GOP insiders want Dick Cheney to step off the stage.

A majority of Washington Republican insiders believe Cheney's new media visibility has “hurt the Republican Party,” according to a new poll.

Fully 57 percent of the Republican political players are displeased with Cheney's media tour since he left office. One third of influential Republicans stood with Cheney in the poll, stating that Cheney has “helped” the Republican Party since he moved out of the vice presidential residence and into, so it sometimes seems, television and radio studios nationwide.

The poll, not surprisingly, found that 92 percent of Democratic insiders believe Cheney has “hurt” the GOP in the era of Barack Obama.

The confidential poll is the National Journal Group's weekly effort to take the pulse of Washington insiders.

Cheney's Republican backers ranged from the fulsome, “he is the only GOP figure who has put Obama on the political defensive” to the lackluster, “the VP is not our best messenger, but defending the Bush administration on the war on terror has benefited the party.”

The Republican insiders who want Cheney to leave the limelight were more effusive.  Here are four of the more vociferous variety:

- "He seems determined to vindicate his decisions and policies even if it damages the GOP's recovery. And it has."

- "There is nothing Dick Cheney can say or do to help the Republican Party today. The best thing he can do is disappear for the next 10 years."

- "Let's face it: The guy doesn't know anything about winning elections outside of Wyoming."

- "Cheney represents the grumpy intolerance that has come to characterize the GOP. Get off the stage!"

Read more about the National Journal poll here.

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