Posted on 07/07/2004 10:41:28 AM PDT by areafiftyone
ALBANY — President Bush should consider dumping Vice President Dick Cheney from the Republican ticket this year, an influential former GOP senator said Wednesday. Alfonse D’Amato said Bush should consider putting Secretary of State Colin Powell or Sen. John McCain of Arizona on the GOP ticket. There was no immediate comment from the Bush-Cheney campaign. Bush has long maintained he wants Cheney to be his running mate. The D’Amato advice came one day after Bush’s Democratic challenger, Sen. John Kerry, announced he had selected Sen. John Edwards to be his running mate. “Let me note that Vice President Cheney is a decent, honorable, and patriotic American, a man of great intellect, who has served the president and the nation with dedication,” D’Amato said in a statement released by his office. “But we should make no mistake, we are a nation at war with a vicious terrorist foe, and in war hard decisions must be made.” “As an observer of politics, I believe the president can guarantee his essential re-election by looking to several other notable individuals who would add a great dimension to his ticket as a running mate,” the New York Republican added. Placing Powell “first and foremost” on his wish list to replace Cheney, D’Amato said the retired general “would help galvanize the nation and offer a truly historic opportunity for American unity and pride.” McCain, said D’Amato, is “a genuine American hero who would also help bridge the political divide in our nation and assure the president’s re-election by a wide margin.” “While I believe George Bush will win re-election even without this bold stroke, he will insure a broader, deeper, more resonant reaffirmation of his leadership if he places his duty to continue as president above any one individual,” D’Amato said. “The president deserves more than simple re-election,” the former senator added. “He deserves a mandate to continue to lead this nation to peace and prosperity.” D’Amato, who is now a highly successful lobbyist and consultant, first raised the possibility of Bush dropping Cheney from the GOP ticket in an interview Tuesday night with the NY 1 cable news channel in New York City. D’Amato is a regular commentator for NY 1. In his NY 1 appearance, D’Amato said that while he realized his comments would “shock Republicans and probably get them angry,” he said, “I think we can do better.” The former senator said he believed Powell would run with Bush if the position was offered to him. That, said D’Amato, “would change politics in America for the better.” “Instead of millions of African-Americans having their votes taken for granted or just saying, ‘Republicans don’t care about us, they don’t reach out to us,’ this would send an incredible signal,” D’Amato said. “It would turn many of the battle (ground) states into tremendous wins for Republicans.” D’Amato said McCain, who had been unsuccessfully courted by Kerry as a running mate, would help the GOP win votes from independents and conservative “Reagan Democrats.” D’Amato, who lost his Senate seat in 1998 to Democrat Charles Schumer, is a political mentor to New York Gov. George Pataki, who is considered a potential 2008 GOP presidential candidate.
Originally published on July 7, 2004
No, you're wrong, there are some who criticize Bush from the right, but are willing to give him another term, rather than sit out the election. Any move leftward, including a Rino VP, would be an indication of weakness of commitment to conservative values and result in a loss of votes.
A different time and, most importantly, a different media. Also very different circumstances. Roosevelt had been elected in 1932, re-elected in 1936 and again in 1940. So he had been in office for almost nine full years on Dec. 7, 1941. The war, which had been building throughout the 1930's and which began in Europe in 1939, was a conventional war with distinct armies and clear threats.
The War Against Islamic Jihadism is something quite different. The enemy is shadowy and the method of warfare is quite unconventional.
We already know that a sizeable number who are registered to vote won't bother, which, in and of itself, is amazing to me given what happened just three years ago. We also know that roughly 40% to 45% of those who will vote simply do not get it and probably never will. They will vote for the Dems, Libertarians, Greens, Nader, or one of the other minority parties. Roughly another 40% to 45% do get it, either in whole or in part, and they will vote for GWB. The remainder are the reeds that blow in the wind.
In any case, the American people will have no one to blame but themselves if the worst happens due to the results of this election. As I said, the facts to consider in this election are really quite few and simple to understand. The choice is stark and clear-cut. For any reasonable person, none of the mundane political calculations should trump one overriding concern: self-preservation. November will tell the tale of what kind of people we are at the dawn of this new millenium.
I think it's called the Carter/Buchanan doctrine.
Absolutely. Entitled and victimized.
I know what Tenet and Cheney, to name two reliable sources who have spoken publicily about the subject, have said and I know the timeline of the events on the matter and so on.
If he was a Republican vote even 20% of the time (and he was much better than that), he was miles ahead of Chuck "The Schmuck" Shumer.
If Al had the interest of this election
and of this country in the forefront
of his mind, he wouldn't
blab to the newspaper --- he'd
make the suggestion in private.
I'm intrigued by the question of why D'Amato, who as the article mentions is a successful lobbyist, would risk the opprobrium of fellow Republicans, including those at the White House, by calling for the replacement of Cheney.
It's hard to see what he had to gain from it - unless he was secretly encouraged by the Bush people to do so, and I don't believe that.
My hunch is that D'Amato, who loves the game of politics, simply couldn't resist sharing a deeply-held belief.
Ann Coulter talked a lot in Slander about the "Republican that the democrats like." They will try to pick the Presidents team for him. It should be discounted. That includes the media and rino has beens too.
I understand. All I am saying is that you cannot know (or predict) what scooter libby or somebody else that crawls out of the woodwork is going to go in there and say. why isn't Novak testifying, since he knows the source (supposedly)?
Rice is great, but she's no public speaker and she is PRO-ABORTION!
look how many christian conservatives stayed home in 2000 because of a 25 year old DUI incident. our base needs to be more reliable.
I know, and I didn't need Ann Coulter (who I admire) to tell me. I figured it out on my own.
I was mocking some who are supposed to be on our team falling for the ploy.
And we should take advice from Senator Pothole, who was run out of office by Senator Putzhead, because???
Well they're not going to go in and say something that didn't happen.
There is no evidence that Scooter Libby is going around lying, for example.
I like "Cultural Revolution", but I guess that one's been taken already.
No. Not Powell, Not McCain, and definitely not Giuliani. I have no idea how liberal Powell really is, and McCain and Giuliani "never take an opportunity to display well brought up behavior and be quiet", to quote Jacques ChiraQ. None of them are equal to the task of being one heartbeat away, as they say.
Yeah right. This guy is bad bad news and should be shunned forever. He's a crook and a thug.
Well, that reminds me of what happened to Senator Lott after the birthday party fiasco. There were plenty here who had wanted to knife him for a long time, and after that incident were more than happy to join in the drumbeat to get rid of him. Well they did it, and what happened? We got a clone of him. Look the same, sound the same, same hair, same policies. Nothing changed except the Republicans ate one of their own and got weaker as a result.
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