Free Republic

George Bush has a Dick Cheney problem. It's not the one you think: an overbearing, archconservative vice president imposing his will and ideas on a less-seasoned president. No, George Bush has a different V.P. problem. It is the fact that his vice president has made clear that he is not running for president after Mr. Bush's term expires in 2008. So Mr. Bush has no heir apparent. And that explains, in part, why his second term is drifting aimlessly, disconnected from the problems facing the country. "If President Bush had a vice president, or someone who was clearly designated as...

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NEW YORK A trial balloon for a Cheney for President run in 2008 is being launched by a surprising source, Washington Post star reporter (and White House insider) Bob Woodward. Some critics claim that Dick Cheney has already been president for five years, so why should he go to the trouble of seeking the office (again) in 2008? But Woodward, appearing on Chris Matthews' NBC talk show on Sunday, labeled Vice President Cheney “a serious dark horse candidate.” He said that with "a number of people" going for the GOP nomination, “a guy named George Bush might come out and...

In the summer of 2000, Dick Cheney was appointed to find a vice presidential candidate for George W. Bush, and, as we now know, the winner of the search turned out to be Dick Cheney. Today, Republicans are casting about for a successor to Bush. And the winner of that search just may turn out to be ... Dick Cheney. The Draft Cheney movement is burbling just below the surface. Fred Barnes suggested it earlier this month in the Weekly Standard. Tod Lindberg of the Washington Times and Lawrence Kudlow of National Review Online echoed Barnes in columns this week....

Vice President Dick Cheney, in public and private, is being urged by a small but growing number of conservatives to reconsider his refusal to run for president in 2008. So far, the vice president is unmoved by the fledgling Cheney-for-president boomlet. "I'm not running for president in '08," the vice president told columnist and TV host Lawrence Kudlow last week. "Four years from now, I don't plan to be here." Yet Mr. Kudlow, along with fellow conservatives Fred Barnes of the Weekly Standard and Tod Lindberg of Policy Review, have written columns this month pining for a reversal by the...

President Bush famously rewards loyalty and competent service. There is one more promotion logical for him to make in his second term: engineering the 2008 GOP presidential nomination for Dick Cheney. Such a move is not, of course, within the president's plenary authority. Others will surely want the nomination. Republican-primary voters will have to be heard from. But as the 2004 election demonstrated to the surprise of many, Mr. Bush is something close to a beloved figure among Republicans nationally. That's true at the grassroots level, and it's true among the party's biggest donors. They all regard Mr. Bush as...

With a smile, following our interview on CNBC last week, Vice President Dick Cheney said, “That was a trick question.” I responded, also with a smile, “That’s why I asked it, sir.” What was the question? Simply this: “If the president asked you, would you reconsider your door closing on a race in 2008?” Here’s Cheney’s answer: I've made it very clear, Larry, that my tour here is tied to [George W. Bush]. I agree[d] to come back to government. I’ve had a great 25-year career. He persuaded me to come back after eight years in the private sector. I’ve...

President Bush famously rewards loyalty and competent service. There is one more promotion logical for him to make in his second term: engineering the 2008 GOP presidential nomination for Dick Cheney. Such a move is not, of course, within the president's plenary authority. Others will surely want the nomination. Republican-primary voters will have to be heard from. But as the 2004 election demonstrated to the surprise of many, Mr. Bush is something close to a beloved figure among Republicans nationally. That's true at the grassroots level, and it's true among the party's biggest donors. They all regard Mr. Bush as...

The obvious man for Bush to tap as his successor in 2008 VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY IS adamant about not running for president in 2008. Asked by host Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday if he might change his mind, Cheney answered with a firm no. "I've got my plans laid out," he said. "I'm going to serve this president for the next four years, and then I'm out of here. . . . In 2009, I'll be 68 years old. And I've still got a lot of rivers I'd like to fish and time I'd like to spend with...

US Vice President Dick Cheney today ruled out running for president in 2008, and said he was "out of here" when President George W Bush's second term expires. Mr Cheney, who has suffered a series of heart attacks, had said previously that he had no desire to run for president. He repeated his intentions in an interview with Fox News Sunday. "George Bush recruited me to be his running-mate, and I've enjoyed that immensely," Mr Cheney said. "It's been a tremendous privilege. "But my ability to serve him depends upon my ability not to have any other agenda other...