Oh, I’m sure some of you folks are laughing out loud at the idea that ex-vice president Dick Cheney considered by some to be an ideal candidate for president in 2012. But that’s only because you aren’t a rabid right-winger who thinks the only thing wrong with the Bush administration is that they didn’t torture enough Muslims. Believe me, they are out there:
Craig Shirley, a longtime Republican strategist who often has his finger on the pulse of the party’s base, concurred while also noting that Cheney can galvanize conservatives in ways few other current figures can.
“In 2009, there are few absurdities left in American politics,” he told the Huffington Post, via email. “Anything is possible and the mere fact that Cheney’s name is being floated accomplishes several things including striking fear in the heart of President Obama, especially in light of the crumbing American position in Afghanistan, which could become Obama’s Vietnam.
“It also gives aid and comfort to a still battered Republican Party as he is the only GOP leader besides [Newt] Gingrich uncowed by the dominate liberal elites manning the batteries in the nation’s capital,” Shirley wrote. “They are about the only two politicians on the right who are willing to make a fight of it.”
Laugh all you want Democrats. Anything can happen in politics. There were those who laughed at Ronald Reagan. And remember, the smart money said that the 2008 race would be between Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani.
And the more scorn and abuse that’s heaped upon Cheney, the more the conservatives will fight for him.
So here’s a follow-up question: If not Cheney, or Sean Hannity or even Sarah Palin, who would you like to see make a run for the presidency for the GOP? Gave names and reasons.
Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates 
Well, Reagan didn’t have a 19 percent approval rating nationally.
But yeah, I’d like to Cheney get the GOP nomination. The conservatives are saying that McCain lost because he wasn’t conservative enough; now they won’t have that excuse.
Of course, the social conservatives might not like his stances on things like gay marriage.
My guess is that someone like the Minnesota governor Pawlenty (sp) or “Mittens” (Romney) if Obama does well.
If Obama’s presidency fails (and I don’t think that it will), I look for some rising Republican star that no one has ever heard of.
A late-May 2009 poll showed Dick Cheney to have a 37% approval rating, up 8% from when he left office. But don’t worry, he’s not running.
Personally, I’d like to see Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee and Bobby Jindal run for president in 2012. Each brings strengths – Romney’s business background, Huckabee’s ability to articulate his views (which helped him win last year’s Iowa race) and Jindal’s youth and competence.
Ah, the trifecta of Romney’s paranoia, Huckabee’s creationism and Jindal’s hypocrisy. I agree, any of these would do nicely.
Yep, I think Cheney and his would be supporters are keeping their options open. Cheney wouldn’t be wasting so much air time if he wasn’t keeping it open.
Well I haven’t independently verified David’s numbers, but if Cheney is at 37% approval, Obama is only at 45% and dropping like a rock so it may not matter who the Republican candidate is. This presidency is loosing steam quickly.
Well Reagan dropped like a rock too as a result of the 1981 recession during his term. It bottomed out below 40% in 1983. As the economy recovered, so did his approval rating.
Mahkno makes a good point about Reagan’s poll numbers, but there’s a difference between 1981 and 2009: Reaganomics was a 180% turn from Carter-era policies that led to higher inflation, gas lines and frequent recession (1979 and 1980). A 1981 recession came as no surprise, but Fed Chairman Paul Volcker’s interest rate increase in October of that year is the primary reason for the deep recession through 1982. Economic recovery, however, came in 1983 and the boom continued until 1990.
Bush presided over a booming economy in 2003-2007, but bad decisions later in his presidency (and the Dems takeover of Congress in 2007) have only been magnified by Obama – bailouts, massive spending increases, etc. The end of the Bush tax cuts in 2010 will mean a de facto tax increase; massive new spending may lead to hyperinflation. And an energy tax would do incredible damage to the economy for the forseeable future. All of the above would likely cause economic stagnation and threaten the Dems majority in 2010, but things could certainly change by 2012 (Bill Clinton’s chances for re-election looked hopeless for a time as well). Of course, Obama may be setting himself up for foreign policy disasters, a la Jimmy Carter, in Afghanistan, Central America, the Middle East and the Persian Gulf region as well.