by Art Lindsey III

Just when you think it’s safe to read the news, people are already talking about the 2012 presidential campaign. Not that this is really news in itself, because as we all know, the 2008 campaign seemed to start about 16 years too early, and by the time we got to the ballot boxes, it’s safe to assume that a lot of us felt like we had just gone the distance with Rocky Balboa.

Now, of course we all know about Mitt, Huck, Pawlenty, and possibly Newt. That crew comes with the territory. However, it seems that some people may have really lost their minds. How, you might ask?

Well, from the looks of things, it would appear that former Vice President Dick Cheney has been christened as the GOP’s last great hope, or some such thing. Sure. Why doesn’t somebody stop the world so the sane people can get off now, Okay?

It started off as nothing more than a flippant “Cheney 2012” comment made by his daughter Liz on Fox News a few weeks ago, and for some reason there was another outbreak of speculation over the weekend.

While one must concede that anything is possible, (look who’s in charge now) an honest broker must admit that such a scenario is highly unlikely.

It’s not that Cheney doesn’t have the “street cred” with conservative voters. He does. He has decades of service under his belt, and during his tenure as Vice President, he was far more articulate and concise than his boss ever was, and who can forget the even-tempered lashing he gave to Senator John Edwards in the 2004 Vice Presidential Debate? If you combine all of these things with his current spate of TV appearances where he has been substantively critical of the Obama Administration, Cheney would indeed make a fine GOP candidate in 2012.

However, there is just one tiny little problem with all of this:

Dick Cheney has made it quite clear that he has no aspirations for further office.

While it is certainly true that politicians often change their minds, and are known to lie like rugs on occasion, a presidential run for Dick Cheney in 2012 is hard to imagine.

In all honesty, why would he want to? The media has painted such a horrible picture of the man, how could he possibly get elected? We all know how disconnected a large portion of the electorate is. How could he possibly overcome the mountain of bad press that has been piled onto him over the years? He really can’t, regardless of his qualifications. Nothing short of a national educational miracle could undo the perception of Dick Cheney. It’s a pretty safe bet that a 68 year old man who has survived four heart attacks knows that, too. He doesn’t need the aggravation.

All of this speculation is obviously well intended, but it’s really nothing more than a waste of time. Again, Vice President Cheney would be a solid candidate on his merits, but the press has made him un-electable. More than that, if he really was the GOP’s and conservatism’s only hope, why didn’t a “Draft Cheney” movement begin before now? This is too little, too late.

Oh, the perils of a of a crappy news week.

We now return you to the Tiger Woods Channel.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 7th, 2009 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Election 2008, George W Bush. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.