A GOP Plan To Oust Cheney

A GOP Plan To Oust Cheney - washingtonpost.com

This is how the Democrats will lose in 2008. You had that sinking feeling in your gut that without another Bill Clinton conquering the “American Middle” with pure charisma, the Democrats would somehow find a way to lose in 2008. Well, this is it.

Enter Dick Cheney, or rather, exit. If Cheney, the most powerful and least trustworthy VP in history, is replaced, that replacement is set up for the 2008 race like a diamond on top of a pile of shit. You just know people will reach in and love it all to hell, despite that lingering smell.

And this is why the Democrats are losing 2008, right now, as we speak. There are approximately 8 co-sponsors of HR333, the resolution to impeach Cheney. Nancy Pelosi wants none of it — won’t even consider impeachment, because it will hurt the Democrats chances in 08. And while an impeachment trial and tenuous, even unlikely (given the requisite 67 votes needed) conviction in the Senate will make the Dems seem like the antagonists out for revenge over Clinton’s impeachment farce, they will look even worse if they do nothing and the Republicans come in and “save the day” and without any legal reprimand for Cheney’s crimes. Either way, they’ll replace him with a prime 2008 contender.

The net result is that the Dems will look like ineffective fools and the GOP will get what they want anyway, which is Cheney not fucking up their chances in ‘08. And as long as Bush is in charge, it’s unlikely that a VP Thompson (the most likely replacement for Cheney) would be the anti-Cheney, the “Law and Order” VP (the title the media will grant him for free — the media can’t resist any self-reference. And rest assured, Thompson is one of them). Sure, Thompson will just do more of the same — he’s Dick Cheney with hair, after all — but without the 6-1/2 years of natural antagonism Cheney’s built up. Thompson will be practically spotless by the time of the election, which may be one reason he hasn’t yet declared. Better to seem “drafted” into service than self-serving.

The one thing the Democrats can do to subvert this scenario is to actually go ahead and fucking impeach Cheney as the law requires. If he’s going to be replaced one way or another, at least it will make it appear as if the replacement came out of some sort of “due process of law,” as if doing the real thing is too much to ask. And any revelations and negative vibes from the trial will only linger going into ‘08, touching everyone in the GOP.

At the very least, many disaffected Democrats will actually turn out to vote. Because right now, the only choice is between the criminals and their enablers.