Dump Cheney?
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| Thu, 07-08-2004 - 1:09pm |
"The White House set a meeting with McCain to resolve a dispute related to the Boeing tanker-lease issue and get him to drop a hold on Pentagon nominees, clearing Francis Harvey's path to become the Army secretary."
(sorry I can't provide links, the WSJ makes you pay for their online edition.)
Then the op-ed page carried an editorial which outlined all the reasons why Bush would be wise to drop Cheney from the ticket. Here's what they're saying:
"This is not your father's Dick Cheney, a bright, principled conservative, respected on both sides of the political aisle for his prudence and civility. Instead, Vice President Cheney has become a rigidly partisan ideologue who shuns relations with Democrats and even some Republicans who don't toe the party line."
"He once was held in high public esteem, but polls show that has changed; he's particularly unpopular with independents and swing voters. Although a virtual certainty to remain on the ticket, this week there's widespread speculation in the capital, among Republicans as well as Democrats, over possible Cheney-dump scenarios."
Does Dick Cheney feel a massive coronary coming on? Is Bush secretly feeling McCain out for the #2 slot in a second term? Would McCain give up his seat in the Senate and service to the people of Arizona for the chance to be in the chute for 2008? McCain has recently said "I will not be vice president of the United States under any circumstances." http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/04/11/mccain.veep/index.html If Bush really is asking, and McCain turns him down would we ever find out about it?
All interesting questions...

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I think Not. As pointed out by Rush today on his show overnight polls give Kerry a 2-4 point bounce for picking "Silky Pony" ie John Edwards.... As compared to Algore getting a 17 point bounce when he picked Lieberman and Clinton got a 19 point bounce when he picked Algore. With the flip flopping Kerry being capable of, Edwards isn't the VP choice until it's official in Boston.
In any case, I think it might have been a good idea politically to dump Cheney before Kerry was the firm nominee, and especially before he picked his VP. If Bush dumps Cheney now he's only going to look desperate. I don't think it will happen, I think the conversations with McCain are probably only about McCain campaigning to bring in some of the swing voters. I don't think it would be a good idea for Bush to dump anyone pre-election, he'll only give the other side ammunition.
Edited 7/8/2004 1:48 pm ET ET by liveanew
On another note I would have liked to seen another President cope with the aftermath of 9/11 and how they would have handled other issues then such a monsterous one as fighting terror. I'd rather pay higher oil charges, contribute to the teaching of my children for lack of education, and cut back my driving to help the environment so that more attention could be focused on fighting the war on terror. That's a priority to me as a USA citizen.
Edited 7/8/2004 1:51 pm ET ET by britogal3
Did I ever say that the Afghan war was not justified? You may assume that if you like, I just said he proved he can take us into 2 wars during his presidency. Come to whatever conclusion you like, but do not act as though you knew what I was talking about. IT is what IT is, or are you denying the fact that we went to war twice under Bush?
I think he'll stick with Cheney, but I am also bracing for a surpise dark horse (McCain, or maybe even Arnie!) in the 11th hour.
Tangent question to anyone - Could Arnie run for V.P. even though he can't run for President? I was wondering that but have been too lazy to check it out.
Also, I agree that it would have been a good move to dump Cheney a few months ago (I mean have him bow out for health or family reasons, of course) but it's quite late now and would definitely look like a dump. I have to say I'm surprised how well Cheney has held up physically given his health history.
Glassy
MCCain has said repeatedly that he is not interested. He said once that he spent years locked up in holes as a POW and he did not want to continue that by being VP?!?!?! Something like that...I heard he was on TODAY this morning. From the clips I saw he did not say that he did not want the position. He just said it would be a cold day in some parts of Arizona before Bush dumped Cheney...
**Edited to add the part about before Bush dumped Cheney. Just realized that what I wrote seemed like he said that about being VP but he said that it would be like that before he dumped Cheney. He was talking about how close they were..etc.
Edited 7/8/2004 2:43 pm ET ET by happy2beamom2001
http://pollingreport.com/wh2004.htm#Misc
It's from back in March, but actually most favor keeping him, especially Republicans:
<"Thinking about the next presidential election, do you think George W. Bush should keep Dick Cheney on the ticket as vice president or do you think Bush should consider replacing Cheney with a different running mate?"
KeepCheney ConsiderReplacing Unsure
ALL 47 30 23
Republicans 66 22 12
Democrats 34 35 31
Independents 42 33 25
I didn't assume anything either...you put it out there as if Bush is somehow incompetent as a President and doesn't have anything to show except two wars. Read between the lines.
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