When the polls measure the popularity of potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, it’s world-renowned author Sarah Palin, accused cop-killer Mike Huckabee, or human Ken doll Mitt Romney who usually come out on top. You know who’s not even asked about? Dick Cheney. But because he’s been one of the leaderless party’s most outspoken critics of President Obama, a movement to draft Cheney for a presidential run has been gaining some modicum of momentum. The idea of a Cheney candidacy attracted even more attention after Liz Cheney made a sly remark about it on Fox News, and more recently when Newsweek’s Jon Meacham wrote a piece advocating for Cheney to run because his ideological purity “would offer us a bracing referendum on competing visions.”
Never mind that in a new survey asking who represents the core values of the Republican Party, exactly one person — maybe Dick Cheney, or a close friend, or Jon Meacham — answered Dick Cheney. Or that he’s more closely aligned with the toxic presidency of George W. Bush than anyone except George W. Bush. Or that he’d be 71 with a bum ticker. Or that his favorability ratings hover around the high twenties and low thirties. It’s still a great idea! Except Cheney himself, at least, doesn’t sound too thrilled about it. At the end of a new interview with Politico in which he, unsurprisingly, slams Obama for “agonizing” over his Afghanistan policy (a.k.a. thinking it through), Cheney is asked about the 2012 rumors. “Why would I want to do that?” he replies. “It’s been a hell of a tour. I’ve loved it. I have no aspirations for further office.” That one guy will be so upset.
Dick Cheney slams President Obama for projecting ‘weakness’ [Politico]
