Wild speculation about Cheney and the 2008 election

[Connonym]

I'm giggly as a schoolgirl about these MSNBC reports regarding Cheney. It's got me thinking though, if Cheney resigns "in shame" will this let W off the hook for everything else? Will they use him as the fall guy for every fucking thing? Also, it would give them a chance to bring in party front runner for the 2008 elections. Who do you think it'd be? Would a candidate benefit from being veep under W or would it be political poison?

ETA: Oh my god, please not Jeb!

[LSK]

1. more importantly, is Cheney the driving force behind the NeoCon agenda?

Is Cheney the one behind the troop surge and the invasion Iran plans???

I dont think Bush is smart enough to be behind all this.

[H2O Man]

2. Well, I guess the

"Draft Cheney in '08" campaign will fizzle. Darn! It had such potential.

Your question is a valid one. This is going to damage the OVP, severely. I think that Cheney's people want Newt Gingrich to be on the ticket as the VP selection. It's interesting to guess who will be on the top, as they could well be Cheney's replacement.

[TahitiNut]

11. It seems clear that any warm fuzzies Scooter had for Karl are gone forever.

I have to wonder how much Scooter was set up (or torpedoed) by Karl ... and how trivial Karl's reasons were. Is it true Karl will give immunized testimony? If so, Fitz may have turned this trial into a punji pit for Karl - perjury, I believe, nullifies any immunity agreement.

[stillcool]

3. Nancy Pelosi....

is getting closer. Take down Cheney, impeach Bush = Brave New World.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Maybe this will be what Bush talks about tonight

Cheney's resignation. That would be worthy of a standing ovation, imho.

[TahitiNut]

5. I've been posing that scenario for over a year.

(1) Cheney resigns, citing health reasons.
(2) The GOP replaces him with an "heir presumptive"
(3) Chimpy is 'martyred' in mid-2008, solving the "what do we do with George" problem.
(4) The "heir presumptive" becomes pResident and the 2008 nominee.
(5) GOP gets 'sympathy vote.'

It 'solves' too many conundrums for the GOP to be ignored as a possible scenario, imho.

[Connonym]

7. Yup, scary as hell, isn't it?

It makes me feel like a paranoid :tinfoilhat: but I wouldn't put anything past this crowd. I totally buy that they'd martyr W (hell Barbara would probably volunteer for that job if Jebby could take over).

[Gman]

6. To begin with, Cheney has no shame

don't think for a second that he does. The only way Cheney will go is another heart attack (survive or not), impeachment or the end of his term. Cheney has no conscience about anything he's doing or anything he's done. Don't make the mistake that he does.

[Ganja Ninja]

8. If Cheney resigns it will be because of the Plame trial.

He has no shame but he might do it to get a pardon from Bush. As for who will replace him, it won't be Jeb. Who ever it is will have to be approved by the Senate. He/she will also have to be relatively untouched by scandal and that's hard to find in the GOP. I'm betting on poppy's old buddy James Baker.

[LondonReign2]

13. Agnew went down before Nixon

so in this case, I think we say hello to....President Rice. Lord help us.

[Ganja Ninja]

15. I don't think there's any way she'll get approved.

She's just too damned incompetent. Bush will have to find someone that isn't just plain nuts, stupid or incompetent and isn't tainted by all the other GOP scandals. In short he's going to have to go outside Washington to find someone.

(On edit) It might be Lieberman.

[LondonReign2]

16. She is utterly incompetent

But, for whatever reason, she isn't as hated as the rest of the Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight. But you are probably right, they'd almost be forced to go for someone not already in the inner circle.

[saltpoint]

9. I'll believe that Cheney is leaving when I see it, but it is fun to

speculate about a government without his influence.

Appointment to the vice presidency would put Candidate ____ in the catbird seat for 2008 but an interim appointment -- someone who isn't interested in the presidency -- might be what happens.

I'm thinking some care-taker, custodial, edge-rounder type of person.

[Jack Rabbit]

10. It will not let W off the hook for anything

What Congress should be able to prove once Fitzgerald presents his case to a standard satisfactory for impeachment and removal concerns Cheney's role in the Plame case.

That says nothing directly about Bush's role in the matter and is immaterial to demestic spying, torture and the manipulation and distortion of intelligence on Iraq, all which are impeachable offenses for which Bush must bear responsibility.

[Connonym]

12. Less literally though, more in the sense of public opinion

Would Cheney's resignation/impeachment/massive heart attack satisfy the current public outrage enough so that there wouldn't be huge support for getting rid of W? I don't for a minute think it would mitigate anything for die-hard liberals (or anyone who cares about justice) but would Joe Sixpack be satisfied enough that congress would lose incentive to investigate the rest of the shenanigans? I wonder whether this scandal will distract from other issues in a society where nothing holds interest for more than 5 minutes.

[Jack Rabbit]

14. I don't think so

Dick Cheney isn't the one signing the orders sending troops to their deaths in Iraq. Dick Cheney is not the one who will be ordering an unprovoked attack against Iran.

Dick Cheney isn't the one who will be giving a speech tonight proposing that the middle class be taxed of their employer-provided health benefits, after years of cutting taxes to wealthy and spending money like a drunken sailor in a whorehouse.