Will Cheney Resign Before the End of the Year?

[Stephanie]

Poll question: Will Cheney Resign Before the End of the Year?

And who would replace him?

[bryant69]

1. I think it will be the Reincarnation of Paul Revere's Horse

Or Frist.

Could go either way.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[SteppingRazor]

2. Yeah, I think he's gone by December...

As for the other details, forgive me for being lazy, but I'll just cut and paste my blog post on it that I posted on DU a few days ago:

The only question now is when. National Journal has reported that Lewis "Scooter" Libby has testified that Cheney told him to leak classified information, including a highly classified National Intelligence Estimate. He hasn't said yet whether Cheney gave him the go-ahead to out Valerie Plame, but that, too shall come to pass. (see: http://nationaljournal.com/about/njweekly/stories/2006/0209nj1.htm..)

Once the dust settles, Cheney will have to go. And the dust will most certainly settle before 2008, when these rats will be leaving office anyway. If things can be hurried along, Cheney may resign within six months. But I doubt the likelihood of that outcome. Libby's lawyers will stall for time, waiting until after the 2006 election. At that point, Cheney will resign for "health reasons."

The question then becomes, who will replace him, and what good will it do? Ordinarily, one would think that the Bush branch of the GOP (as opposed to the McCain folks and other would-be presidential contenders for '08) would install its pick for a Bush successor. But that could be a bad idea -- the slime of the VP's office may rub off on the new No. 2, miring him or her in a morass of inescapable, unelectable greed and stupidity. If the Bush folks anticipate this, they will bring in one of their sometime allies but longterm rivals, like Bill Frist or John McCain, to take the VP slot in what they will term a "healing, reach-across-the-aisle" sort of move. But if the Bush boys think that the new VP can escape the shadows of the former, they'll install their likely successor.

But who? The GOP in '08 doesn't look as if it will bend toward the neocon side. The likely candidates -- Bill Frist, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani and Sam Brownback -- have all had their problems with this administration. Given past precedent, and also given the few friends it now has in Congress, I expect the Bush White House to promote from within. Maybe Condoleeza Rice. That'll set the stage for her to run in '08. But, of course, she'll get hammered in the GOP primary. The party is full of racists and misogynists, and running a black woman is not the smartest thing they could do. But for Bush and his cronies, Rice may be the only option. The Taint Is Too Big.

Besides, naming Rice as VP serves another function. It gets Cheney out of the press. Sure, the Vice President of the United States just resigned for bullshit health reasons. Sure, he REALLY resigned for a sheer landslide of law-breaking committed with the sort of fuck-you-I-don't-give-a-damn-what-anyone-thinks mentality that we haven't seen in a politician since Caligula. But all of that will leave the papers as journalists across CNN, Fox News and all the major newspapers all scream: IS THE COUNTRY READY FOR A BLACK FEMALE VICE PRESIDENT??!!!!!?!?!

While talk over the new VP reaches a fever pitch, Dick will reach some agreement with the prosecutor and retire to a life of duck hunting, ranching, and bathing in the blood of nubile virgins.

Final Prediction: Cheney resigns in Dec. '06, after the election, but before the newly elected come to power. Filled with their own hubris, and also wanting to cover Cheney's ass, Bush Co. will install Rice as the new VP.

[Bubba Zanetti]

5. It will be Condi

and she will win the nonimation only because most repubs hate us more than they are uncomfortable around people of color.

[SteppingRazor]

9. I disagree she'll win a presidential nomination...

The GOP in Congress will approve her to replace Dick as VP, but her chances of gaining the presidential nomination are akin to the hellbound snowball. Not when she's running against a bunch of old white guys like McCain and Frist. The GOP will come up with one of them. Probably McCain. Maybe Giuliani, if he decides to run.

Yes, the GOP hates Democrats even more than blacks in general, but you're forgetting that there's plenty of white competition for the POTUS slot.

[Stephanie]

6. Condi's got a little problem though

No way in hell they run her. The first woman, the first black, but more importantly, the first SINGLE PERSON, and how would she explain that exactly? And what close personal friends might be discovered in Condi's closet if she steps into the slot?

[Strawman]

14. The Condi move would be interesting

And you're right, it would be a big distraction. I think that scenario is spot on.

One point of disagreement is on Frist. Frist isn't a "rival." He's a complete puppet installed by Rove. He's made one orchestrated move outside the administration's line on stem cells (I think that what it was), and I think that was probably done with a permission slip. He'd be covered in Bushco stink from day one, so he's no solution to the credibility problem.

[Bubba Zanetti]

3. Yes

....and it will be for 'health reasons'.

Be careful what ya'all wish for. Condi is already being groomed for the top slot in the corporation. Giving her a few years as exposure as VP would cement her likely run for *'s job.

[Theres-a]

4. Robb is a dingbat

[sam sarrha]

7. he will resign before indited for treason, which ever comes first..

[savemefromdumbya]

8. He will probably retire through 'ill health'

How did Bush get that wound on his face - it wasn't the pretzel's fault?

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. I hope he won't resign. No sense in giving McCain a platform

to run in 2008

[BringEmOn]

11. No resignation without the threat of impeachment.

[Norquist Nemesis]

12. It'll be a long 10 months either way. n/t

[H2O Man]

13. Yes.

There is more of a discussion about this going on in the president's office, and in several circles in Washington DC and the country than the public realizes. Consider the groups that are speaking out now about the errors Cheney made in the shooting incident. I mean the republicans, like Ari F, etc. These include the group that is represented by Brent Scowcroft; they are moderate right-wingers, if you will. Bush1 belongs more to this group than to the rabid-right neocons, and has suggested to his son that he listen closer to this group about Iraq and Iran.

More, a WHIG splinter group resents that Cheney is trying to push Plame blame on Scooter and even Rove, in order to protect himself. Do not believe reports that Rove assisted Cheney in preparing the poor media presentation on Sunday and Monday. Tempers flared between Rove & Co and the VP's office. This is syptomatic of a larger tension between the two groups.

Finally, while I would not ask anyone to feel sorry for Dick, I think it is worth appreciating that shooting someone takes a toll on a person. It matters not that Dick is a shit, who will tend to process this in terms of self-pity and blame directed at others. Only those who have shot another human being in the head, and then looked that victim in the eye as he lay helpless and bleeding on the ground can really understand what I'm saying here. But this isn't going to disappear from Dick's mind any time soon. It will revisit him late at night, and make restful sleep a thing of the distant past.