A pretty revelatory and bold statement about the tea party movement from Dick Cheney in a new i/view with Human Events.
"I have been intrigued with the movement, too. I think it’s been fascinating to watch and I think it’s basically working.
I think it owes its success in part -- I’m guessing -- to the fact that it is somewhat divorced from the Republican Party.
This isn’t just a campaign by a bunch of political operators who went out and raised some money and generated a cause of some kind. The people I’ve talked with, as I get out around the country, really care very, very deeply about it and felt like this is an opportunity to express themselves. After all that’s what democracy is about and I think it’s basically a very healthy movement. I’m a fan of the folks who want to go participate in a Tea Party."
Tom Winters then asks Cheney if he's going to attend a tea party any time soon.
CHENEY: Well I don’t know.
Q: As part of your presidential campaign?
(Laughter)
CHENEY: No, I’m not mounting a presidential campaign.
Not surprisingly, Cheney also has some tough words for Obama.
"I really do believe and I think an awful lot of Americans believe that United States, based on our history and values, is an exceptional nation. We have never seen anything like it in the history of the world. We have been the prime defenders of the freedom of democracy when we brought freedom to millions all over the world at considerable cost to ourselves.
When you look at WWII, for example, or our action during the Cold War with the Soviets decade after decade, where the United States has helped create a better world because of what we believe in and because of the willingness of our people, especially our military, to step up and take on really difficult assignments.
The problem with Obama is that I’m not sure he believes that."
[Hat tip: Conservative Blog Watch]
