Dick Cheney to get his time in the GOP convention spotlight

The planners of the Republican National Convention have bitten the bullet: They are putting two of the party's least-liked national political figures on the podium on the same night.

Vice President Dick Cheney, who in one recent poll was given a favorability rating barely half that of President Bush, will, after all, address the convention delegates along with the president on Monday, Sept. 1, the convention's opening day.

"The vice president looks forward to participating in the Republican National Convention and continuing to work for the election of Sen. McCain and other Republican candidates in the coming months," his spokeswoman, Megan M. Mitchell, said in an e-mailed statement.

So much for all those rumors over the last 48 hours that the vice president would be personna non grata when the party meets to nominate John McCain at the Twin Cities convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul.

It was not announced when Cheney would speak. But the White House has already disclosed that the president would not linger at the convention. He is planning to get out of town soon after he speaks and will not spend the night there. (To avoid taking the spotlight from McCain, White House officials have explained).

As for the poll ratings, we're referring to these:

The Harris Poll in early June found that 18% of those surveyed gave Cheney an "excellent or pretty good" rating and 74% rated him "only fair" or "poor." An NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey last month found 32% rated Bush "very positive" or "somewhat positive," and 58% labeled him "somewhat" or "very" negative.

To be sure, the party planners will be able to fill the speaking slots.

But several key elected officials have already said they will not be able to attend -- among them: Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina, a one-time candidate for the GOP presidential nomination herself, whose office said she would be too busy in her home state; Sen. Susan Collins of Maine (working on her own reelection campaign, it was explained, in a state where Democrats are showing new strength); and indicted Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska and Sen. Larry Craig of Idaho (remember the incident at the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport?).

-- James Gerstenzang

Photo: Jim Watson / AFP/Getty Images

Comments

[O P Neon]

Here we go with another moment in history that may repeat - "I am not a crook" declaration.

[Pat Knif]

Who is the other disliked Republican that's going to speak?

[Spigelau]

Bunch of losers. They should be in jail!

[Ossami Ben Jones]

Let's let the vp take another wild shot---

[kellysgarden]

Let him speak. He's done an excellent job destroying the Republican Party, he might as well keep up the damage. We will all sit back and enjoy the continuing saga of the demise of the Republican brand.

[rob]

his name his dick cheney one of the most ignored wanted criminal in the world and just the mention of his name makes me sick.....

[Bud]

Ah, Doctor Evil!

That should put everything in perspective!

Obama '08
Yes. We can!

[Harvey]

Every Republican ought to seriously take a personal inventory and ask yourselves if these are the people I thought I was choosing to represent my interests? If you are honest with yourself you will have to admit that the Republican Party Is not what it says it is, and the leaders of the party have led you astray. How long are you going to allow these same people to manipulate your emotions and then abandon your principles when they are elected?

[Jeff Kelley]

Well this will tick off you liberal, but here it goes. Why don't they announce the approval rating of demcratic house members for the DNC's convention. Heck, at least Cheney has an approval rating that doubles Peloci.

[John Ryan]

Duke Cuningham was refused a 2 day furlough from prison to attend

[E.T."Johnny" Johnson]

What a loser who should be tried and convicted in the world court. And his
cohort too.

[ed]

Cheney needs to stay in his hole.

All you left-wing liberal fools will one day realize that Bush and Cheney are not the evil war mongering criminals you claim them to be.
History will exonerate the both of them.
Just wait and see.

[Ron Sampson]

Dick Cheney has ruined America. Now he'll ruin John McCain. What a disgrace- can't the party find anybody better?? Bad, bad judgement.

VP will discuss shooting from the hip, going off half cocked, "Weapons of Mass Destruction", tips for starting wars, and how to hold secret meetings for big contributors. There will be a slide show on the accomplishments of the last 8 years during the last 15 seconds of his talk.

[Bruce becker]

Great. He can tell us who was McCain's SOURCE when McCain went on Letterman and made the false propaganda statement that the IRAQI's had done the ANTHRAX military grade WMD attack on NBC and two members of Congress. Confession is good for the soul.

McCain is stuck, covering for the White House on a crime that they committed.
Leading the US to war on the basis of false propaganda is a crime.
WMDs lead us to war. Anthrax is a WMD. The IRAQI's were not the ones who did the attack, according to the FBI. If the "source" knows who did it, why didnt they tell the FBI? It is time for McCain to give sworn testimony.

[Bob Smith]

Poor "white haired dude". His chances of winning this election just got worse.

[sd-mouth]

Why would any descent American, even some Republicans, want to listen to the Anti-Christ of the GOP? Hasn't this clown done enough harm to the country? Do they have good air blowers at the convention center to blow out the sulphur?
He is almost as disgusting a being as Karl Rove and that's saying something. All the loss of moral credibility in the eyes of the world can be credited to Cheney, GWB and Rove not to mention the assault on the greatest document on earth, the US Constitution.
165 days, 7 hours and 15 minutes to when GWB and DC get excreted out of the White HOuse.

[Tom in Alabama]

Line Cheney up on the GOP convention stage with all the other slimebuckets. Let American see once and for all the "family values" party lineup. Lets start with Darth Vader himself, Larry Craig, Ted Stevens, Mark Foley, that Katrina incompetent "Brownie", Duke "stripes" Cunningham, and lastly their minister, Rev. Ted Hagee. Just think, McCain is trying to scare voters with the notion that Obama is risky!

[xbjllb]

This is how the ENTIRE WORLD should know that the GOP KNOWS Obama doesn't have a chance in hell of winning. Not a chance.

They'd NEVER dare this if they didn't already know they had something on Obama that would make him more universally hated worldwide than Cheney.

And I've been telling everyone so for more than a year now.

[Left-Wing Liberal]

I won't be watching. Cheney makes me sick. But Cheney the lying sociopath should have no trouble touting his war for oil, his roles in exposing a covert CIA agenct and in causing the largest salmon die-off in the history of the Pacific Northwest, his secret meetings with Kenneth "Kenny Boy" Lay while Enron was bilking CA taxpayers for millions, and on and on. He has no conscience after all, so none of these things particularly bother him. Another needless death of an American soldier? Lying to the American people? All in a day's work for Dick "Deficits don't matter" Cheney.

[Rob V]

Dick Cheney ought to be in prison. While we're discussing the Republicans, I am SO sick of the McCain campaign using Karl Rovian and Fox "News" propaganda in a feeble attempt to whittle away at the solid character of Senator Obama. McCain is THE shallow candidate. All he seems capable of doing is slinging mud. McCain has no substance.

[Tom in California]

Very appropriate that the Republican Convention should be addressed by the single most evil man in this corrupt and criminal administration. A very suitable keynoter!

[daryl]

All of you lefty BrackO, Pelosi Galore, and Hairy Reid loving loonies' opinions mean no more than a warm bucket of spit to anyone other than yourselves.

[Tom]

Daryl you can just keep bending over for your corporate masters who know what's best for you. The rest of us are leaving. Bye-bye.