The Cheney Question

Vice President Dick Cheney on Capitol Hill, March 7, 2007. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

(You can always count on Reuters for less than flattering photos of Dick Cheney.)

Questions about Vice President Dick Cheney completing his term are so old.

Before the 2004 Election, speculation over whether President Bush would dump Cheney for a different running mate was rampant.

After Cheney's hunting accident, there were questions about him stepping down. The fringe Left and the lib media drooled at the thought of Cheney being charged with murder. Ridiculous!

Disgracefully, every time Cheney has a health issue, the Left goes bonkers.

Throughout pLame-gate and the Scooter Libby trial, the same questions have surfaced.

Will Cheney be forced to resign? Will he choose to resign?

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Dick Cheney's health problems and the perjury conviction of his former chief of staff touched off another round of a favorite Washington "what if?" parlor game: What would happen if he quit as President George W. Bush's vice president and who would replace him?

The game has been played frequently in recent years, usually after the vice president, who has suffered several heart attacks, has had a health scare or has done something particularly embarrassing, like blasting a fellow hunter with birdshot.

The latest round of "what if?" began with the perjury trial of Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Cheney's former chief of staff, who was convicted this week of trying to obstruct an investigation to determine who leaked a CIA operative's identity to the press.

The discovery of a blood clot in the vice president's leg fueled further resignation speculation.

What a bunch of sickos!

Some tragedy befalling OUR Vice President that would force him to leave office is the basis for a favorite Washington parlor game.

Very nice.

Former Texas Democratic congressman Martin Frost played "what if?" in a piece for Fox News online last month, wondering if Bush might replace Cheney with Sen. Joseph Lieberman, who lost his Democratic primary in Connecticut and had to run as an independent with Republican support to win re-election.

...The British media took up the theme. The Evening Standard asked "Will a blood clot force Cheney to step down?" and reported "widespread speculation that if Mr. Cheney is unable to complete his term in office through ill health he will be replaced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice."

Ooooh. This is so much fun!!!

Let's imagine that Cheney is too ill to serve, meaning he's comatose or dead!

I think it's ghoulish.

Larry Sabato, a professor at the University of Virginia, told the online Cybercast News Service that if Rice were interested in the presidency and became vice president, the other Republicans in the 2008 race would have no chance.

"Right now, this seems wide open, you have a few top-tier candidates," he said. "But the situation can change quickly if Bush picks Rice as his new vice president."

Why do the lib media always run to Larry Sabato?

Remember this from Election 2006?

Sabato said, "[George] Allen said the N-word but I won't say how I know."

The guy is a nut.

...Interesting to think about, perhaps, but is it likely? Hardly, say political aides on Capitol Hill and analysts who study the vice presidency.

"There is no speculation over here of him stepping down," said a Republican leadership aide, who spoke on condition of anonymity. "I don't know why he would. He isn't the one who got convicted."

What would an article be without someone speaking "on condition of anonymity"?

The Cheney question is idiotic.

I agree with Stephen Hess.

" 'No serious political analyst can make a case that he would or should resign,' he said."

The key word is "serious."

Larry Sabato, Keith Olbermann, Chris Matthews, David Gregory, George Stephanopoulos and those of their ilk are not "serious" political analysts.

They're partisan hacks.