Paul Begala: We Need More Dick Cheney

The Daily Beast

That’s right, Republicans. Listen to former Vice President Cheney.

While President Bush has exited stage right and refused to comment on his successor’s service, former Vice President Dick Cheney has shown no such reticence. That is fine with me. First, because I think the hoary old chestnut about former officeholders not criticizing their successors is more mythical than real. And, second, because the more the country sees former Vice President Cheney, the more they realize why they love President Obama.

Former Vice President Cheney (that “former” part never gets old, does it?) has some excellent advice for the Republicans: don’t moderate. Don’t stand for change. Defend the status quo. Stay the Bush-Cheney course.

To be sure, the leftward movement is not uniform nor is it permanent. I recall laughing in 2004 when Karl Rove spoke of a Republican majority that would last 60 years. Karl was off by about 58 years.

Cheney gave his party this advice in an interview with an AM radio talk show host in North Dakota. I am not making this up. Cheney has gone from ordering invasions, wiretaps and torture to calling up AM 1100 in Fargo and saying, “Hey, Scott, Dick here. First time caller, longtime listener!”

"I think it would be a mistake for us to moderate,” Cheney told right-wing talker Scott Hennen, the self-described “Chairman of the Common Sense Club”. “This is about fundamental beliefs and values and ideas...what the role of government should be in our society, and our commitment to the Constitution and constitutional principles. You know, when you add all those things up the idea that we ought to moderate basically means we ought to fundamentally change our philosophy. I for one am not prepared to do that, and I think most us aren't."

That’s right, Republicans. Listen to former Vice President Cheney. Don’t come up with new ideas. Don’t move to the center as America shifts to the center-left. Don’t appeal to young voters—you only lost them by 34 points! Don’t appeal to Hispanics—you only lost them by 36 points! Don’t appeal to African-Americans—you only lost them by 90 points! Women? Who cares, you only lost them by 14 points.

Listen to Mr. Cheney, Republicans. Don’t appeal to the majority. No, continue to craft your message exclusively for old white guys who voted in Congress against equal rights for women, against a resolution calling on the apartheid regime in South Africa to free Nelson Mandela, and against Head Start, against the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, against reauthorizing the Clean Water Act, and for bringing back slavery. (Okay, I made up the one about slavery, but the rest are all true.)

As my longtime running buddy, James Carville, points out in his brilliant new book, 40 More Years, the party of Cheney didn’t just lose an election, they lost a generation. America is now a center-left country. Look at the latest ABC News-Washington Post poll. Support for gay marriage is surging. Just four years ago, only 32 percent of Americans supported gay marriage. Today marriage equality commands a plurality: by 49 percent to 46, Americans support it. And 53 percent say their state should recognize the gay marriages sanctioned by other states.......