Former Vice President Dick Cheney, still a big favorite with the GOP’s grassroots base, apparently didn’t mince words at a Florida fundraiser this evening.
Via Adam Smith of the Tampa Bay Times:
Smith also has a report up on the event: Dick Cheney rips Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. It shows that not everyone in the GOP establishment is thrilled with the former VP’s outspokenness.
“‘My impression is that Obama’s eager to get out of town. I’m eager to have him get out of town,’ Cheney said. ‘It’s extraordinarily important that the Republican Party reclaim the reputation that we’ve had for most of my life – that we are the go-to guys on national security and defense.’
Agriculture Commissioner Adam Putnam introced(sic) him as ‘easily most consequential leader in the modern Republican Party and certainly the most consequential vice president in the history of our country.’
But even among the avid Republicans gathered in Orlando for Thursday’s Statesman’s Dinner and a two-day presidential candidate summit starting Thursday, audience members found Cheney a less-than-ideal standard-bearer to put forth.
“I don’t consider him the face of the Republican party. We’ll leave it at that,’ said state Sen. Bill Galvano, R-Bradenton. “We’re moving into a new era… It’s more impportant for us to see the fresh faces of the Republican party.”
Still, Cheney fans will probably like the Palm Beach Post headline much better: Cheney-mania: Big crowd for ex-VP at Republican fundraiser; media squeezed out.
“The Republican Party of Florida is expecting a crowd of 980 tonight to hear former Vice President Dick Cheney at the annual Statesman Dinner fundraiser at Walt Disney World.
Because of the big crowd and more than 130 requests for media credentials, RPOF spokesman Wadi Gaitan said there isn’t enough room for all the media to cover the event. So there will be “pool” coverage only, with a few organizations allowed inside to hear Cheney and share their reporting with the rest of the media.”
As for Cheney’s criticism of Obama and Hillary Clinton, re-visit Smith’s piece for more on that.
“Cheney accused Obama of having turned his back on more than 70 years of bi-partisan consensus from presidents about maintaining freedom across the globe, maintaining a a strong defense and militarty(sic) and ‘to be prepared to use it from time to time when necessary.’
The global instability everywhere from Syria to Iraq to Ukraine, he said, is the result of the Obama administration ‘presenting a case of weakness…It’s going to be the work of years to reverse the damage Barack Obama has done to our military capabilities.’
Asked about the controvesies(sic) surrounding Hillary Clinton’s emails, he said she he thinks she is ‘in big trouble.’
‘I’ve got to believe that she knew she had to protect and safeguard classified information that she was guardian to as secretatry of state,’ he said.
And on Benghazi, he said she ‘misled the American people. I think it does raise, serious, serious doubts about her capacity to be president.'”
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