They Must Be Kidding

News so ridiculous that they had to sneak it in over a holiday weekend: New Group Tries to Convince Cheney to Run in 2012. I suspect this is one of those End of the World in 2012 cults who believe human intervention is necessary to bring this about.

8 Comments

  1. 1
    The Editorial says:

    I, too, sincerely hope that they are kidding, or crazy: http://bit.ly/8yr3Nk

  2. 2
    Caroline Crampton says:

    I, too, sincerely hope that they are kidding, or crazy: http://bit.ly/8yr3Nk

  3. 3
    Eclectic Radical says:

    I suspect this is a serious effort on the part of the group in question. I don’t know that it has potential for actual success.
     
    Cheney’s health was a big question mark on the bottom half of a presidential ticket. It would be very difficult for him to overcome at the top half of the ticket, particularly since the office of president is far more strenuous and stressful than the office of vice president.
     
    And he’s specifically disavowed a desire to run for president on multiple occasions. Because of his age, his health, and his ‘un-Republican’ personal positions on certain ‘family values’ issues related to his family life… I don’t think he does will in a Republican Party primary and I don’t think he wants to subject himself or his family to that.
     

  4. 4
    The Editorial says:

    I, too, sincerely hope that they are kidding, or crazy: http://bit.ly/8yr3Nk

  5. 5
    Leslie Parsley says:

    When discussing Palin, George Will quipped: “Some conservatives think they have found in Sarah Palin a Republican William Jennings Bryan. Now, why would they want someone who lost the presidency three times?”

    And now I ask: politics aside, why would anyone in their right mind vote for someone who could keel over dead  with a heart attack right after the inauguration?

  6. 6
    Eclectic Radical says:

    ‘And now I ask: politics aside, why would anyone in their right mind vote for someone who could keel over dead  with a heart attack right after the inauguration?’
     
    Well, they probably wouldn’t. And some of his insufficiently socially right-wing comments since leaving the Vice Presidency (such as endorsing gay marriage laws) will probably serve to remind Republican cosnervatives that, like Rudy Giuliani, he is a social moderate-to-liberal who just happens to believe in the sacred virtues of the corporate-managed police state.
     
    However, as the living symbol symbol for authoritarian, corporate imperialism he is obviously going to appeal to a certain kind of lobbyist and they would want him to run because he is, in fact, Dick Cheney.
     
    There’s always the slim possibility that, if the GOP felt there was no actual chance to win, they would run him as an honor because it was ‘his turn’ as they did Bob Dole in similar losing circumstances.
     

  7. 7
    Ron Chusid says:

    I wouldn’t consider Cheney a social moderate overall. He is simply more moderate on this one particular issue due to his daughter.

    They might run him as an honor if he desired this, but I doubt he has any desire to go run, especially if the chances of winning arn’t good. If it appears there is no chance for a GOP victory, I could see them choosing Sarah Palin purely to be sacrificial lamb, which would also give them the bragging rights to being the first major party to have a woman candidate.

  8. 8
    Eclectic Radical says:

    ‘I wouldn’t consider Cheney a social moderate overall. He is simply more moderate on this one particular issue due to his daughter.’
     
    Before it was a total abrogation of Republican principles to hold such opinions, he was also mildly pro-choice. In addition to his experience, he was seen as a moderating influence on a conservative presidential candidate when he was nominated as VP. Hah.
     
    The problem is that the degree to which Cheneyism incorporates big business into big government is something very close to fascism. It really doesn’t matter how ‘socially liberal’ a fascist is.
     
    ‘They might run him as an honor if he desired this, but I doubt he has any desire to go run, especially if the chances of winning arn’t good.’
     
    I agree completely.
     
    ‘If it appears there is no chance for a GOP victory, I could see them choosing Sarah Palin purely to be sacrificial lamb, which would also give them the bragging rights to being the first major party to have a woman candidate.’
     
    The GOP would love to be the first major party to have a female candidate for president. I know they are crowing about being the first major party with a female candidate for VP still… even though it’s not true. 🙂
     
    I don’t believe that there are enough of the rock-solid Republican base who would vote for Palin for it to happen, though. For a start, I don’t believe the people freaking out that the president is black are any more ready for the president to be a woman. Most of those people vote in Republican primaries.
     
    Second, as arcane as it may sound to those on the secular left, the fact that she is a Pentecostal would hurt her as badly with evangelical voters as Mitt Romney’s Mormonism or Rudi Giuliani’s Catholicism. Evangelicals are very skeptical of Pentecostals, with wide religious gulfs despite near total agreement on political issues. This is another area where base-voter prejudice will hurt Palin.
     

1 Trackbacks

Leave a comment