54:57 AM PDT by Cableguy
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To: Protagoras
Or even a Morton Kondracke thingamajig.


306 posted on 07/15/2004 10:57:44 AM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: Cableguy

I just characterized you as such. Please add this post to my ever thickening file.


307 posted on 07/15/2004 10:58:34 AM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: cyncooper
Cheney is the candidate.

Period.

BTW, Newsweek polls are not something to live by...unless you enjoy being manipulated by the MSM.

I agree 100 percent and with Newsweak you can always add 5 percent in favor of the Republicans to get the real picture

308 posted on 07/15/2004 11:02:54 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: McGruff

When did Dick Cheney become the symbol of the conservative movement? A lot of people already see President Bush as too conservative already, at least regarding social issues. I'd rather win with someone less tainted by Haliburton connections(b.s. I know, but Haliburton has already been marginalized as the Dow Chemical of the 21st Century. They could cure cancer and still have a bad rep.) than lose with Cheney.


309 posted on 07/15/2004 11:04:30 AM PDT by Democratshavenobrains
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker

I guess this posting of all these goofy pictures means you can't / won't answer the question.


310 posted on 07/15/2004 11:06:08 AM PDT by Protagoras (government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." ...Ronald Reagan, 1981)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Tell you what you do. Don't lend credence to a garbage pit of information like Newsweek and I won't call you a troll. Okay?

The mainstream, old order, established news organs are doing everything in their power to disrupt and discredit honest discourse in America. I ain't havin' it! If you live your life based on skewed polls, then you need to do a major rethink. Holding your finger in the air to check for the prevailing winds is exactly what real leaders don't engage in.

311 posted on 07/15/2004 11:10:04 AM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: Kaslin
Cheney is the candidate. Period.

Predictions are easy. Being right is more difficult. We shall see.

312 posted on 07/15/2004 11:10:44 AM PDT by Protagoras (government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." ...Ronald Reagan, 1981)
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To: Protagoras

Repeatedly asked and answered.


313 posted on 07/15/2004 11:12:20 AM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: O.C. - Old Cracker
Repeatedly asked and answered.

Post numbers please? Or just make it easy, is Sabato a libertarian or not? What are you afraid of?

314 posted on 07/15/2004 11:16:16 AM PDT by Protagoras (government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." ...Ronald Reagan, 1981)
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To: capocchio

Your tagline is idiotic. If the president looses you because he keeps Cheney, then you never planned to vote for him in the first place and loyalty means diddly squat to you. This does not mean that the president should keep Cheney out of loyalty to him, just that he trusts him and that he feels comfortable with him


315 posted on 07/15/2004 11:17:51 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Carolinamom
Don't fall for the braying about getting rid of Cheney. Dems would like nothing better because they FEAR his competence....especially when contrasted w/Kerry's pretty, inexperienced VP choice. Edwards is pretty inexperienced.

I agree with you 100 percent. However those who do never planned to vote for the president in the first place.

316 posted on 07/15/2004 11:21:53 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: section9

As always you are 100% correct


317 posted on 07/15/2004 11:23:33 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: dennisw
This Dick Cheney thing is well orchestrated psychological warfare by the Democrats.

And sadly, it's not without effect. Just look at the number of posters here who agree and feel Cheney is a liability.

Freepers are supposed to be the least influenced by silly democratic ploys.

318 posted on 07/15/2004 11:24:02 AM PDT by been_lurking
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To: Cableguy
Tell you what you do. Don't lend credence to a garbage pit of information like Newsweek and I won't call you a troll. Okay?

The mainstream, old order, established news organs are doing everything in their power to disrupt and discredit honest discourse in America. I ain't havin' it! If you live your life based on skewed polls, then you need to do a major rethink. Holding your finger in the air to check for the prevailing winds is exactly what real leaders don't engage in.

319 posted on 07/15/2004 11:27:48 AM PDT by O.C. - Old Cracker (When the cracker gets old, you wind up with Old Cracker. - O.C.)
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To: Kaslin
He's more associated with the Halliburton scandal than anything else in the public mind.

What Halliburton scandal? There is no scandal involving Halliburton. This statement right here proves that the author and commentator are idiots. It's like demanding a yes or no answer to "will you stop beating you wife?" It's a declarative statement without a remote connection to reality.

My folks are friends of Dick and Lynn Cheney. They've gone salmon fishing together several times and they think he's one of the truly great ones. The fact that my Mom is originally from Wyoming probably helps that opinion, but with that background we also completely understand his style.

Dick Cheney is Shane, quiet, laconic, less interested in how things get spun than what's right. That's the characteristic that Bush needed in a Vice President and it's why he won't dump him now.

To continue making film analogies, George Bush is clearly Marshall Will Kane, willing to put it on the line to do his job, despite what all the "smart people" know. Of course, if you take that analogy much further you end up realizing that Tony Blair must be Grace Kelley (shudder).

John Edwards is the really nasty piece of work Harrison Ford played in regarding Henry (prior to being shot in the head and becoming a nice guy... by losing half his brain)

and John Kerry is Matthew Brady (from Inherit the Wind), the pompous self righteous self declared expert on all things who doesn't have a clue, yet he's willing to condemn everyone else who doesn't march in lock step worshipping him

actually a better analogy for John Kerry might be an evil version of Jar Jar Binks

320 posted on 07/15/2004 11:30:16 AM PDT by Phsstpok (often wrong, but never in doubt)
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