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Republicans' Cheney Problem
Townhall.com ^ | February 20, 2007 | Bruce Bartlett

Posted on 02/20/2007 8:54:38 PM PST by Irish Rose

Republicans' Cheney Problem

By Bruce Bartlett

It is becoming increasingly clear that the Republican Party has a huge problem going into 2008. Usually, it has a clear frontrunner going into the process who is broadly acceptable to most Republicans. But in this election cycle, that is not true. The race is wide open and it is hard to predict who will be left standing when the last primary vote is cast.

One thing that can be predicted is that a great many Republicans will be dissatisfied with their party's presidential nominee. It won't matter who among those currently running ends up with the nomination, because, in my opinion, none have the capacity to unite the party or to stimulate the kind of intense support a nominee needs to win the general election.

Moreover, I think the Democrats will be united around their candidate, whoever it is. They have been out of the White House for a long time and feel, rightly or wrongly, that the last two elections were stolen from them. They won't let that happen again. Nor do I think it is likely that the Democrats will run three historically awful campaigns in a row. They are due for a rebound.

One thing that could have changed things for the better, from the Republican point of view, is if it had a sitting vice president who was a candidate. That person would at least be the prohibitive favorite for the nomination. While this is no guarantee of success in the general election, it can be very helpful. For example, it is doubtful that George H.W. Bush would have been elected in 1988 otherwise.

That the Republicans do not have a sitting vice president running for the presidential nomination in 2008 is entirely George W. Bush's doing. In 2004, he decided that he would rather have a vice president who would never question him than one who could carry on his legacy. As Bush explained in a Feb. 12, 2007 interview on C-SPAN:

"From my perspective, it is good not to have a vice president running for president. Can you imagine somebody out there running and all of a sudden saying, 'Well, I wouldn't have done it exactly that way.' When things got difficult, like they are in Iraq, I told the president that he should have done it this way. He chose another way.' In other words, there would be the tendency for a candidate who was associated with the president to feel like they needed to distance themselves during the tough moments, like right now, and that would create instability inside the administration."

Most presidents have not looked at it this way. They usually have wanted a vice president who could succeed them, to carry on and defend their policies and, perhaps, protect them and their supporters from retaliation from a political rival or a president from another party. Rather than giving the vice president an incentive to distance himself from the president, the necessity of having his endorsement has forced vice presidents to defend his policies even when he would have preferred to go in a different direction. Think of Hubert Humphrey in 1968. He probably would have opposed Lyndon Johnson's Vietnam policy if he hadn't been the vice president.

Another virtue of having a vice president with ambitions of his own is that he is the only senior White House official in a position to resist the sycophancy that always surrounds the president. This is important because presidents live in a bubble, surrounded by people who owe their power and position solely to him. They are loath to be seen as "out of the loop" or to read news stories about their imminent departure, when they had no such plans. This tends to make the White House staff highly responsive to the president's wants, biases and whims.

Once into a second term, the vice president cannot be fired and his own ambitions will encourage him to pressure the president into adopting policies and taking positions that will be popular with voters. Since presidents cannot run for a third term, they would otherwise be totally impervious to public opinion. If a vice president hopes to be elected president himself, he has a strong incentive to advise the president to adopt policies that will make it easier for him to win.

For these reasons, I think Dick Cheney's lack of ambition for the presidency has been more of a handicap to Bush than the blessing he sees it as. It has fostered insularity at the White House and closed off an important avenue of influence to the president that has encouraged him to take a "go it alone" attitude, which is bad both for the country and the Republican Party.


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008; 2bad; 2frail; 2old; brucebartlett; bush; cheney; duncanhunter
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Have at it, folks - 2008, President Bush, Dick Cheney, the vice presidency and presidency in general.
1 posted on 02/20/2007 8:54:39 PM PST by Irish Rose
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To: Irish Rose

Interesting article. Not sure I fully agree with its conclusion however.


2 posted on 02/20/2007 8:58:50 PM PST by KantianBurke
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To: Irish Rose
www.GoHunter08.com
3 posted on 02/20/2007 9:00:19 PM PST by BlueOneGolf (The 2nd Amendment...America's ORIGINAL Homeland Security! http://www.ar15.com)
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To: Irish Rose

It has fostered insularity at the White House and closed off an important avenue of influence to the president that has encouraged him to take a "go it alone" attitude, which is bad both for the country and the Republican Party.


What's the alternative, consulting al quedas ally, the democrat party?


4 posted on 02/20/2007 9:00:27 PM PST by JohnLongIsland
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To: Irish Rose
IIRC, Cheney lobbied hard for Paul O'Neil at Treasury. Bad move. Not a fan of tax cuts. In addition was bailed out by as CEO of Alcoa when Bill Clinton brokered a deal between Alcoa and Marc Rich to allow Alcoa to get raw materials at reasonable prices when no body else could get product period.

I believe O'Neil was an early off the record source for anti-Bush stories early in the administration.

5 posted on 02/20/2007 9:00:53 PM PST by gov_bean_ counter ( Who is the Democrat's George Galloway?)
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To: Irish Rose

I've been saying that Bush should ask Cheney to resign for health reasons and nominate Duncan Hunter for VP. Even if DH doesn't get ratified, the publicity will put him in tier1, and Bush manages to give the party a clear direction. It would be an appointment worth more than the supreme court.


6 posted on 02/20/2007 9:01:14 PM PST by Kevmo (The first labor of Huntercles: Defeating the 3-headed RINO)
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To: Irish Rose
OOPS!! Fixed it!

www.GoHunter08.com

7 posted on 02/20/2007 9:01:54 PM PST by BlueOneGolf (The 2nd Amendment...America's ORIGINAL Homeland Security! http://www.ar15.com)
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To: gov_bean_ counter

I'm pretty certain O'Neill wrote a negative book about the Bush Administration after he was fired. You're right, bad move.


8 posted on 02/20/2007 9:02:54 PM PST by Irish Rose (Will work for chocolate.)
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To: Irish Rose

First of all...the wackos in the USA hate Cheney more than they do Bush...

Second of all...anyone that Bush would want to be in Cheney's place wouldn't make anyone happy anyway.

Have you read the threads around here??? Bush is about as popular on FR as Hillary on most of them.


9 posted on 02/20/2007 9:03:36 PM PST by Txsleuth
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To: Irish Rose

The whole Bush entourage needs to go.


10 posted on 02/20/2007 9:04:46 PM PST by DTogo (I haven't left the GOP, the GOP left me.)
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To: Irish Rose
Usually, it has a clear frontrunner going into the process

That's just plain MSM speak trying to invent news. If there is a 'clear frontrunner' why bother to even hold the primaries?

It's not even March 2007 fer' Pete's sake.

11 posted on 02/20/2007 9:05:45 PM PST by quantim (Do not underestimate the evilness of the 'soccer mom.')
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To: Kevmo
Bush should ask Cheney to resign

The dems would parlay that into an admission of guiltiness regardless of reason, it would be disastrous.

12 posted on 02/20/2007 9:07:58 PM PST by quantim (Do not underestimate the evilness of the 'soccer mom.')
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To: Irish Rose
Republican Party has a huge problem going into 2008. Usually, it has a clear frontrunner

Duncan Hunter. Problem solved. Clear enough to me. RINO's don't count.

13 posted on 02/20/2007 9:08:06 PM PST by FreePoster
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To: quantim

I say, let them parlay. Cheney would get to go home early & get some good fishing in.


14 posted on 02/20/2007 9:09:38 PM PST by Kevmo (The first labor of Huntercles: Defeating the 3-headed RINO)
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To: Kevmo
Gloves off for a moment?

Rightly or Wrongly the last thing a candidate would want to be right now is associated very closely with the President. Weather it be Hunter or Giuliani etc., it would give them unnecessary baggage and limit there Independence.
15 posted on 02/20/2007 9:09:48 PM PST by spikeytx86 (Pray for Democrats for they have been brainwashed by their fruity little club.)
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To: Kevmo

Wow. Now that's a thought! Not sure what the redification process is, or what else is entailed. But isn't the President pretty much in charge of who he appoints?


16 posted on 02/20/2007 9:12:52 PM PST by gidget7 (2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:)
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To: spikeytx86

The last 2 years of the VP position in a 2-term administration is spent running his own agenda anyways. Hunter needs the exposure; Bush needs to be able to say he didn't leave the party in a lurch. Cheney needs a rest. We need some clarity. And the MSM needs a good reason to run some stories & sell newspapers.


17 posted on 02/20/2007 9:13:22 PM PST by Kevmo (The first labor of Huntercles: Defeating the 3-headed RINO)
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To: gidget7

The President can nominate whomever he wants, but there's some kind of ratification process in terms of a vote by the senate.


18 posted on 02/20/2007 9:14:19 PM PST by Kevmo (The first labor of Huntercles: Defeating the 3-headed RINO)
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To: spikeytx86

OK I must confess you have a point there!


19 posted on 02/20/2007 9:14:48 PM PST by gidget7 (2Th 2:11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:)
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To: Irish Rose

It just goes to show, it's always sumpthin!


20 posted on 02/20/2007 9:15:28 PM PST by Bean Counter (Reading the Columbian so that you don't have to...)
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