Cheney In 2012? Some Key GOPers Aren't Kidding

Sam Stein The Huffington Post 09/02/2009 02:37

At first, it seemed like a joke. Wall Street Journal columnist James Taranto opined on Monday that -- if the 2012 election were to turn to national security -- "it's hard to think of a better candidate... than Richard B. Cheney."

But while his headline -- "Cheney for President" -- provoked guffaws in some quarters, several of the party's most well-regarded strategists and pollsters are actually taking the idea deadly seriously.

"The Republican Party needs to move forward and build on its past, not return to it," Alex Castellanos, a frequent CNN analyst and GOP messaging guru, told the Huffington Post via email. "But if the agenda turns to security, Obama is mired in a no-win mess in Afghanistan, and the Obama administration hasn't created a single job in four years after indebting the nation for generations, maybe Dick Cheney could run on a theme of 'Change'."

Asked whether it would be "rich" for a former vice president with four decades of service in D.C. to run on a change platform, Castellanos replied. "Republicans running on a change platform, after Obama, would not be rich. Change might mean 'responsibility and real growth'."

Longtime pollster and GOP operative John McLaughlin also said he sees an opening for a Cheney candidacy premised on a hypothetical national security failure from the current White House.

Read more...

Send article to friend Print

Add your comment

	Anonymous comment

Anonymous comment

Nickname:	Reserve nickname Reserve nickname Please select nickname you would like to use and choose your password. Nickname: Password: Retype password: Email address:
Password:
	Remember me on this computer