Posted on 02/27/2005 5:15:44 AM PST by kingattax
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 my grandkids, and so this is my last tour. I don't plan to run for anything."
And that wasn't all. Cheney said a primary reason he has influence with Bush is that he has pledged not to run. His ability to serve the president, he said, "depends upon my ability not to have any agenda other than his agenda. I made it clear when I took the job that I had no aspirations to run for president myself, that I wanted to be part of the team. And it's worked very effectively." If he were running, he'd have to worry now "about what the precinct committeeman in Ottumwa, Iowa, is going to think about me in January of '08." Since that's not the case, Cheney said, he's free to "offer my advice based on what's best from the standpoint of the president and his program and what we're trying to achieve now."
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Yeah. Gonna have to change my tagline.
"God bless President Bush and Vice President Cheney!"
I think Fred Barnes glossed over the idea of Cheney stpping down due to health reasons, and Rice taking the VP spot. That would put her in a great position to run for president in '08.
Indeed we are.
In an odd way, and I think then-Governor Bush knew this, the thing that makes Cheney the best candidate is the fact that he doesn't want or need the job.
As much as I'd like to see him do it, his (pardon the pun) wouldn't be in it, and I think he's earned the right to fish with his grandkids and enjoy retirement.
I really like him.
A Vice President with no ambition to be President is such a relief. What a man!
And sitting in the catbird seat.
To continue the strong willed, straight forward foreign policies of Bush, his brother Jeb is the answer for 2008.
The last successful Veep to be re-elected on his own was Truman in 1948.
If he chooses to spend the rest of his days "Fishun'" I will support him.
Personally, I'd choose "Fishun'" but I hope he does whatever makes him happy.
Yes, it would be. Which is why I'm not too worried about the primaries. I have every reason to believe based on assessment of this President that he hasn't devoted years of his life to turning this Party into a majority to allow someone like McCain to split the party in two.
He'll have a preferred successors and some runner ups. They may or may not be publically acknowledged as such.
Cheney will not run. It's time people took him at his word.
Cheney will not step down. That reeks of cynical politics, and Bush is a loyal man that relies on his counsel. He's a good VP and will remain VP.
Condi may or may not be a successor but failure to hold political office will not be the deterrent conventional wisdom holds it to be. Condi will not run without the President's approval, and I doubt she'd be a choice if he views are not majority in common with the base.
It is entirely possible someone spoken of little now has the President's eye as a successor. We'll see.
I know the " track record of Veeps becoming president isn't that hot".
I just thought Barnes glossed-over the possibility.
I don't think she'd necessarily make a good president, though she'd probably make a fine VP.
I don't think she'd be "hammered by every black leader in America.", however. Look at the support she got from left-wing African-American groups during her confirmation hearings. I was surprised at that. I think many more would come out in support of Condi in order to have the first African-American woman President. It would certainly be interesting.
Hillary would take the feminist vote. And that's all.
I agree there, and I do think Condi is on a "fast track" to run for president. How one gets around her lack of elected experience is a problem. I could have missed someone, but no president since 1800 except Ike and Grant (perhaps Hoover) ever held the presidency without having an elected office first. So Veep wouldn't necessarily help her in that regard.
I am surprised Sen John Cornyn's name has not been mentioned as a possible candidate in '08. Perhaps there are concerns that Texas would be dominating the presidential field. Another name I would propose is former Gov Jim Gilmore of VA. I love Sen George Allen, but if he chooses not to run then I think Gilmore is another Virginian who would make a great candidate.
No SecState has been elected President, or even made a good run for the job. That is because foreign policy is a minefield, and mistakes are inevitable, so she will have many serious wounds four years from now.
"How one gets around her lack of elected experience is a problem."
Well, that is certainly the usual path and one, in this case, that the fifth column in the press will whine about over and over until Nov. 2, 2008. I'd wager that for a lot of folks back in the sticks, it'll come down to who has demonstrated sound American principles, practical knowledge and just use of power. There's always a passel of elected buffoons just waiting to dance and the electorate knows that. Who they can actually trust is another.
Which is why, if they are serious about running her, I expect her to serve no more than a year or so in this job then be groomed for another.
I'm not saying it is an insurmountable obstacle, but it is more serious than many Freepers want to acknowledge. As a S0S, she only carries out the policies of another. She cannot establish herself as having any original ideas, and certainly no clear track record of HER policies on which to claim victory or explain failure. This is no small matter.
You say Condi is pro abortion ?, Where did you hear that?.
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