Former vice president Dick Cheney, appearing on the Washington Times radio program this morning, was asked about whether the recent troubles of Sen. John Ensign and Gov. Mark Sanford impact the future of the Republican party:
I know both of those gentlemen, I consider them friends, and I’m sorry to see them in the difficulties they’re now in. But I think from the standpoint of the party, we’ve got some great talent out there, young people coming along that are going to do a superb job. I always remind people that in adversity, there’s opportunity. You get people like Paul Ryan from Wisconsin, Rob Portman from Ohio, Jon Huntsman from Utah and so forth. We’ve got some very talented folks coming along. And I think that it’s just a matter of time before the party begins to sort of firm up around a few key individuals, and we’ll hear big things from them in the future.
Portman is running for Senate in Ohio in 2010; President Obama named Huntsman the new U.S. ambassador to China.