CHENEY" I DIDN"T KNOW POWELL WAS A REPUBLICAN."

Remember when Colin Powell was thrown into the U.N security council meeting to tell the world that Saddam had WMD? Well, that may have been the start of Powell sleeping with one eye open

as far as the Bush administration was concerned. The former 4 star general Powell then went on to step down as Secretary of State , a position he held from 2001-2005. After endorsing Barack Obama during the 2008 election campaign, Powell has recently come out and said that the climate has changed, and that people "are willing to pay  more taxes to get the services they want." Former  "shoot your friend on a hunting trip" VP  Dick Cheney has taken notice. Cheney, on TV more in the last month than the 30 years he was in Washington, is  that Powell "has already left the party." An astute observation. Here's another one. Dick Cheney and Karl Rove are outspoken members of the GOP right now with TV appearances and columns. Only Rove has the potential to join with and direct the next up and coming candidates in 2012. Republicans might want to make sure they are comfortable with the messages being projected by Cheney. Dissatisfaction with the Torture memos being released, and the fact that we're less safe under Obama were part of Cheney's voice to the public last month. Democratic strategists ought to force GOP heads Michael Steele and any serious players for 2012 such as say , Gov Sarah Palin to respond to Cheney's comments. It's never too early to back players into a corner, especially when you have rogue party members out there taking the lead. This is not to say that Mr Cheney doesn't deserve the right to have a public opinion. He does. It's just that the GOP needs to understand that they are in tatters right now, and that the primary viewpoint coming from any politician in the party is coming from Cheney right now, for better or worse. It'sunfair that opponents slam Cheney before he even speaks at times, due to their intense personal dislike of him. However, taking a case by case look at his comments over the last month, in order to prepare intelligent responses to them in the not so near future (i.e Congressional elections in 2011) would be a smart move for Republicans. Powell was and still is respected in many circles as a pragmatic and empathetic guy, who by the way ran an extremely successful military campaign in Kuwait in 1990 on the Bush Sr teams watch.