James R. Carroll

jcarroll@courier-journal.com

WASHINGTON - Well, we can assume former Vice President Dick Cheney won't be getting a Christmas card from the Rand Paul household.

We already assumed that was the case for Hillary Clinton and her hubby, former President Bill Clinton.

It turns out not only is Cheney hostile to a Clinton presidential bid, but also is not warm to the idea of a Paul candidacy.

Neither will be president, Cheney predicted Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press."

Paul, Kentucky's junior senator, is contemplating a run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and is expected to make a decision early next year.

Likewise, Clinton is expected to announce her decision on a bid for the Democratic presidential nomination early next year.

Cheney was asked by "Meet the Press" moderator Chuck Todd whose foreign policy he was more comfortable with, Clinton's or Paul's.

"Well, I don't think either one of them's going to be president," the vice president under George W. Bush replied.

Cheney added that the foreign policy views he is most comfortable with are his own "and I've been very forthright about them."

"And frankly I don't support either Hillary Clinton or Rand Paul," he made clear.

In truth, Paul and Cheney haven't seen eye-to-eye on much.

You may recall that last summer, Paul blamed the rise of new Islamic State terrorists on the Bush-Cheney decisions that led to a lengthy war in Iraq.

"You know, were they right in their predictions? Were there weapons of mass destruction there? Was the war won in 2005, when many of those people said it was won?" Paul said on "Meet the Press" on June 22.

"I don't blame President Obama," Paul said of the new terrorist threat. "Has he really got the solution? Maybe there is no solution. But I do blame those who are for the Iraq War for emboldening Iran. These are the same people now who are petrified of what Iran may become, and I understand some of their worry."

Cheney, appearing separately the same day on ABC's "This Week With George Stephanopolous," took on Paul's charges.

"If we spend our time debating what happened 11 or 12 years ago we're going to miss the threat that is growing," said Cheney. "Rand Paul, with all due respect, is basically an isolationist. He doesn't believe we ought to be involved with that part of the world."