Cheney Not Invited to Convention?

It appears that the McCain campaign does not want Dick Cheney to come to this year's Republican convention. As the WSJ editorial page pointed out this morning, McCain is doing himself more harm than good by keeping Cheney away. Let's face it - Republicans (and I believe the majority of the American public) do not hate Bush and Cheney. The media certainly does, but then again, can you name the last conservative President that the media praised while still alive? (Reagan was the dunce performer who was willing to destroy the world and infect everyone with AIDS - until he died).

Not inviting a sitting Vice President to his own party's convention is unprecedented and will only fuel the Bush-Cheney haters' claims that the men are disliked and their policies despised. If McCain is afraid to invite someone with whom he might occasionally disagree, then why not exclude Republicans altogether from their own convention? But more importantly, most Conservatives believe that Dick Cheney's views are much closer to their own than are President Bush's. (What is the biggest complaint about Bush - that he spent way too much money. This is the opposite of Cheney's philosophy.) Caricatures aside, most Americans have no clue why they dislike the man other than because the media and Democrats say he is a warmongering, evil, uncompassionate profiteer (sounds like the Reagan description as well).

McCain needs to invite Bush and Cheney to the convention and stop making this a bigger story than it should be. He should be a man, say they are great servants to their country, and then if he wishes, talk about the few points where his views might differ from Bush or Cheney. Otherwise he should just quit the Republican party and become a Democrat or Independent. And kneel down to President Obama.