That's absurd. As someone pointed out earlier, only TWO vice presidents have ever been elected president. And one of those was GHWB, whom I suspect you didn't much care for. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever that the Republican nominee for 2008 needs to be running as a vice president. Look how that worked out for Al Gore.
You use Bush the elder (a former VP and he who loves BJ Clinton) in an argument to dispel the case for elevating a candidate to VP to gain an election advantage? Interesting.
Yes, you do suspect correctly about GHWB. I don't care for him as a politician, or as a CIA man, or as a statesman.