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.”
What are your sources on this?
Posting childish pictures is just childish. False witness is a sin.
Did you know that the Nation is a left-wing rag and David Corn who is the editor to the rag is a FOX News contributer. When he appears on FNC I always mute my TV
Just because it is done by Newsweak doesn't mean the polling was off. Even if it was off with the Bush vs. Kerry numbers, it doesn't mean that Cheney vs. McCain vs. Powell numbers were off. I am pretty sure that other polls if I can find them would show similar results, with McCain/Powell giving Bush better numbers. That was one of the reasons why Kerry wanted McCain for his VP pick.
While I agree with your second paragraph, that still doesn't mean that the political analysis done by Dick Morris, Sabato, Senator D'Amato, supported by polls, is wrong. If you go through the 300+ posts on this particular topic, you see lots of disagreement about Cheney. While we are all united for Bush and against Kerry, the verdict on Cheney is split. That should tell you something also.
I personally believe Cheney is a better candidate for something like the State Dept or CIA which need lots of reform, whereas Powell or McCain is better for VP where they don't do much other than give speeches.
What Halhiburton scandal? The partisan media manufactured one where all any liberal needs to do is to accuse? The one where evidence is not required? That one? THERE IS NO HALLIBURTON SCANDAL.
What is the scandal? Just because the dems through that word around lake a dodge ball dosn't make it so.
There is no scandal, and there has never been a scandal
Hey Ambrose... when Bush wins, be ready to eat it...
I never predicted he would leave the ticket, only that it's possible. And that it might make sense, particularly from the standpoint of 2008. Which is what this is all about IMO.
I will quote anyone who has interesting data. Even the RNC is okay quoting Newsweek polls and articles. Some of Newsweek polls are on RNC's website.
The mistake the Dems have made with Cheney is the same as the one they made with Bush in 2000 -- diminished expectations. The reality of Cheney is so far off from the caricature that he cannot help but exceed expectations when voters start seeing more of him.
Sabato is right in saying that Cheney's image has sunk because he hasn't really been out in public. But that is a problem that can be pretty easily corrected when he starts showing his face a lot more. He's one of those guys, like Rumsfeld, that always comes across better when you actually see him than when you read what is written about him.
Be careful, the whole stable might get changed.
Particularly if the Republican Party is anything like you. Blaming others and falsely attributing things to people which you made up.
Being Vice President is no benefit when in comes to being elected President. How many sitting VPs have been elected President? Not many. Cheney can stay put and the GOP can groom for 2008. I'm still hoping Cheney will change his mind and run for President in 2008.
Like I said, one broken-glass base voter is much better than two potential swing-voters (who will probably not vote in any case). And that poll was designed to mask that (just like I pointed out even before you posted the poll). Show me a poll that will show hard-core Republican voters (especially one taken of likely and assured voters) signing on and you might have a point. But conservatives will flee from a McInsane ticket (as they should)...
Tell that to the pols. They think so.
Bush the first was one. Gore came within 500 votes of being one. Truman and Johnson were elected in their own right later. Nixon made it work in a different election.
I agree with you here 100% - And I would just ad his poll numbers are down and Kerry is competitive because of the WH's complete lack of any coherent message in terms of our economic success - They need a "daily economic success story" - a highlight point each day the WH should put out - This would attract a ton of Local TV coverage (for the State in which the highlighted success is occurring) - thus by-passing the liberal national press -
I am also of the notion that if Cheney didn't want to run for VP and he announced it now - there would be no fall out - The media would go ape for a few days....just because they would be so worried that Powell or Rudy would be put on the ticket and the race would be over -
Middle America would care less if Cheney was replaced by someone else (in terms of it being seen as desperate...they wouldn't think one way or the other) - as for the base leaving GWB over it - I don't see that either - GWB is a conservative - Bush Sr. wasn't....and I didn't see the base leaving Reagan! - The top of the ticket is what matters and if the bottom half could bring GWB another 3 to 5% nationally...I'm all for it.
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