Mitt Romney Endorses Cheney for President

In Romney's own words:

In the aftermath of World War II and with the coming of the Cold War, members of "the greatest generation" united America and the free world around shared values and actions that changed history[...] Our times call for equally bold leadership and for a renewed sense of service and shared sacrifice among Americans and our allies around the world.

As I have pointed out before, if there is one man who personifies the bold leadership and sacrifice of the greatest generation in public life today, it is Dick Cheney. He is probably the last member of the greatest generation. Thank you Mr. Romney for providing an interesting diversion in this campaign over the last few weeks.

Candidate Cheney Would Carry Women's Vote

Usually one of the big advantages for the democrat party is the women's vote. Having been exposed continuously since the 1960s to feminist brainwashing, many women buy into the myth that they should vote for the democrat party.



But one of the most interesting things about a Dick Cheney candidacy is that it would turn this accepted rule of politics on its head. I've talked to a lot of women about Dick Cheney, and he is a candidate who uniquely appeals to them.

What women want is a strong man, who is clear about what he believes in, and who can protect them. It's hard to see who better fits that mould than Cheney. And the fact that he is plainly a good-looking man, full of youthful vigor, doesn't hurt either. And his wife, a respected historian and Iraqi women's rights advocate, would definitely be an asset on the campaign trail as well:

Historian Lynne Cheney said today that, in comparison to where the United States was at a comparable point in its own history, the Iraqis are doing remarkably well.

An estimated 100,000 Americans, just 3 percent of all eligible voters, participated in America's first election under the new U.S. Constitution, she noted. And more than half of the U.S. population -- all women and slaves -- were ineligible to vote. In Iraq, by contrast, women are eligible to vote, there are no slaves, and more than 70 percent of the population voted.

In fact, the Iraqi constitution gives women equal rights and a mandatory 25 percent of all seats in the newly elected parliament, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told Tim Russert today on NBC News' Meet the Press. "The Iraqis are now going to engage in a process which gives them a real chance for a broadly representative government," she said.

Iraq, the vice president's wife said, obviously has benefited from U.S. experience and guidance. "We've been able to bring our knowledge to the people of Iraq," she said.

Without the women's vote, it's hard to see how any of the democrat candidates could win in 2008, and it's easy to see how the GOP would be approaching Reagan-style landslide territory.

An Underhanded Dig at Cheney

The Socialist European media is at it again, making an underhanded dig at Dick Cheney.

[...]American accusations that European countries ganged up against the Bush administration in the Wolfowitz row hide a deeper worry: that the rapidly declining power at home of the most unpopular, least respected president since Richard Nixon is encouraging multiple challenges to US authority and interests around the world[...]

I get it. Least respected president since Richard Nixon. Let's prejudice people against Cheney (who got his political start in the Nixon Administration) by tarring Richard Nixon. Well, I've got some news for you, socialist European media. Richard Nixon left office with plenty of respect. And these days even many of my socialist democrat friends say that they wish they would prefer Richard Nixon were President today even over George Bush. If anything, Cheney's service in the Nixon administration is to his credit. Sure, Nixon may have at times tried too hard too appeal to the extreme left-wing, such as with the creation of the big-government EPA. But overall he was a strong leader. So sorry, European media. Try again. I know you will.

George Bush Deserves Credit for War in Iraq, GWOT

I've gotten a couple of emails from people who have said that I have been unfair in my coverage of President Bush. They say that I give all the credit to Cheney, and that I am dismissive of Bush's accomplishments.

Let me say now, Bush does deserve some credit. He gave the go-ahead on the Iraq war (despite ignoring some of Cheney's plans which would have made success more imminent), and as a result, millions of Iraqi girls who were afraid to go to school under Saddam Hussein's Islamic state are now free to go, possibly to a state-of-the-art air conditioned school built by the United States.

And because Bush had the foresight to declare a war against terror itself, many terrorists have been killed, thus making terrorism more deadly, and as a result many young children who otherwise might be attracted to terrorism are just saying "No," not wanting to be part of something against which a war has been declared. Osama bin Laden is trying to figure out why people keep dropping out of Al Qaeda and the Taliban is constantly losing soldiers, both to universities, and the newly bustling free-market Afghan economy. The madrassahs are losing all of their students because they are transferring to the freshly built public schools.

Every day in the Middle East is step forward for Democracy, and backward for terror. The news media just wants to focus on a few admittedly persistent problems, but I will give Bush credit for these valiant deeds. Nonetheless, this war could not possibly have been as succesful without Cheney's wisdom and guidance.

America's Vice President

Rudy Giuliani likes to say that after September 11, he became America's mayor. Political gimmick? Probably. But after September 11th, Dick Cheney really did become America's Vice President. He was making the key decisions behind the aggressive response to the terrorists attacks. After initially focusing on Afghanistan, Cheney soon realized that Iraq was the central battlefront in the war on terror, and through his sober steadfastness, earned the eternal trust of the American people.

America's Vice President. Sounds a little better than America's mayor, doesn't it?

Cheney Delivers

US Vice President Dick Cheney, wrapping up a week-long visit to the Middle East, said Monday that he had won support from his Arab hosts for US efforts to stabilize war-torn Iraq.

Cheney, speaking aboard his Air Force Two airplane after leaving Jordan, also said that their backing was not contingent on making progress on the Israeli-Palestinian peace process -- though doing so is a key US goal.

[...]Asked whether he had won his Arab hosts' support for US efforts to stabilize Iraq, Cheney replied: "I did." He declined to offer further details.

Cheney, within the span of just a couple of days, has actually convinced Middle Eastern governments to support Democracy in Iraq. I'd like to see Rudy McRomney do that.

Winning the War in Iraq: The India Lesson

A lot of people think this should be an easy war, that if we haven't already won, perhaps we should throw in the towel. Those people, disappointly, now include Mitch McConnell and Tony Blair. But a good example from history, and one with which Blair at least should be well acquainted, is the British experience in India.

How long did it take for the British to impart Democracy to India? Three hundred years. And look how prosperous and successful India is today! I think that is a good estimate of how long we should be prepared to fight the Iraq war. Because while with the British occupation of India, only access to tea and spices was at stake, in the current battle, the whole future of civilization itself is what is at stake. If we are smart in how we go about this war, there is even a possibility that we could shave off a hundred years from this estimate. Most importantly, I think that this war could be succesfully waged without any tax increases. Who would be the best man to head this effort? One name comes to mind.

President Bush also seems to get this idea:

"From our own history, we know the path to democracy is long and it's hard," Bush said in a ceremony honoring the 400th anniversary of Jamestown, America's first permanent English colony.

"There are many challenges, and there are setbacks along the way," Bush said. "Yet we can have confidence in the outcome because we've seen freedom's power to transform societies."
[...]"Today, Democratic institutions are taking root in places where liberty was unimaginable not long ago," the president said.

He specifically cited Iraq and Afghanistan.

Perhaps on the 700th anniversary of Jamestown, we will also witness the first celebrations of a peaceful, Democratic Iraq.

Is Cheney 2008's RFK Candidate?

Like Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, Dick Cheney has often claimed that he will never be a candidate for President. But a Cheney campaign would in many ways be similar to R.F.K.'s. Like RFK, Cheney would be an insider (RFK served in the Johnson administration and was a Senator) running as an outsider. Robert F. Kennedy realized that the party had lost touch with its base and needed a rejuvenation, and Dick Cheney realizes this about the Republicans as well. Cheney would emphasize that some strategic miscues which occurred on the Republicans' watch were a result of his judgment not being followed, as RFK did about Vietnam. Also like RFK, Cheney is possessed of a positively youthful vigor.

And just as Kennedy's campaign energized a new generation of democrat activists, a Cheney campaign could excite young Republicans. After all, this is the man who, as Defense Secretary, defeated the Soviet Union and brought down the Berlin Wall. With Cheney as President, the terrorists would probably be defeated in a matter of months.

Tragically, as with RFK there is a significant possibility that the nation will be deprived of Cheney's leadership, although in this case, not because of a terrorist killing, but merely because Cheney does not realize the tremendous support his candidacy would receive from grassroots everyday Americans.

Cheney Stands up to Iran

This is a man who projects serious leadership. Big contrast with some of the other Republican candidates. What the Republicans need to win in 2008 is a man of vigor. Dick Cheney's got plenty of vigor (attested to by his recent globe-trotting), and is fairly young (six years younger than McCain). Not only that, but he has already lead Republicans to two decisive victories in races when he was on the national ticket. Cheney's time is now.

Cheney Unites Iraqi People

Another day, another example of Dick Cheney's leadership. This time, Cheney's gone to Iraq. And he has a message of unity.

The US vice president, Dick Cheney, today arrived in Baghdad to urge Iraqi politicians to step up efforts to end the violence gripping the country[..]

US officials said Mr Cheney's visit to Iraq was an attempt to press Mr Maliki and other Iraqi leaders to do more to achieve reconciliation among factions. "We talked about a way ahead in terms of our mutual interests," he said.

The US vice president also met Iraq's Kurdish president, Jalal Talabani, Sunni and Shia vice presidents, and other government and political leaders. Aides said he wanted to emphasise that ending the conflict in Iraq could not be achieved by military means alone.

The terrorists must be quaking in their boots. Their strategy has been to try to stop freedom's spread by dividing Iraqis (and Americans), but now that Cheney is there, it is likely that the division they hoped to sow will soon fail, and possibly backfire upon them.

And in fact, contrary to what we hear in the liberal media, progress is already being made.

[Cheney] said based on conversations he had throughout the day, Iraqi leaders felt that sectarian violence was "down fairly dramatically."

Dick Cheney 2008

America is under attack from people who hate our freedom, and the Democrats are every day growing bolder in their support of the kind of radical " 21st century fascism" practiced by the likes of Nancy Pelosi and Hugo Chavez, and in their attacks on our brave troops. Indeed, the situation is so dire for our country that some have begun to ask a very relevant question: is a military coup and dictatorship the only thing which could save this great land?

There is a much more positive solution for our country, and some are already beginning to recognize it:

For all the talk about potential candidates who haven't entered the 2008 presidential race — from Mayor Bloomberg to Vice President Gore to Senator Thompson and Speaker Gingrich — the one that who would bring the most to the race is Vice President Cheney. In previous recent campaigns, when there was an outgoing president who had won a second term, there has been a vice president around on the campaign trail to defend the record of the administration. George H.W. Bush promised to be kinder and gentler than Reagan, but he was still essentially defending the Reagan record. Vice President Gore didn't campaign much with President Clinton in 2000, but he was running in part on the record of the Clinton-Gore administration.

This year, the leading Republican candidates include Senator McCain, who was Mr. Bush's rival in a bitter 2000 primary contest and who voted against some of Mr. Bush's tax cuts, and Mayor Giuliani, who is going around proclaiming, in what seems a rebuke of George W. Bush, "it's time now that we have a president that knows how to get things done." Were Mr. Cheney in the race, it's hard to imagine that the president's approval ratings would not be five or 10 points higher. The reason is that the administration would have a defender on the campaign trail as part of the public debate.

Mr. Cheney has virtues as a candidate in his own right. He has foreign policy experience by virtue of having served as defense secretary, and he has economic policy experience, having served as a leading tax-cutter while a member of the House of Representatives. His wife, Lynne, would be an asset to the ticket in her own right, a point made by Kathryn Jean Lopez in a post on the topic at National Review Online back in February. By our rights, Lynne Cheney would make one of the greatest First Ladies in history. Mr. Cheney, in any event, is more than four years younger than Mr. McCain, and, if elected, would be 67 years old at his inauguration, younger than Reagan was when he took office. His health, while a topic of frequent speculation, hasn't interfered with his service as vice president.

Lawrence Kudlow wrote a column a while back saying he hoped President Bush asked Vice President Cheney to run for president in 2008. It was a fine idea then and it still is — not because the current field is particularly weak, but because Mr. Cheney is so much more experienced and shrewd a figure, one who could help settle some of the arguments about the Bush years in favor of Mr. Bush. A White House aiming to get Mr. Cheney elected could also avoid some of the hazards that befall lame-ducks — drift, brain drain, irrelevance. Such a campaign might lift Mr. Cheney 's own standing in the polls.

The vice president's stature would put him instantly into the first rank of contenders on the Republican side. On Monday, speaking in Alabama, the vice president received such a warm greeting that he began his remarks by saying, "A reception like that is almost enough to make you want to run for office again." It is hard to imagine the vice president did not comprehend how tantalizing such a remark would be[...]

Indeed, the prospect of a Cheney Presidency is tantalizing. In troubled times like these, what America needs is solid, steady, leadership. It is hard to imagine what could be stronger and steadier than eight more years of Dick Cheney in charge. It would be like eight more years of Bush, but without the left-wing big government agenda Bush has too often acceded too during his time in Washington.