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.
One article I bookmarked:
Hillary Clinton: One Step Back, Shift To The Right
January 27, 2005
http://www.mensnewsdaily.com/archive/m-n/mariani/2005/mariani012705.htm
Hillary has moved far to the right on illegal immigration -- to the right of President Bush, in fact. In an interview on WABC radio, she stated (http://washingtontimes.com/national/20041213-124920-6151r.htm), "I am, you know, adamantly against illegal immigrants." She attacked Bush for not tightening the borders enough to prevent illegal immigrants from entering the country. However, she co-sponsored bill S. 2381 with Ted Kennedy, the "Safe, Orderly, Legal Visas and Enforcement Act of 2004." The bill included an amnesty that would have granted Legal Permanent Resident status to illegal aliens (and their spouses and minor children) who have lived in the US for at least 5 years, and worked for an aggregate of 2 years. This would have included just about every illegal immigrant currently living in the US. She also cosponsored S. 1545, the DREAM Act of 2003. The bill would have granted in-state tuition and amnesty to illegal aliens under the age of 21 who had lived in America for five years and were currently in 7th grade or above. The Agricultural Job Opportunity, Benefits, and Security Act of 2003 (S. 1645) also listed Hillary as a cosponsor. The bill would have granted amnesty to illegal immigrants who had 100 days of agricultural employment in the 18-month period that ended on 31 August 2003. To her credit, she did cosponsor S. 1749, the Enhanced Border Security and Visa Entry Reform Act of 2001, which would have created an alien tracking and identification system. However, her record can hardly be summed up (http://profiles.numbersusa.com/improfile.php3?DistSend=NY&VIPID=896) as being "adamantly against illegal immigrants."
And we should continue to spread it and advocate it.
The heartburn it causes the commieRATs is reason enough to do so.
From Wheeler's lips to God's ear!
Please, people, there is absolutely no evidence that the VP's health is getting worse, and plenty of reason to think otherwise. He has made it clear he's staying for the duration. What else is necessary? He is not going to want his legacy to be that he did not serve out his full-term for political reasons. Furthermore, Dick Cheney is a valuable asset to the President on Capitol Hill and in the Oval Office as a trusted advisor, probably his most trusted advisor.
If Condi were appointed to the VP position and went on to run for President, she would be forevermore depicted by the Dems as being handed her position and her political career as a gift from the President, rather than earning it. It would not be a good thing for her or for the Republicans.
Here's my take. She'll be against illegal immigration if she can pass legislation allowing felons to vote. If not, she'll need the illegal immigrant vote. IOW, whatever's politically expedient! ;-)
"This scenario makes sense but there's one fly in the ointment. Condi's never been elected to office. Is there a precedence for someone (besides George Washington or maybe one of the very earliest Prez's) being elected with no previous elected office?"
Yes. General Dwight David Eisenhower, and General Ullyses S. Grant. Both terrible presidents who did unbelievable damage to the Republican party.
Also, in the winner of the 1912 race was just a university professor with no electoral experience at all in 1909. But then Woodrow Wilson got himself elected governor of New Jersey in 1910 and ran for president in 1912, and won re-election in 1916.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1346614/posts
Vice President's Remarks at Annual Conservative PAC Conference
The White House ^ | February 18 2005 | White House
Cheney looks good to me(pictures)
Wow! That would be a lot worse than the things they say about her now.
Condi is prochoice IIRC. I would never ever vote for her if that is true, as much as I think she's great. That is my dealbreaker.
You don't want her hand on the nuclear football when she's pre-menstrual...?
Naah!
Cheney said he was in for the long haul and I believe him.
Secretary of Commerce? Holy irony Batman!
'rats or demonrats works fine with me.
sounds to me like a loony lib wet-dream....not a bit of truth in it....Cheney wouldn't have ran last year if he didn't intend to be there the whole 4....nice try, now go back to sleep
Qualified?! Then whom, on either side, do you consider to be qualified? Did you think that GWB was the most qualified in 2000?
Get over your one trick, son.
This isnt' an immigration thread.
Take it elsewhere.
The problem with replacing Cheney with Condi in '04 is that it looks a tad gimmicky, and suggests that Bush might be nervous about his re-election prospects. It also deprives him of the most involved and effective Vice-President in U.S. history.There's another alternative besides running Condi for VP in '04 or having her go directly for the Presidency in '08. Sometime during Bush's second term, Cheney simply resigns for "health reasons" and Bush appoints Condi as VP. There's no way in the world that Congress would fail to confirm her. That gives her incumbency credentials, the '08 Republican nomination in a cakewalk, and an easy victory in the general election.
Andrew Jackson served both as representative and as senator in the US Congress.
I had forgotten about Taylor; he only served 16 months. The funny thing about Taylor is that he never even had VOTED! I should not have forgotten about Hoover. But it is interesting to note that the three Republicans who harmed the party the most politically all lacked prior office.
(No, I don't count Nixon in that list. Although the GOP lost 4 senate seats and the Presidency, they came right back in 1980 with the Reagan Revolution.)
That's funny.
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