Comments on: Giuliani Wants Cheney-Style Vice President

By: Mark Jaquith

Mark Jaquith — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 23:28:19 +0000

Note the obligatory unrelated 9/11 name drop.

But seriously, having Rudy laud Dick Cheney, a man who once referred to himself as the Darth Vader of the Bush Administration, is a frightening event. Rudy wants to live the rest of his life basking in the immediately-post-9/11 world in which any executive branch activity is legal if it can vaguely be suggested that it is in the national security interest.

And "[Cheney] had a sense that he knew what he was doing" ?! If you posit that his intentions were benevolent, then no, he hadn't a clue what he was doing. And if his intentions were otherwise, do you really want to be endorsing him?

By: Bruce Moomaw

Bruce Moomaw — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 06:21:42 +0000

" The Cheney meme has been that he's some sort of evil puppetmaster; your contention is that he's merely clueless?" Actually, James, I think he's both. My point was that -- while Cheney's certainly good at pulling strings (although this is only possible becaue Dubya WANTS his strings pulled) -- he has turned out to be a startlingly, disastrously lousy international and military strategist, which is precisely how the Administration landed itself in such extremely hot water. And, by God, I genuinely think he's evil -- a tag I'm hesitant to hang on most American politicians of any ideology. That man makes my skin crawl.

By: Tano

Tano — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 05:35:11 +0000

"The Cheney meme has been that he's some sort of evil puppetmaster; your contention is that he's merely clueless?"

I think it pretty clear that he has been both.

By: rodney dill

rodney dill — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 01:51:27 +0000

I think the model of a VP that collaborates with and supports the goals of the President is a good model to aspire to. I think Bush/Cheney took the pairing in that direction. I see the biggest problem is the VP is someone who still aspires to be President some day and sees a need to distance himself from enough of the collateral crap that occurs to make this possible. Also the VP candidate is normally derived as as asset for 'electability.' (someone with at strong constituency that doesn't overlap with the President wannabe). This doesn't necessarily lead to a P and VP that can see eye to eye many topic of interest.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:09:36 +0000

The trouble is not that Giuliani thinks we should have "a VP who knows what's going on". The trouble is his bizarre belief that Cheney DID know what was going on.

You don't think he did? The Cheney meme has been that he's some sort of evil puppetmaster; your contention is that he's merely clueless?

By: Bruce Moomaw

Bruce Moomaw — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 00:05:27 +0000

The trouble is not that Giuliani thinks we should have "a VP who knows what's going on". The trouble is his bizarre belief that Cheney DID know what was going on.

By: yetanotherjohn

yetanotherjohn — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:20:23 +0000

So those who speak against this don't want a VP capable of stepping into the top job at a moments notice?

By: Paul

Paul — Thu, 03 Jan 2008 21:04:16 +0000

Guliani is just talking the talk. Is there any real evidence to believe that Rudy would voluntarily let anyone have any power other than himself? Anyway, it now seems to be only an academic question as his candidacy appears to be doomed.