According to Wonkette, rumours abound inside the beltway that Cheney is about to resign to save Bush’s presidency. Part of the context for this is the Condi vs. Cheney struggle over what posture to take towards Iran, and the other part is Libby’s conviction for perjury and obstruction of justice earlier this week. It probably ain’t gonna happen, but as noted at Wonkette, a column in the right-wing WaPo suggesting that Cheney is nuts is a significant straw in the wind. It looks rather Condi inspired, what with all the claims that foreign diplomats are constantly cabling Washington to ask if Cheney is crazy. But this para is interesting:
So listen up, diplomats: However beleaguered, Cheney will not resign over the president’s refusal to take his advice. The only force that could drive him to that dramatic step would be that unshakable sense of loyalty to Bush, who desperately now needs a vice president in stable physical, emotional and political health. That is the equation you want to be watching.
If Cheney did go, perhaps he could come and get a gig organising his great mate John Howard’s re-election or something. CREEP-M?
What a shocking piece of work he was.
If he goes I predict a catastrophic imbalance in the Force.
“the right-wing WaPo”? Was that in an episode of Sliders?
It wouldn’t be a bad thing. At least he can make sure the Bush family bunker in Paraguay is ready for occupation.
In other noos, and since I’m not sure where to post this, it looks like the Coultergeist may have jumped the shark.
According to Crooks and Liars (OK, so it’s hardly impartial) http://www.crooksandliars.com/2007/03/08/another-paper-drops-coulter/ :
I guess he could claim “health reasons” – he’s now being treated for DVT after his big fly-around the Pacific tour. And it could give the GOP a push in the run-up to ’08, since Bush would then have a VP capable of running for the top spot, something Cheney can’t do, again, mainly because he’d likely have trouble getting the health certificate. So I guess it’s possible, but I’m not betting on it.
Always two there are; no more, no less: a master and an apprentice.”
What makes you think it’s not? Because of Watergate? When a right-wing journalist with deep links to the military helped to trounce an uppity right-wing President that the military had deep reservations about?
The WaPo is the Washington house paper. It’s as Establishment as Randolph and Mortimer Duke.
The example of various White House factions fighting each other in the WaPo’s columns, described in Kim’s post is a perfect example. Where do you think the info in the paragraph quoted came from? Obviously “sources *cough* close to *cough* the VP”.
He needs one now, especially? Have there been times in the last six years when it didn’t matter that his vice-president was channelling Travis Bickle?
In fact, I think it matters less now than ever. The notion of Cheney or anyone else resigning to “save the Bush presidency” (including Bush himself) is redundant; the Bush administration is a long way past redemption and is running down the clock. The “surge” in Iraq needs to be seen in this light. No one in the administration seriously imagines that adding another soldier for every six already in Iraq is going to make a military difference. It’s a political holding operation for domestic consumption, intended to delay the inevitable acknowledgment of failure until it becomes the next president’s problem.
Some person – according to the article.
Egads, an anonymous European diplomat with a disparaging remark about Cheney? Hold the presses! Who could that lonely critic possibly be? To spin that sheerest of gosamer into some bewildered rambling about Cheney’s mental health doesn’t do Hoagland any credit. And if you think Bush won’t be returning Cheney’s calls then you’re not thinking.
Fitzmas is over, and the one present you did get doesn’t look like it’s built to last. What is the penalty for grand jury perjury anyway? Isn’t it a five-year suspension from the bar and then back to work as usual on Monday morning?
If Cheney resigns, it will be a tremendous boost to the impeach-Bush crowd, who are fearful that impeaching Bush would make Cheney president. And if impeachment of Bush is then successful, America will have it’s first black and female president, which would piss off the Red states no end.
Someone needs a USA civics 101 course.
Uh, now I get silkworm’s thinking (which I thought was about the line of succession). Bush appoints Condi in place of Cheney and then is impeached. Suuure.
Let’s try another scenario, Bush just resigns, leaving the FEARED ONE as absolute ruler. How about this? The entire US executive and legislature resign and become highly paid lobbyists. Or how about: silicon-based life-forms from the planet Zod land and eat only the republicans because their diet of underprivileged babies makes their flesh so tender?
Fer gawd’s sake. There is no mathematical way that Bush and/or Cheney can be impeached before their term expires. Nada. Zilch. Not even if the charge is a slam dunk “owning a scotty dog while president”. Honestly some lefties will be expecting impeachment right up until the moment Chief Justice Roberts proclaims “I pronounce you president and vice-president” two Januarys from now.
If Cheney resigns, any Vice-Presidential nominee would have to be confirmed by the House of Representatives (nb – not the Senate as with Cabinet officers because the HoR selects the President and Vice-President if the electoral college cannot reach a decision). One card that Colin Powell had to play when Bush edged him out was that Condi would have to face confirmation hearings in the (then Republican Senate). There’s evidence in Woodward’s book that many in the Bush administration wanted to oust Rumsfeld after the 04 election but Cheney used the argument that what would come out in hearings for a new SecDef would be a political disaster for the administration.
Cheney was always wanted dead-or-alive and we told him to his face to BRING IT ON! So this is great news now we have smoked him out and have him on the backfoot. While they are in their last throes, if you will, this is still a long war and a small surge now should clinch it. Certainly no time to cut and run in this war against religious extremism.
Your either with the snarkos or your with the terrorists.
Way to play the “West Wing” card Mark. Like in the WW, I think that a House of Reps confirmation would make it really hard for the GoP to replace Cheney with anyone that is remotely popular.
How about Gingrich?
Seriously, though, the reason Gerry Ford became Veep, though Nixon had no great amount of time for him, was that as minority leader in Congress and a generally well liked member, he was an easy ask for confirmation after Agnew was forced out.
Heh.
Dick Cheney is An American Tapeworm. An uber-parasite, deeply imbedded in the transverse colon of the Seppo body politic. He ‘s going nowhwere in a hurry while his host is still alive.
Radical impeachment is indicated. He needs to be ripped physically from his White House bunker or, it’s business as usual for The Kellog Brown Rooters and their ilk. Senator “go fuck yourself” Cheney is the kind of a guy who NEEDS TO BE TOLD that the Party’s over.
The longer Dick sucks on the Federal Reserve, the more GOPers will be electorally flushed in 2008.
The Imbecile and The Tapeworm are trump cards for the Dems as Nov. 2008 draws closer. Scooter’s slide on four out of five will get a mess more voter heads up when Ambassador Joe Wilson and outed CIA spouse Valerie Plame launch their civil suit against Administration principals later this year, regardless of appeals or pardons.For the GOP it’s May Day, May Day and not a Commie in sight.
Btw, whacking Iran just got a whole lot harder(Chomsky March 9) due to lingering White House credibility issues. However, cornered predators are capable of anything when their judgement is greased by bulk black liquid gold.
The best way for Cheney-haters to extract revenge on Cheney, if that’s all they seek, is to do…nothing much. Let him and his fellow Utopian Ismic-o-mism-ists of the day twist publicly in on themselves up there on their own petards. Bush’s Administration is already flailing and choking itself to death. If you’re the partisan cheering type, enjoy the spectacle if you must. But kicking even the devil when he’s down is a miserable levelling sin.
The uber-cynic Cheney would himself want his Democrat enemies to sully themselves just so by having an active hand in his demise. A final dirty victory over the idealists, you could say. Leave Cheney’s fate to his Republican ‘allies’ alone. Post-Bush America will need some cleanskin leadership something fierce.
Oh I hope we get to see Joe & Valerie under oath and on the witness stand. That would be hilarious.
Would you like another glass of kool aid, Craig?
Sorry to turn the cold shower on your dreams Silky. BTW, english breakfast is more my poison. The tanin must be an inch thick in my digestive tract.
As they say, a week’s a long time in politics and we’ve got almost two years until the next US milestone. I only hope we get two strong, quality candidates this time.
Our own election should be interesting. I look forward to seeing how Labour performs without a psycho in charge. Rudd will be super-smooth in debates (assuming Brian Burke keeps his mouth shut), but the problems will start when the supporting cast gets in the spotlight. Witness Kelvin Thompson this week – what was he thinking? I wonder what sleazy backroom deal could lead an aspiring AG to give a character reference to a notorious drug lord?
Yairs, Craigie, the longer the better. I love to see them done slowly.
Good to see you support the repeal of the 22nd amendment
.
That’s not how I read the article at all. The information about diplomats slandering Cheney probably came from an ‘informed source’ inside the State Department, as part of a Rice-Cheney power struggle.
I don’t care about Libby’s conviction, it’s a storm in a teacup as far as I’m concerned. If I was in the USA I would almost certainly not vote Democratic – I’m not one of the pro-Democratic people commenting on this blog.
I’m not sure why you might think I’m pro-Democratic just because I say the WaPo is right-wing. You may wish to note my previous comment where I reject the usual myth of Woodward as some brave liberal hero stepping forward to protect his country from the evil Nixon.
House AND Senate. The procedure for confirming a replacement VP is not the same as the procedure for selecting a President if the electoral college cannot decide. Text of the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the US Constitution is here: http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/constitution_amendments_11-27.html#25
Cheney will not resign, IMO, and any speculation about possible scenarios will remain just that. No Republican likely to be confirmed could possibly be trusted by the current Administration. A Rice nomination would be so harshly attacked in confirmation hearings as to be practically impossible.
Yes, David, as I said in the post, it’s probably a Condi-supported move against Cheney.
Or it could be some conceited mid-level public servant within State that has democrat loyalties, gosh knows there’s enough of them breaking the secrecy laws by leaking anti-terror programs to the NYT. Hey, I can name two examples of the type right off the bat.
Be that as it may, it’s still interesting that a columnist in the WaPo decides to run with it.
Not impossible, Craig MC, but I still agree with Kim’s take that this is a Rice/Cheney thing.
If this was just a mid-level leak by a Democratic sympathiser (certainly not impossible), why would the writer of the article put in a ‘rebuttal’ from the Cheney camp?
As I said, I also agree with Kim that any resignation is unlikely. I think this is just part of the standard power-struggle between factions close to the President.
Another reason that resignation is very unliely that unless and until a new VP was confirmed by the Democratic-controlled Congress, Speaker Pelosi would stand first in line to the Presidency.
President Pelosi – that’s much more inspiring than President Clinton II!