On July 1, 2006, Dick Cheney will resign the Vice Presidency.

[saltpoint]

His work in the public sector, most of it abjectly sinister, is done, and frankly he wishes to return to the oil-sucking and money-making he's dedicated his life to.

With great fanfare amid hurrahs and balloons from Bill Kristol and the other neo-cons, Dick and Lynn board a helicopter and return to private life.

Dubya has already made his selection for Dick's replacement. The telephone in Condoleezza Rice's office rings to make it official. The press conference will be the next day in the Rose Garden.

Condoleezza will be the first woman and the first black to hold this high an office in the history of the nation. The media have a collective orgasm.

In return for his support of John Bolton in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar will be named Rice's replacement at State, a job he has long coveted.

Indiana Republican Governor Mitch Daniels names Republican Congressman Steve Buyer to Lugar's seat.

And just like that, Slobberin' Jeb, Rabid George Allen, Snivelin' Sam Brownback, THE CAT BUTCHER, and John McCain all watch their presidential plans dissolve as Condi struts her stuff as the new vice president, poised as never before for the 2008 GOP nomination.

_____

I hope this scenario is never realized. But it is a feared possibility.

[wakeme2008]

1. No way, Dickie is already talking he was the WH job for himself nt

[FreedomAngel82]

2. Yep

He's pretty comfortable.

[saltpoint]

4. Is he electable, though? The GOP "moderates" are not hogwild about this -

-- guy. Cheney presides over the same Senate that just took Frist on a snipehunt over filibusters.

[Snotcicles]

15. He has Diebold, he says electable my weasel n/t

[ClintonTyree]

3. You should seriously consider....

writing horror novels. That is the most horrible scenario I could ever imagine :scared:

[saltpoint]

5. I admit that it's definitely puke-inducing, ClintonTyree.

At the end there, I disclaimed that I didn't want it to happen.

But it looks like just the thing the Bush Family Evil Empire would conspire to do.

[Warpy]

6. All but the last could happen

but Rice will just be a filler when Cheney decides to go spend more time with his family (meaning his money).

Jebbie is next in line for the Imperial Throne. He's had to cool his heels for 8 years while his dumber, booze soaked older brother has stumbled and stammered his way through. Nothing will deprive him of his entitlement.

[saltpoint]

16. Could be, Warpy. You have a point. Rice as filler while Jeb --

-- revs up down in Florida for the big move to Washington.

O yuck what a dark thought, huh?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

23. This just in

"Elder Bush would like son Jeb to run for president"
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/bush_father_dc

He's definitely reeving up down in FL. :scared:

[saltpoint]

26. O god. Time to renew that passport...

(thanks for the link, even if it had to be about that topic, Lone_Star_Dem)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

30. I should point out that Poppy did say the timing isn't right

It still concerns me that they are throwing his name in any sentence that includes the word president.

[saltpoint]

32. Agreed. He gets peppered into every dish they serve, seems like.

A horrifying scenario: Condi is nominated by the GOP for president and picks Slobberin' Jeb as her vice presidential nominee.

How macabre is that?

[Lone_Star_Dem]

33. All they would need is a picture of the two of them on a horse

-- and they'd have a new depiction of Danse Macabre.

Imagine the damage they could do in four years. I see a vision of barren wastelands and smoldering ruins.

[saltpoint]

35. I would laugh at your Danse Macabre line except I'm weeping in --

-- horror over the distinct possibility that these people will continue to play roles in American public life for years to come.

Do cry for me, Argentina.

Your vision of wastelands and ruins? I think that's about right.

[loudsue]

59. Poppy says the timing isn't right, because the country

will be in the TOILET by 2008, as a result of failed republican rulership over the country.

The republican-owned voting machines will allow a Dem to be elected, so that they can blame the Democrats for all the pissing and moaning the general population will be going through for the years following GWB's horrific reign.

Once a Democrat takes the Oval Office and brings the country back to sound fiscal policies and prosperity, THEN I'm sure Poppy will think it's the perfect time for Jeb to run.

Republicans....destroying America, one moral principle at a time, one livelihood at a time.

:kick:

[meow2u3]

36. Only the good die young

That's how come Poppy Bush has lived to such a ripe==or should I say overripe--old age! Still evil after all these years :evilgrin:

[saltpoint]

39. Yes -- ol' Poppy Bush. I remember when Oliphant used to draw him --

-- with a purse in his hand!

And a fairly obscure Arkansas governor knocked him out of the White House.

It would be a fine, fine day at my house if I could wake up to find anyone remotely connected to the Bush family ENTIRELY removed from public service.

How good it would be for 2006 and 2008 to swing blue.

[LibDemAlways]

7. Only silver lining here is that

Condi would never be elected or even selected. The election wouldn't be close enough for the repukes to be able to convincingly steal. And, that's assuming she'd even win the nomination. The repuke party has a significant number of freeper racists who'd never vote for a black woman, period.

[saltpoint]

18. Hi, LibDemAlways. You may be right about her nominatability --

-- and electability. I certainly agree that there is a VERY significant racist vein running through GOP politics, and most of it is quite a bit more subtle than Trent Lott's lazy-minded endorsement of Strom Thurmond's segregationist past.

I think you've absolutely got that nailed.

But from Rove's point of view, the Democratic demographic model could be further weakened if the heretofore black vote was split. A Condi presidential campaign would almost certainly split the black vote in major U.S. cities. She could draw as much as 25% or more of that vote and that would result in Red State hegemony.

Or not.

I do NOT wish to see this woman with that much power.

[phylny]

41. As sad as it is, I agree with you.

My mother-in-law, brother, and sister-in-law would never vote for her. MIL because she's black, and brother and SIL because she's a woman.

[bloom]

8. quit giving them ideas!!

:D

[saltpoint]

19. hi, bloom.

Ok, I guess I shouldn't give them the idea. But if I give them the idea that Dubya should be sent on a one-way voyage into space in a very small rocketship, they probably wouldn't take me up on it!

But what a nice thought, huh?

[Freddie Stubbs]

9. Why July 1st?

:shrug:

[saltpoint]

20. an arbitrary date, but if it came to pass (God forbid) --

-- then Dubya can parade Condi around the country on a whistle-stop trip, wrapping up on July 4th in some "purple" state.

The scenario is Rovian and as I said at the end of it, I hope it doesn't happen.

[libodem]

10. The more surreal the more

it represents actual life. Stop scaring me, like that. AAAggggghhhh!

[saltpoint]

21. Hi, libodem. Sorry. I know better than to tell horror stories, but --

-- this fear has been gnawing at me and I was kind of interested in what other DUers thought.

No fan of Kindasleazy in the first place, I'd be even less fond of her if she were to run for president.

She should have stuck with her Brahms work in California.

[Mr_King]

11. Cheney Resigns

Cheney will go the way of Sprio Agnew.

Hell that ticker of his might not make it to 2006.

[Olney Blue]

14. Good point about Cheney's health.

Is anything known about who would take his place is he goes to Helliburton?

[newyawker99]

51. Hi Olney Blue!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[saltpoint]

22. Mr_King, I hear you on that. In a world of my choosing and control --

-- he and Dubya would have been rejected by voters in far greater numbers than the November 2004 tally.

i don't want him to be felled by a heart attack, but the scenario in which he resigns owing to legal transgressions as vice president -- well! -- that has great appeal.

Put me down in favor of that one.

[me b zola]

12. A trend I have noticed

They were probably more successful in stacking their PNACers into vita positions than even they could have imagined, of course they want to keep moving with their agenda. Throughout the past several months, I have noticed that they have placed little teasers in the media to see how each of the names will play.

We heard Condi's name mentioned after her confirmation.

Then a couple of weeks ago we heard the tease about Cheney.

Over the week-end the floated the idea of pickles.


The good news is that I don't believe that any of the above have a snowball's chance in hell, but then again, look at the creature inhabiting the WH now.

[saltpoint]

25. me b zola, I think you're right about that strategy they use.

I just can't see Cheney getting the nomination. McCain would put him away in New Hampshire in a hurry. Cheney would look roughly like he looked in those pictures from Dauchau -- a bloated Michelin Man-type of figure, part Helmut Kohl, part polar bear -- and voters would just reject him outright.

My not wanting Condi to be vice president, I realize, does not preclude its happening. And I'm fearful that that's the deal on Rove's desk.

[Bouncy Ball]

13. The reich wingers and fundies will NEVER EVER

vote for an African-American woman.

Ever. Mark my words. And if the bush cabal thinks black America is just going to fall all over itself to vote for a republican African-American woman, they are sorely mistaken.

[saltpoint]

27. I hope we have an America soon (since we do not yet have it) that will --

-- elect a candidate based on his or her ability to inspire a heightened citizenship among voters in this country, and who can inspire collaborative problem-solving and crisis-facing among our allies and other countries abroad -- WHETHER OR NOT he or she is of this or that ethnic origin.

I know that wish is premature as far as many voters are concerned, and that's disheartening, but I say it only because I want Rice defeated because she has been a right-wing bootlicker and not because she is Afro-American or a female.

[Bouncy Ball]

28. I agree with every word you said.

Right on.

[meow2u3]

38. Black America knows a sellout when they see one

It's the right wing of white America that thinks everyone else is stupid--especially blacks. Nothing can be further from the truth; blacks aren't bamboozled by right-wing posers, no matter what race they are.

[Bouncy Ball]

45. In that sense (generalization warning) I think black Americans are

smarter.

[hfojvt]

54. exactly what I said about Powell

I would have loved to see him run, because the Republicans would tear themselves apart. At least half of them would abandon the party for any white candidate on the ballot. She might be a viable candidate for Governor of California, but there is no way she would win a Republican primary for President even if she was appointed Vice President and George had a stroke and she ran as an incumbent.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Any scenario that has the GOP in power after 2008 is a bad scenario

Even Lugar is disgusting, having turned into a rubber stamp for Bush after years of claiming his independence.

[saltpoint]

29. Agreed. And it's a bad scenario now, as far as that goes.

Lugar is disgusting, as you accurately describe him. "Rubber stamp" is a pleasant term for what's he's been up to on the foreign relations committee.

I'd love to see Mitch Daniels overplay his hand and get his hindend handed to him by voters. He's one aggressive s.o.b., isn't he?

[AnnInLa]

24. Way back, just after the last pres election, I heard Brian Williams

say on Imus that the Washington scuttlebutt had Dick Cheney resigning due to "health problems" about 1-2 years into this 2nd term. Then, the pres chooses Frist/Santorum/Similar to give him 2-3 years on the national stage, poised to run and win the presidency in 2008. Rove will never allow McCain or Rudy to get the nomination...they are much too moderate on many issues, so he has to have someone primed to take over the presidency who will follow closely in junior's shoes and continue the take-over of the country. The rove/neocon plan cannot be railroaded, it must continue on during the next presidency. Brian Williams never said if he believed this rumor or not, but was sure passing it along to Imus and audience.

The problem with Condi continues to be the South. I have lived here all of my life, and can't see these Bubbas pulling the lever for a black woman. They will stay home, and I think rove knows that...he will choose someone to succeed Cheney who the Bubbas and fundies will vote for.

[saltpoint]

31. AnnInLa, I have to defer to your sense of things in the South --

-- and that means my scenario may not be valid.

Are you saying that the "bubba" vote would be withheld for Rice even if she were the Republican nominee?

Who would they vote for if not the Republican ticket?

Would they just stay home?

I can see that happening, but don't have a sense of how it might turn out. If the GOP ran a Rice-Jeb ticket, would that not sweep the entire South? You couldn't get too much more conservative than that.

[Donna Zen]

40. I agree that cheney will be replaced but

it will not be Condi. They are not going to miss the opportunity to sell incumbency.

With the shit that is hidden in that White House, they will go for a winner. McCain has not burned his bridges. He has backed them even when they were tearing the army to shreds. McCain believes in their demented plans. And McCain can win. Jebthrow goes to Washington. Sec of either Defense of State.

[saltpoint]

44. Have considered that. God, what a horrible thought --

-- Slobberin' Jeb running the Defense or State Department.

O my god that would be awful.

[lonestarnot]

34. What's to fear there?

[saltpoint]

37. Hi, lonestarnot. I fear that Condoleezza Rice will siphon votes from --

-- the traditional Democratic demographic -- professional women and black voters especially -- who may be drawn to a ticket with her at the top.

In the saddest and scariest of visions, I see Cheney resigning for "health" reasons, Dubya appointing Rice as VP, Rice doing PR for 2 years until she is the logical choice for GOP nominee.

And then at the convention she chooses Slobberin' Jeb as her vice presidential nominee.

A Rice-Jeb ticket -- I'm just predicting, remember -- would spell trouble for Democrats in 2008.

[lonestarnot]

46. I can smell victory if that's the ticket they decide to blow! LOL America

is not ready for a black woman president...2 birds with one stone will kill that in a hurry. And besides repukes are just using the black in her for the vote... I think most have figured that out and would avoid voting for her.

[saltpoint]

47. Well, I'm hopeful that neither will be in the picture.

I can't even guess who has the inside track for the GOP ticket. McCain is interested, I know, but I can't guess his chances. THE CAT BUTCHER, as horrible as he is, may be a contender. George Allen? I just don't know.

I'd like to see us pick up a few senate seats in 2006 -- maybe knock off icky Ricky in Pennsylvania -- and then reclaim the White House in 2008.

We need a hit of good news.

[lonestarnot]

48. I'm for that!

[Mr_Spock]

42. Cock Cheney needs to be on a chain gang...

He's a lying weasel murderer - I care more about a rat in the junkyard than that Cheney ass-hat.

[saltpoint]

43. Mr._Spock, howdy. A couple of questions for you:

Do you belive that Congressman Conyers' impeachment strategy is 1) in the works; and if so, 2) do you think it will change history?

I think you are holding high cards on your point about possible illegal doings by the vice presiden'ts office -- not least regarding Valerie Plame.


_____

edit: typos (poster agrees to take typing course)

[DaDeacon]

49. Oh I love it!!!!

I'm a black man and I'll tell you all right now! A black woman/man will not be voted President any time soon! (Not even Baraka)

[saltpoint]

50. Well, DaDeacon, my take is that we need an America that votes on --

-- the merits of the candidate and not skin color or ethnic origin, etc.

I acknowledge that not all of America is there yet.

Rice alarms me because she lies to preserve power. Cheney embodies that concept. They're of different ethnic origins but their response to power is about the same.

She dresses better than he does, though.

:hi:

[DaDeacon]

62. Race matters...

I know that we are "above" such things but we really think that a country that still dosen't understand why the OJ trailsets on racial lines, will not vote a black woman in office, anytime soon. Sorry Just the truth.

[goodboy]

52. I heard DICK was a dark horse candidate in 08

[saltpoint]

53. Yes, it's true we can't exclude him.

But he looks weary half the time or more, and I just don't see him passing up all those big bucks to preside over the executive branch (beyond what he has already been doing since 2000).

Just my opinion, though.

[orleans]

55. are you psychic?

(if the answer is yes then you probably knew i was going to ask you that, right?)

[saltpoint]

57. Hi, orleans. Nah. I'm nowhere near psychic. And I hope the --

-- above scenario NEVER comes to pass. I'd like to see a strong Democratic ticket whomp the Republicans so bad they'd dissolve the GOP forever. THAT would be my preferred scenario.

But I'm aware that Condi is slithering along the path toward the temple. And it makes me nervous.

[orleans]

60. dissolve the GOP....... ahhhh ...... i couldn't wish for anything better

[flaminbats]

56. Rice and * both vote in Texas..

Isn't it unconstitutional for the President and Vice President to be residents of the same state?

[saltpoint]

58. I don't know. I need to check that out.

Is Cheney registered in Texas or in Wyoming, I wonder.

His Halliburton days were in Texas, but he was a Congressman from Wyoming.

Not sure, flaminbats. Real good question.

[funflower]

61. The rank and file won't support Condi for 2008, and Lugar is not

Bush's kind of guy. But, yes, Cheney will have to resign at some point. I think Frist will get the nod as heir apparent, unless Cheney really does plan to stuff a lot of Diebold machines, because the repub base won't support a guy who is friends with his lesbian daughter.

[saltpoint]

63. Agree that Frist is a possibility. But the White House can't be happy --

-- with the failed initiatives on the Senate floor, and some of the nominations are being held up, etc.

Still, THE CAT BUTCHER remains a real possibility.