johnSwifty @ 146

Heeee!

PELOSI 2007!

The President Pro Tempore of the Senate (currently Robert Byrd, D-W.Virginia) is 3rd in line to the presidency. But, that’s if the first two die I suppose.

If one resigns then Byrd might ascend or maybe there’s procedure to appoint and confirm a replacement.

Anyway, they’re not gonna put a Dem in as Veep if Cheney ‘retires’. So, maybe they would appoint the senior Republican Senator — Ted Stevens, R-Alaska. Then we could have the pleasure/horror of watching the Veep get indicted for something untoward in Alaska.

More likely, since Cheney’s daughter is already working with Fred Thompson, he would be appointed and confirmed…if Dems agree and probably if Thompson agrees to drop his bid for the presidency.

It’s a tangled web and getting curiouser and curiouser as we speak.

UPDATE 2:Dick Cheney is sitting at his desk, hand in pants, writing in the margins of the WaPo.

The Republican party allowed Dick Cheney’s rise to unfettered…

I take issue with this statement. The Republican party allowed Cheney to RE-rise to an unfettered power position when any intelligent choice would have been to let the sadistic old f*cker stew in his own juices along with Rummy after the debacle of the Nixon years.

George W. Bush let Cheney in. The Republican party let Bush in. They’re all guilty of being morons.

rwcole @ 92

Ellen

Impeachment without conviction with votes along party lines will look like pure political theatre and strengthen support for the administration.

At least that’s how I see it.

I understand that perspective, but I don’t agree. The American people did not start out believing Nixon should be impeached, they were convinced by the impeachment hearings. The Republicans successfully tarnished the concept of impeachment with Clinton. If we don’t get impeachment back as a viable control we might as well just give up now because that is the only means we have of dealing with a corrupt executive.

It’s up to the Dems to do it correctly, laying out the case for impeachment and building support.

I agree entirely. The current expectation of impeachment is the Clinton model. Many younger Americans never saw and do not appreciate the gravity of expressed in the Nixon impeachment. You might argue that cable tv infotainment coverage would make it impossible to turn back the clock—I realize that might be true–but the further down the road in history we remove ourselves from impeachment, the harder it will become to restore it as a viable tool in governing. Why must it take some shocking and sensational and Nuremberg-like to justify impeachment? It takes that under present circumstances because people think politicians use it to prosecute blowjobs instead of saving it for something “significant”.

“It has been suggested by Laura Rosen and other media commentators that this story may have had copy more favorable to the Vice President inserted by a top editor or editors at the Post and held for publication in the slower summer season when it might receive less attention. Any truth to any of this speculation?”

Oddly, no reply (take that as a “yes”).

rwcole @ 36

As much as gooper congresscritters may detest this administration- they aren’t going to vote to impeach anybody- and without gooper votes- there will be no impeachments.

Whatever “justice” Cheney et al recieve will come from a different source- perhaps the pens of historians.

I agree they won’t impeach, but it won’t be because of the Republicans. It’s all on the Dems. Impeachment takes place in the House, and all it takes is a simple majority. We don’t need a single Republican vote.

Conviction is another matter entirely, but we should not confuse impeachment with conviction. Even if it does not result in removal from office, we need impeachment to vindicate the rule of law.

Impeachment also limits pardonability, but I’m not sure exactly how — see Article II Section 2.

and [the president] shall have power to grant reprieves and pardons for offenses against the United States, except in cases of impeachment.

I’ll work on my analogies!

What consequences are the Republicans going to face?