. . .
While Cheney's vast Washington and national-security experience compares very well with Edwards' mere five years in the US Senate, the latter's unfailingly sunny and optimistic demeanor - not to mention his Clintonesque skill, finely honed over two decades as a trial lawyer, at "connecting" with his intended audience - will make it very difficult for the dour incumbent to prevail in any face-to-face debate.
Cheney's growing image as a "grumpy old man" - greatly enhanced in recent weeks by his stubborn insistence that there was a real relationship between Iraqi president Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaeda terrorist group and his well-publicized "Go f*** yourself" exchange with a prominent Democrat on the floor of the Senate - has provoked some veteran Republicans to suggest publicly that it may be time for Cheney to go.
. . .
Although the neo-conservatives have seen their influence steadily decline since late last year, Cheney's absence in a second term with President George W Bush would make it far more difficult for them to stage a comeback. Indeed, this was precisely the motive behind a discreet effort launched late last year by some cronies of former president George H W Bush (1989-93) - the current leader's father - including Brent Scowcroft and James Baker, to persuade the younger Bush to dump Cheney.
But given his failure so far to fire anyone responsible for the postwar debacle in Iraq, most analysts believe the president will not force Cheney off the ticket, particularly because it would risk alienating much of his core constituency, especially the Christian Right and aggressive nationalists. If even small numbers of these groups stay home on election day, November 2, Bush's chances of winning re-election would be significantly eroded.
. . .
"Fair or not, it is simply too easy to paint Dick Cheney as a tool of the oil industry, a too-eager advocate of war in Iraq and a too-gullible supporter of the now-disgraced Ahmad Chalabi, who fed the Bush administration false intelligence on Iraq. Your former company, Halliburton, is a political albatross around your neck, weighing down not only you but also President Bush," Gannon wrote.
"You must ask yourself now if your continued presence by his side will offer strength or weakness to the Republican ticket in November, and what it will mean for [Republican] prospects in the future," he noted, suggesting McCain and Washington's new United Nations ambassador, John Danforth, as possible substitutes.
. . .
In fact, almost all of the recent news for Cheney has been bad. Not only are Halliburton, which he headed from 1995-2000, and its no-bid contracts in Iraq weathering poorly under congressional and media scrutiny, but word that the vice president might be called as a witness in a major bribery probe in Paris into the company's operations in Nigeria when he was chief executive officer is adding to Republican nervousness.
. . .
But it is Cheney's recent behavior that has fueled worries about keeping him on the ticket. After the bipartisan commission investigating the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon declared last month it had found "no credible evidence" of a collaborative relationship between Iraq and al-Qaeda, Cheney declared he had "overwhelming evidence" of such a connection that the commission "probably" had not seen.
. . .
So, they see him for what he is too. It would be nice if more people in this country did.
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