Republicans' Cheney Conundrum

By: Charles Cooper
Topics

(AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

During two terms as the nation's second highest ranking politician, Dick Cheney often told interviewers that he didn't pay attention to the polls. Now that he's out of office, the former vice president has even more reason not to bother with vox populi.

A CBS/New York Times poll finds that just 19% of Americans view Cheney favorably while 42% said they have an unfavorable view. The rest were undecided.

The poll results predictably broke sharply along partisan lines. Around 50% of Republicans have a favorable view of Cheney while on the flip side, 61% of Democrats said they held an unfavorable view.

If the numbers suggest something about the national mood as President Barack Obama nears his 100th day in office, Cheney's not buying it. In fact, he has been a frequent critic of the administration's domestic and national security policies-most recently. Unlike previous out-of-office vice presidents early in their retirements, Cheney has relished his extended moment in the political spotlight. In March, he told CNN that Obama's politics "raise the risk" of a U.S. terror attack.

More recently, he stepped up his criticisms of the Obama administration during an interview with Fox television's Sean Hannity. Among other things, Cheney said that:

"If you sit down and you look at the policies, and analyze where this administration's going and what they seem to be dedicated to trying to achieve, I think a lot of Americans, myself included, certainly, have major questions about that, or major views that don't think those are the proper courses of action that we ought to be following. And I think we need to speak out on that."

With former President George W. Bush still keeping a low profile, Cheney increasingly become identified as the face of Republican opposition to the Obama administrations. The irony is that some Republicans, worried about the prospect of Cheney defining the party image, are publicly distancing themselves from the person now regarded as the most powerful United States Vice President ever. So it is that Rep. Mark Kirk (R) told the online political Web site, The Hill, that Cheney should "follow the tradition of the Founding Fathers" and tend his legacy by writing his memoir.

In the same piece, another unidentified House Republican lawmaker said that Cheney's outspokenness did "House Republicans no favors." The lawmaker added, "I could never understand him anyway."

John McCain's daughter, Meghan, who co-hosted ABC's The View last week, was even blunter as she said the Republican Party needed "new energy and new blood."

"It's very unprecedented for someone like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to be criticizing the President," she said. "My big criticism is just, you know, you had your eight years, go away."

Charles Cooper is an executive editor at CNET News. He has covered technology and business for more than 25 years, working at CBSNews.com, the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie.

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by globalcoolin May 19, 2009 8:51 AM EDT: Republican MODERATES worry about boomerangs. Worry so much they are ineffective! They are more comfortable with compromise and concession! the Liberals call the tune and Moderates march to it!
So yes! Some Republicans fear boomerange, because these are the onse who always fear that no matter what the issue! And are willing to tell us all about it to get a 15 second sound bite!
Republican voters have to get used to the idea of contributing to the campaigns of strong conservatives. the Moderates never catch the boomerang and threw it back!
Make the Liberals worry about the boomerangs! Or pay a price for failing to.; Reply to this comment


by norcalruss April 29, 2009 10:44 AM EDT: Waterboard the fat pig; Reply to this comment


by strangeworld April 29, 2009 10:13 AM EDT: ...and the problem is? Cheney serves as a walking, talking billboard, advertising on a daily basis why the modern republican party just doesn't appeal to the younger voters of the US. In the past, one of the reasons that the GOP could come back again so soon is that people soon forgot about the misery that they were subject to during the years of republican rule. The media is doing us all a favor by keeping this lunatic front and center. I hope that his cardiologist keeps him alive and blabbering for many more years.; Reply to this comment


by pr_boxer April 29, 2009 6:42 AM EDT: Cheney was born 30 years too late, and in the wrong place. He'd have been appreciated by his peers if had been born in Munich in 1905. He'd have been a fine Sturmfuhrer.; Reply to this comment


by stvfix April 29, 2009 12:24 AM EDT: I have only one question about Dick Cheney and his wrecking crew. why hasn't the world court tried them in abstence for crimes against humanity, rule of law, and war conduct?; Reply to this comment


by keithle1 April 28, 2009 10:24 PM EDT: So good seeing him in the wheelchair at Obama's inauguration. He has a bigger ego by far than Dubya. Truly insufferable. Are we going to have to put up with Satan until the next Presidential election? Giving us his little two cents every week. If you're so smart & had all the answers about how to run the USA & deal with the world's problems then why did you lose the election last Nov, DICK?; Reply to this comment


by truth-b-toll April 28, 2009 6:51 PM EDT: Well it's like I've been telling you republicans for years, you... - Hew Where did all the Republiscums go?; Reply to this comment


by nikosk11 April 28, 2009 4:22 PM EDT: "It's very unprecedented for someone like Karl Rove or Dick Cheney to be criticizing the President," she said. "My big criticism is just, you know, you had your eight years, go away."

No, no. Let's keep them on the spotlight. That way we have more and more republicans running to the "other side."; Reply to this comment


by jd2205 April 28, 2009 4:15 PM EDT: He should write a memoir I have the perfect title for it : How the USA got F$$CKED;The Dick inside Bush for 8 years...hahahahahahahaha LMAO.....; Reply to this comment


by toldyouso29 April 28, 2009 3:23 PM EDT: It's the top lipless snarl: always the hallmark of the maniacal, evil mastermind......then of course, what actually proceeds from the piehole of maniac sort of solidifies the impression.; Reply to this comment