Dick Cheney Tells Republican Presidential Candidates To Watch Their Mouths

LOS ANGELES — Former Vice President Dick Cheney isn’t picking sides in the battle for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, but in a remarkably candid interview with ABC News in Los Angeles, he had blunt words about the current field of GOP candidates.
Cheney accused Rick Perry of using “over-the-top” rhetoric, chided Michele Bachmann for overpromising on the campaign trail and said that Jon Huntsman’s views on Afghanistan hew too closely to President Obama’s.
The comments came in far-ranging interview with ABC’s Jonathan Karl where Cheney discussed, at length, his health problems, criticism of his book and reflected on the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
But on the politics of today, Cheney said it was “inappropriate” for Perry to say that he would treat Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke “pretty ugly down in Texas.”
“I disagree with him,” Cheney said. “Obviously he’s just getting started on the campaign. I’m not sure if he were to get elected he’d want to use that kind of language on the Fed Chairman.”
While Cheney acknowledged that “you don’t want somebody at the Federal Reserve who’s managing the place, quote ‘for politics,’ he said the charge that Ben Bernanke or his predecessor Alan Greenspan have done that “isn’t a valid charge.”
More of Cheney’s interview with ABC News can be seen Wednesday night on “World News.”
Perry, who has shot to the top of national polls less than a month since he entered the race, will make his debate debut in Simi Valley, Calif. Wednesday night. Cheney also took issue with Perry’s past comments that Social Security is akin to a Ponzi scheme.
“Let’s see what Rick Perry does as he develops through this process. I certainly don’t believe it’s a Ponzi scheme,” Cheney said of Social Security. “It’s a program that a great many people depend upon.”
He added, “I think it’s a very important program, we do in fact want to preserve it for future generations but we have a lot of work to do on Social Security and other entitlement programs like Medicare.”
Cheney is no friend of Perry having endorsed his rival, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, in the 2010 gubernatorial primary in Texas.
The former vice president to George W. Bush, who has just published a controversial new memoir, titled “In My Time,” did not spare Bachmann from criticism either, dismissing her contention that if elected she could usher in a period of $2 a gallon gasoline.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “The free market’s going to work on gasoline prices.”
On Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, Cheney takes issue with her suggestion that she will bring gas prices down to $2 a gallon.
“The free market’s gonna work on gasoline prices,” he said.  “We need to do everything we can to produce, especially from domestic sources, all of the conventional power we can.  But yeah, to make a hard and fast prediction and say, ‘Gasoline’s never gonna cost more than $2 a barrel,’ I’d be a little careful of that.  I don’t believe it.”
While several of the Republican candidates have said they oppose raising the debt ceiling under any circumstances, Cheney said such talk is irresponsible.
“You’ve gotta maintain the credit worthiness of the United States government.  And you’ve got an obligation obviously to pay your debts,” Cheney said, adding, “I didn’t have a problem with the notion that our guys would say, “But we’re not doin’ anything with the debt ceiling till you sign up for deficit reduction.”
And, as for Huntsman’s view that it’s time to draw down U.S. troops who were part of the surge strategy in Afghanistan, Cheney said that would be “a mistake.”
“President Obama has announced he’s going to take out the surge forces before the end of the next fighting season. That’d be a big mistake. There’s no military reason to do that. I think it’s driven primarily by politics — that he wants to get the forces out before the election in 2012 because he made those kinds of commitments and promises,” Cheney said. “I have a sense that that’s what Jon Huntsman is advocating. It’s a mistake. I think we cannot take the chance of walking away from the importance of staying on top of the situation and helping the Afghans acquire the capacity to control their own sovereign territory.”
Cheney did have words of praise for one non-candidate:  Hillary Clinton.  He suggested Secretary Clinton would have been a better President than Barack Obama and with a Darth Vader smile mischievously suggested she should run against him in 2012.
“Hillary Clinton is a pretty formidable individual.  And I think she’s probably the most competent person they’ve got in their cabinet,” he said. “Maybe if the Obama record is bad enough, and these days it’s not very good, given the shape of the economy, maybe there will be enough ferment in the democratic party so that there will be a primary on their side.  I think it’d be good for the country.  I think it’d be good for the Democratic party and it might be the Republicans.”

In the Shadow of Reagan: Rick Perry's Presidential Debate Debut

The presidential debate debut of Texas Governor Rick Perry at the Ronald Reagan Library was neither a triumph nor a disaster, leaving the score at the end of the night essentially unchanged.
When the debate began, Perry seemed nervous, a figure far more subdued than the rootin-tootin cowboy who munched corn dogs and charmed reporters at the Iowa State Fair a few short weeks ago. You could read in his somber face the coaching he had undergone, the warnings from his handlers to tone down the bravado. As the evening progressed, Perry grew calmer and got better. If he never quite soared, neither did he fall flat on his face.
From the get-go, moderator Brian Williams of NBC set about provoking a Perry-Romney pissing match. Their first exchange took the form of a volley of boasts and statistics over which state had created more jobs, and in this early back-and-forth Romney got the better of his rival. Perry fared somewhat better brushing off a question from co-moderator John Harris of Politico about criticism from other high-level Republicans. Perry did not let the question rattle him, standing by his description of Social Security as a "Ponzi scheme." Politically this may be a dubious position, but he left little doubt as to what he believes.
Perry was less convincing in his feeble attempts to defend Texas's disastrous graduation rates and inadequate health insurance coverage. Talking about climate change, Perry sounded downright dim. In these moments Perry evoked George W. Bush, not because of the men's shared accent and physical tics, but because both have a tendency to sound like students bullshitting their way through an oral examination for which they have not prepared.
One of the strangest, most fascinating moments of the debate involved Brian Williams asking Perry about his vigorous support of the death penalty. The mere mention of Texas's high execution rate drew applause from the spectators at the Reagan Library, leading Williams to follow up by asking Perry why he thought the crowd had reacted so enthusiastically. On this point Perry gave his best shot at defending the indefensible, but the damage had already been done: the audience's reaction only served to underscore the sense of bloodthirstiness.
From a purely stylistic standpoint, Perry played a bit too much to camera. He is an interesting person to watch, if only to marvel at that amazing head of hair. As Bill Clinton recently put it, the Texas governor is a "good-looking rascal." These physical assets notwithstanding, when Perry speaks into the lens, he too often sounds as though he is trying to sell us a Buick.
Perry may have grabbed the evening's headlines, but of the other candidates onstage, Mitt Romney had an especially strong night. His best moment came when he said something nice about Rick Perry after others on the stage had ganged up on him. Romney may not be the flashiest of debaters, but his manner is steady as she goes, and that will play well over the long haul.
Michele Bachmann failed to leap off the screen in this debate. How did Bachmann flame out so quickly? With her hair bouffed up like a pan of Jiffy-Pop popcorn, she seemed like a washed-up rock star who keeps singing her old hits over and over in the hope they'll somehow set the charts on fire again.
For Jon Huntsman the debate was another swing and a miss. Obviously he is an intelligent and thoughtful man, but he did not avail himself of the opportunity to distinguish himself from his competitors. As a performer Huntsman is a bit smarmy, in a way that conjures memories of independent presidential candidate John Anderson, who ran against Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan in 1980. Huntsman also has a physical oddity that is exacerbated in television close-ups: independently operating eyebrows, particularly the one on his right side, which appears to have a life of its own.
For better or for worse, this debate was about Rick Perry. At one point in the proceedings the Texas governor likened himself to the "piñata at the party." If so, it's a role he had better get used to playing. Because after tonight's event he remains at the head of the pack, with a prominent target on his back.