Republican strategists for sale. $200 each, already neutered. Inquire within.
Posted on 05/13/2009 3:42:28 PM PDT by lewisglad
Enough, already. That's the reaction of many Republicans to Dick Cheney's surge of media appearances to defend the Bush administration, especially on national security issues. "I don't think anybody would call him and say, 'Shut up.' It wouldn't work," says a GOP strategist who formerly advised Ronald Reagan. "He obviously feels that his work as vice president is under attack. But he is not our best spokesman."
The concern among Republican strategists is that the public will think Cheney is speaking for the GOP, and this won't be helpful because the former vice president remains an unpopular figure across the country. Another prominent GOP strategist says Cheney should lower his visibility and give younger party leaders a chance to take the spotlight.
Meanwhile, White House officials are pleased that the abrasive Cheney is drawing so much attention. "The former vice president has made his views pretty clear, and the president has made his views pretty clear," an Obama adviser said today. "We had a big debate on this during the campaign, and the president sees it as a debate that has been resolved because the American people spoke so clearly [in the election]."
Cheney's reasoning for going public has become a favorite topic on the political circuit in Washington. Some of those who know Cheney well say he is motivated by a desire to defend his legacy as a principal architect of George W. Bush's national security policies that are under attack from the Obama administration and congressional Democrats—especially the waterboarding of suspected terrorists that President Obama has defined as torture.
Cheney is said to genuinely believe that Obama is taking the wrong approach on national security, leaving America weaker. He is also angry that former Bush advisers may be prosecuted or face disbarment or legal censure because of the advice they gave internally to justify waterboarding. Cheney is described as deeply disappointed that President Bush didn't pardon Lewis Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, after Libby's conviction for misleading prosecutors trying to investigate leaks. (Bush did commute Libby's 30-month prison sentence.) And Cheney doesn't want other Bush advisers to be punished for, in his assessment, simply doing their jobs.
The former vice president stirred the pot Sunday in a CBS interview, arguing that "enhanced interrogation techniques" such as waterboarding did not represent torture. The former vice president said that such methods were legal and that they generated important intelligence on terrorist activities. He argued that Obama's reversal of some of those policies made America less safe. Yesterday, in an interview on Fox News, Cheney repeated his criticisms. A week from tomorrow, Cheney is scheduled to address the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. His topic: "Keeping America Safe."
well bully for you
Better to let Obama weaken our country and implement socialism/fascism than to have the NYT say you are not progressive enough!
Spare us, please.
Really?
Are you going to articulate it, or are you going to leave it up to Steele? Or McCain? Or Snowe?
Please don't take this personally, and I don't mean to be abrasive, but WHO ON EARTH DO YOU THINK IS GOING TO ARTICULATE ANY MESSAGE BESIDES "WE NEED TO BE MORE LIKE THEM"?
You don't like Bush and Cheney, that is okay. But what message DO YOU think should be articulated that is in ANY way different from what Cheney is stating?
CHENEY/PALIN IN 2012!
How I wish Cheney was the Republican spokesman. The GOP would be wise to listen to him.
Better Cheney speaking for me than McCain and from the letters Cavuto read this afternoon I don’t think I’m alone in that sentiment. McCain and friends have no clue what most of us are really thinking.
Boy, what you said in your tagline could be tattooed on the foreheads of many Americans.
Push folks like Cheney and Hunter and Palin to the margins and I’ll have a hard time staying in the party.
I’ve been re-thinking my obsession with politics as it is. Get rid of the people who think like me and the separation becomes a divorce.
Republican strategists for sale. $200 each, already neutered. Inquire within.
GOP - Gutless Old Party
“I don’t think anybody would call him and say, ‘Shut up.’ It wouldn’t work,” says a GOP strategist who formerly advised Ronald Reagan. “He obviously feels that his work as vice president is under attack. But he is not our best spokesman.”
Only better spokesmen I can think of are Rush, Sarah, and Michele Bachman. :)
~LOL~... that would be a hot ticket!
Yeah, I would like to know the answer to that one too.
GO CHENEY GO
More like "Gonad-less Old Party".
THAT is precisely why they NEED THIS MAN, or MEN LIKE HIM.
I will repeat the statement I made on the thread about Leahy calling Cheney “unseemly”. (It seems to fit here equally well)
It always amazes me how much someone with character and integrity offends someone without.
Simple solution GOP strategists, stand up for the nation and it’s security. Eyes off whatever poll you’re looking at, cast aside political calculations (probably misguided anyway) and simply do the right thing. You might be surprised at the consequences
What a joke. He's the only spokesman in a sea of girly men that comprise the elected members of the Republican party. If you guys think you have someone with the testicular fortitude to step forward and speak, then do it, otherwise, STFU and stand aside.
Bed wetting RINOs....sic ‘em Dick Cheney.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.