Republicans' Cheney Problem

Townhall.com ^ | February 20, 2007 | Bruce Bartlett

[Kevmo]

At this point we can afford to be blatantly obvious. It would be easy to avoid the heavy handedness allegations because even Saturday Night Live gets chuckles with Dick Cheney having a heart attack after every meeting -- I'm surprised he made it this far. If he has no dog in the hunt, then let someone put in their dog.

[TheLebowskiDude]

Wait, what, the WOT is "becoming" linked to illegal immigration?!! It is already DIRECTLY linked. Not this current administration nor the next one will understand that. They will ALL act tough against terrorism, but probably no politician truly means it. We still haven't won the War on Drugs. It's been a couple of decades and a few trillion dollars. Yet, we haven't made any progress in that war. POLITICS!

[Kevmo]

Wait, what, the WOT is "becoming" linked to illegal immigration?!! It is already DIRECTLY linked. Not this current administration nor the next one will understand that. They will ALL act tough against terrorism, but probably no politician truly means it.

***We have a candidate who has some true grit on these items, as well as depth on other issues. Check out Duncan Hunter.

http://www.gohunter08.com/

[Gator113]

Put me down as one that agrees with you.

This man has been attacked from day one, each and EVERY day. The lib Traitors, backed up by MSM, have done a good job of bringing him down.

Unfortunately, many of those that once backed him have bought off on the media propaganda and now stand ready to stab him the back....even if it brings this country down. I have nothing but disgust for those craven lickspittles.

While I do disagree with some of his decisions, I believe that he has worked his rear off for people that don't deserve the effort.



I will back President Bush until the sun burns out.

[streetpreacher]

I think it depends on what you're smoking...

[RWR8189]

Majority vote is required in both the House and Senate to confirm a VPOTUS.

[america-rules]

Congressman don't have any chance of being elected president so Hunter is dead on arrival !

[Dahoser]

To write an article about Cheney not being a candidate in 2008 and failing to make even a passing mention that his health may be a factor in the non-candidacy is simply amazing.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

This writer starts with a fallacious assumption that Cheney is a "Yes" man and that all Presidential cabinets are filled with "Yes" men who fear losing their positions.

I think this is incorrect. The President is the captain of a team. He puts that team together. He picks people who can get done what he asks them to (with some attention being paid to the network of each appointee), who generally agree with his policies, and who, when they disagree, do so in a way that perfects a plan, not countermands it.

This is far different from "yesmanism" which is nothing more than the pretension of sycophants going along with what they may think is wrong and doing so mainly for their own benefit.

I don't think Cheney is a Yesman and I disagree with the writer's conclusion, which is a veiled attack on the President. I think Bush has cared too much about including his political opponents in his decisions and in the execution of those decisions, that they saw this as a weakness, and like the hyenas they are, they swarmed in on him when they smelled blood.

[Democratshavenobrains]

Why are there so many whiny wimps crying about a contested primary? I wasn't alive in 1980, but from what I know, it was a bitter fight between Reagan and Bush and probably a few others. And we came out better for it.

[nurse-rn]

Not if God wants him in there!!

[wafflehouse]

i wont be voting for mitt either.

come on, he ran for Massachussets! You have to make some distasteful concessions to win!

oh sure.. 'distasteful concession' is a pretty low key way to describe it. how far will he prostitute his values for his ambition?

[wafflehouse]

after breezing through some of your other posts, i will have to research ol' mitt some more before i dismiss him

[Sprite518]

LOL! Great Picture. Yes 2006 I could have given the Republican Party money, and I did not. If they are going to abandon their principles, and behave like a bunch of liberals. I am cutting them off.

2008 I understand is an important election. It will be a lot harder to do it this time. Especially if Hillary gets the nomination.

[Sprite518]

Don't forget about signing McCain/ Finegold bill either....

[gridlock]

I understand the problem outlined here, but I think that the wide-open Republican primary will more than make up for any weakness caused.

This is a good thing. The Republicans need this fight in order to define the soul of their party. We need to decide what is central, and what is peripheral.

To my mind, the Republicans need to define themselves as the party of small government, fiscal restraint and national security. Full stop. That's it.

Everything else should be dropped.

[Tax-chick]

This is not a bad article. A Vice President with ambitions to be President would certainly change the picture for the next election.

[scrabblehack]

Yes -- stifling the opposition in the primary weakens your bench, and so far as I can figure, standing VP's don't have that great of a track record:

2000: Gore (won nomination, lost election)
1988: Bush (won election)
1968: Humphrey (won nomination, lost election)
1960: Nixon (won nomination, lost election)
1952: Barkley (lost nomination)
1940: Garner (lost nomination, challenged Roosevelt)
1896: Stevenson (lost nomination)
1856: Breckinridge (lost nomination, ran as Southern Dem)
1836: Van Buren (won)
1800: Jefferson (won, challenged Adams)
1796: Adams (won)

Yeah, there are some special cases in there, and the system is different now than it was years ago. But the fact remains that standing VP's often lose, too...

[Democratshavenobrains]

Plus Dole had a pretty easy primary. And we all know how hat turned out. Let Romney and McCain and Hunter and whoever else duke it out. Whoever wins will be stronger for it.

[achingtobe]

I think the crocodile tears about Cheney 2008 lie outside reality. The problem is, I don't see the Vice President carrying any state that has more than 8 electoral votes (assuming he is not running against Hillary).

Second, George H.W. Bush and John Quincy Adams stand alone among Vice Presidents for a reason. Both followed strong, popular presidents and most Presidencies, after 8 years, have more baggage than a sitting VP can overcome.

Lastly, it would have been political suicide for the President to dump the Vice President in 2004. The Vice President, of course, could have orchestrated his own retirement, but the tenor of the times and his personal dedication to public service outweighed any petty political considerations four years hence.

In sum, we are where we are because history inexorably delivered us here. Let the best candidate emerge.