Fresh at the end of the day
Posted on 02/19/2005 4:43:15 AM PST by pookie18
Vice President Dick Cheney likely will step down next year due to health reasons and be replaced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, according to a report by geopolitical expert Jack Wheeler.
On his website, To the Point, Wheeler reports there's a "red-breasted rumor bird" flying around Capitol Hill that has whispered the same thing to most congressional committee chairmen.
"We all know that Dick Cheney has been the best vice president of modern times, perhaps in American history," one such chairman told Wheeler. "And we know that he absolutely will not run for president in 2008. Further, he has an unfortunate history of heart trouble. So let's just say none of us will be surprised if, sometime next year, he will step down from the vice presidency due to his health."
Continued the source: "Should this happen, President Bush would need to appoint his replacement, just as Richard Nixon chose Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew. It is quite clear to us whom the president would choose should he need to: Condoleezza Rice."
Wheeler goes on to analyze what such a scenario would mean for the 2008 presidential election.
Writes Wheeler: "Being a sitting vice president places Condi in an impregnable position for the GOP nomination in 2008 and sucks every breath of wind from Hillary's sails. Historically, it's hard for a party to keep the White House after they've had it for eight years. This is George Bush and Dick Cheney's way to buck history – and make it."
Serving as Bush's national security adviser during his first term, Rice took over the State Department last month.
I can't believe he left Fran. I worked with her a few times and really liked her. Who knows what she's like at home...
That would be wonderful,it true. Of course I love Cheney. I would hate to see him step down.
There have been rumors that Dick Cheney is going to quit for health reasons almost as long as he's been Vice President. Maybe one of these days, those rumors will turn out to be true. I'll believe it when I see it.
It might not be worse in the personal sense, but it could definitely be worse from a political standpoint. You bet they would use that to portray her as an unqualified candidate, one who's been handed an elected office without being elected.
I want Condi as a candidate in 2008 as much as anyone, for either VP or President. I definitely don't think this is the way to get it. Plus, it would cause the Republicans to lose the service of one of the most effective Vice Presidents in history.
Fresh at the end of the day
If this were to happen, it means that W is actively attempting to handpick his successor. He hasn't yet shown that he wants to do that. If he does decide to go that route, it won't happen until after the 2006 elections..the GOP expects to gain a few more Senate seats...will make it easier to limit the Dem circus on the hearings Condi would face...and
Now, the hard question. I ask it only becauise every Dem/lib/leftie will...if? Can the first black female presidental candidate be a single, never-married femaele, whom, as far as I can determine, in all her time in government service has never been linked publicly with a male partner..I don'tcare what she is, or isn't..I'd support her candidcay in a second..but we'd better make sure, very sure, of what, if anything, is going on there. Look what the Dems did to Cheney's daughter during the campaign..What they will do to Condi..wheteher she's hetero, homo, or, indifferent..will be 1000x worse by comparison..
Load of crap from WND.
If by 'brilliant' you mean 'very predictable' and 'shamelessly self serving, 'shallow, & 'transparent,' then yes the move would be 'brilliant.'
"....President Bush would need to appoint his replacement, just as Richard Nixon chose Gerald Ford to replace Spiro Agnew....".....who then proceeded to lose to one of the worst and disasterous Presidents in US history.
But do you have any idea how close that election was?
The Republican Party went into the 1976 election with three millstones around its neck: the Nixon Pardon, defeat in Indochina, and a Recession. People wanted "Change". Governor Jimmy Carter of Georgia came roaring out of Plains, GA, with a "change" agenda and captivated the American media. They anointed him in the Spring and Summer of 1976 and the hagiography of "James" Carter spread throughout the land. In this age of instant fact checking, it is sometimes hard for us to recall how powerful was the MSM in those days. Republicans were always on the ideological defensive, while the MSM acted as the Propaganda Organ of the DNC. Natch, the 'Tator will tell you how easy it was to manufacture votes for Carter in Ohio in those days, btw.
In the Summer, Carter had built up a thirty point lead. He promised everything to everyone. Now Gerald Ford was a nice man, and he was an honest man, and he was a reasonably competent President (he was actually a better President than Carter), but he was an awful campaigner. He was wounded severely by the beating he took during his contest with Reagan in the Spring, and the Republicans went into the fall a divided party. Their brains were with Ford; their hearts were with Reagan.
A lot is told about a President by the kind of campaign he runs. Carter's began to collapse. Were it not for the fact the Gerald Ford decided to liberate Poland in one of his Presidential debates, Gerry might have won the election. As it was, he got within two points of victory. That was a phenomenal success for such an incompetent campaign. You must realize just how close we came to winning that contest. It all hinged on Ohio, btw. Florida went for Carter in that year, too.
It was good that we lost that year. The stage was set for the ascent of Reagan and the permanent Republican majority that would dawn under Bush the Younger. But Jerry Ford, though not a conservative, was a Republican and fought the good fight for our party. Good for him.
Condoleezza Rice would not be operating under the same set of handicaps that Ford operated under. I cannot see her trying to peddle "Whip Inflation Now" buttons. She doesn't fall over. She doesn't mangle syntax. She speaks in complete paragraphs. She wins debates. Chevy Chase would not be mocking her. Most importantly, she appears to be a conviction politician. Much of the Bush doctrine is her doing, and came out of her shop (NSS USA- 2002).
What she does have to do is get right with the Party on the Life issue or she will have a rebellion on her hands the likes of which has not been seen since Reagan challenged Ford back in '76. Republicans will tolerate an orderly succession, but they will not compromise very much on the life issue. MAYBE, MAYBE she could be personally pro-life and stand for returning the issue to the states where it was before Roe, but that's the most she could get away with (that's my position, btw).
In addition, I would expect her to be on the right on immigration. Why? That's where black America is on immigration. I would expect her to be where the black consensus is on this particular issue. Besides, Vicente Fox has stabbed us in the back once too often for her tastes, I suspect.
Finally, my take on this story is simple: why is it running? Why did Fox News Channel's editorial staff choose to run it on this morning's Fox and Friends?
Not all rumors happen by accident, people. Some rumors happen while Hillary is out of the country, just to keep the kettle boiling.
Be Seeing You,
Chris
Sure should.. At least as many people as backed Pat Buchanan in 2004. ... perhaps as many as 5 or 6 more...
TOTALLY agree with you about Cheney as VP.
I'm concerned that we haven't any very likely, attractive prospects. I'm hoping that some position of prominence would be a leg up over the pretenders, the McMeMeMe's and his ilk. I'm thinking '08, and we NEED to keep that office.
Dan
I simply do not see the legup..and it would seem so contrived,too. Bush was the Governor of Texas, Clinton the Governor of Arkansas, Bush was VP, Reagan the Governor of California, Kennedy was the last Senator who won.
I simply do not see this as anything but rumor and panic.
Did you have Governor Bush in mind in 1996?
No, he wasn't my first choice. Or second, or third, or fourth, if I remember right.
Well, fine. What governor do you want to see run? I can't think of one offhand.
Dan
That's assuming Condi wants it. Of course, the democrats will argue that she's not authentically black or female ....
Haven't they been rumoring this for the past 3-1/2 years?
I could not, in 1996, foresee Bush...I cannot see yet..There is always someone from another state that I am not familiar with..I don't worry about it right now..I am still rejoicing over this election.
It seems that way!
**Well, fine. What governor do you want to see run? I can't think of one offhand.**
I think that was the point of the comment in 1996 people would not have had GWB in mind for running let alone winning.
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