New group tries to convince Cheney to run in 2012
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/10/22/art.cheney1.gi.jpg caption="A new group wants Dick Cheney to challenge President Obama in 2012. "]
Washington (CNN) - A new group wants former Vice President Dick Cheney back in the White House.
The organization - "Draft Dick Cheney 2012" - launched on Friday, and unveiled their new Web site. Their aim: To convince the former vice president to seek the Republican presidential nomination in the next race for the White House. But there may be a major roadblock to the group's pitch - Cheney himself.
"The 2012 race for the Republican nomination for President will be about much more then who will be the party's standard bearer against Barack Obama, the race is about the heart and soul of the GOP," said Christopher Barron, one of the organizers of the Draft Cheney movement. "There is only one person in our party with the experience, political courage and unwavering commitment to the values that made our party strong – and that person is Dick Cheney."
The former vice president has been a frequent outspoken critic of the Obama administration's security policy. He recently suggested that Obama was "dithering" over deciding on adding more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. National polls suggest that the former vice president remains popular among conservatives and Republicans.
Does Cheney want to run for the White House? He was quite blunt earlier this month about whether he had any desire make a bid for the presidency in the next election. At an event in Houston for Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, who's running for Texas governor, Hutchison was joined by Cheney, who endorsed her bid against fellow Republican incumbent Rick Perry. During the rally, Hutchison yelled out to the crowd "Cheney 2012!" and some one in the audience quickly responded "We need you, Dick!"
Cheney's response: "Not a chance."
Barron says the group hopes to follow up Friday’s Web launch with a more formal structure, which will include building a database and reaching out through social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Barron adds that there is no budget set yet, and that the effort is grassroots at this point. He says the group plans on targeting tea party events and plans on building grassroots chapters in key early presidential caucus and primary states including Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
–CNN's Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report
Follow Paul Steinhauser on Twitter: @psteinhausercnn
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ahahahahahahaha, please do run! Please!!!
Cheney had 5 defirments, put us in a war with Iraq that shouldn't have been and closed an eye on Afghanistan; he should be What in 2012t-NOT. All his does is blames everything onto President Obama and our headaches were caused by Bush/Cheney.
This last thing this country needs is that paranoiac as President.
Oh My God, are you kidding me. Didn't this guy leave office with an approval rating of like 12% or something?
This will certainly rile the loony libs, who can't stand the idea of having an adult in the room. Cheney gets it; Obama and crew are still dithering while looking for the photo ops.
Dick Cheney belongs in a prison cell, not the Oval Office.
PLEASE DO..and put Palin on your ticket..that would all but assure President Obama will get a second term.
Now this has to be one of the scariest possibilities I have heard of probably in my lifetime. Cheney/Bush was an unmitigated disaster for eight years, why in the world would we want Cheney back at the helm.
Please let him run so that the rest of the country that are not birthers, teabaggers or just plain nut cases can let him know what we really think about him.
If it wasn't for the age and the health thing, I'd be all for it. He was probably the best, most effective VP this country has ever had. Darn sight better than the pitiful excuse for a VP we have now.
I too would like to see Cheney, drafted. Full combat gear, and a chance to serve in a branch of military on the ground where there's a lot of action. Come on you big lug. Get in there and help clean up the mess you started. Chicken Hawk.
Why not draft Dick Cheney into the Army, so he can fight in the wars he started? He can't claim deferments any more.
I stopped reading this after the first paragraph. DICK CHENEY WAS NEVER IN THE WHITE HOUSE.
THANK GOD.
AND LET'S HOPE HE NEVER IS.
What's the name of that place where the VP lives? You know, the place where they got the clock? Naval Observatory? Something like that....
OMG !!!! Could there actually be people THAT dumb out there??????
Bring on the draft dodging, 5 deferments, neo-con Dickhead, that helped put our country in a very deep hole with his utter incompetence.
Are these people serious? Along with the tea baggers these people are certifiable for sure. Cheney will NEVER be president, not only because of his heart condition but also because he is the closest thing this country had to a facist dictator.
"Draft Dick Cheney 2012" is a very poor choice of a title for the draft dodging little coward. I suppose his willingness to let others fight his wars IS a republican value so maybe it is fitting.
America is doomed.
Do they really want a war criminal to run this contry?
One could hardly make a dumber choice for president than Cheney. Didn't he PROVE his failure to be a leader? I don't consider throwing more troops into a war we shouldn't have been in to be "leadership". To think, I used to be a Republican. They just keep sinking to lower levels a leadership every day. What a shame.
If Dick Cheney is the only person "with the experience, political courage and unwavering commitment to the values" that made your party strong then quite frankly your party no longer exists... at least not in the form that you would like.
As a truly independent independent voter, all I can say is, "Are you people crazy or are you stupid." Which is it?
Absolutely, draft Cheney ... into the Army, then send him to fight in his oil war in Iraq. It's abolut time he served in the military after all his blowhard talk!
For The Love of God...not another 4 years of Bush.
Better he be drafted into the infantry, that he may grasp a firmer understanding of the hardships and horrors his previous directives has inflicted upon humanity.
Oh, but he's too good for that, isn't he? Maintain the illusion. Maintain the delusion. Ever since the Civil War, capitalism has provided that escape clause for the wealthy to evade service in combat. It's always some excuse: to send the poor into harm's way while the more fortunate issue the orders, plunder the profits, and live their lives bereft of the honor others earn through sheer effort.