In an interview with Larry Kudlow on CNBC, Dick Cheney extended an olive branch to Colin Powell, saying that Powell is welcome in the Republican Party — but the GOP itself must remain a conservative institution, lest the party go against its core supporters:
KUDLOW: Speaking of political, I guess you’re trying to outline a message for the Republican Party here to limit government and limit taxation and so forth. You kind of took a shot at General Colin Powell the other day, said you didn’t know he was still a member of the Republican Party. He responded to you by saying that you were mistaken. He is a member of the Republican Party, and he regards himself a, quote, “Jack Kemp Republican,” end quote. Could you react to what Mr. Powell is saying?
Mr. CHENEY: Well, we’re happy to have General Powell in the Republican Party. I was asked a question about a dispute he was having, I think, with Rush Limbaugh, and I expressed the consent, the notion I had that he had already left since he endorsed Barack Obama for president. But I meant no offense to my former colleague. I wasn’t seeking to rearrange his political identity.
KUDLOW: So you welcome him back into the party.
Mr. CHENEY: We’re in the mode where we welcome everybody to the party. What I don’t want to do, in the course of trying to expand the overall size of the Republican Party and expand our base, is to talk away from basic fundamental principles. I think it’s very important that we remind people out around the country what it is that we stand for, that we do believe in a strong national defense, in low taxes and limited government; and giving up on those principles, in order to try to appeal to people who are otherwise going to vote Democratic, seems to me is a–would be a fundamental defeat for those of us who are essentially conservative, who’ve been long-time supporters of the Republican Party.
