Republican Insiders to Cheney: Go Away!

Well, not all of the National Journal's GOP Political Insiders were that tough on Dick Cheney, who has assumed a higher-than-normal profile in battling the Obama admin. on terrorism issues, but a solid 57% said he has "hurt the Republican Party since leaving office" in this week's Political Insiders Poll.

The general sense among these GOP Insiders is that while Cheney might even be right on the substance of his message, he's the wrong messenger because he reminds people of an unpopular presidency and conveys a gruff image that is not very attractive to swing voters.

At the same time, 33% of the GOP Insiders said Cheney has "helped the party since leaving office." Their argument is that Cheney has the stature and smarts to challenge Obama and the cong. Dems on terrorism and nat'l security issues, and he's actually put them a bit on the defense, especially on the issue of methods used to interrogate captured terrorists.

Five percent of the GOP Insiders said they didn't think Cheney was having much effect on the party one way or the other and the remaining 5% said that he had helped and hurt the party since leaving office.

Not surprisingly, a whopping 92% of the Dem Insiders said the ex-VP had hurt the GOP since leaving office while 6% said he had helped and 3% said he had done both, neither or that it was too soon to tell.

Cheney's office had no comments on the results.

For the complete results of the poll and the verbatim comments of the GOP and Dem Insiders click through.

(National Journal's JIM BARNES)