She'd be the perfect choice. Can't you just picture it? Someone screaming "Republicans wanna keep women barefoot and pregnant and Blacks in their place!!" and then asked "Which party installed the first Black woman VP?"

Either his head would implode from trying to reconcile ideology with reality, or he'd start screaming "Bush knocked her up, and won't allow her to wear shoes in the White House!"
JLawson | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 10:57 am | #

Isn't this fundamentally a case of the Right buying into knee-jerk rants from the Left? The Left doesn't like Cheney, so Bush should cave? Has anyone pictured the consequences of that in the MSM and hallowed halls of Congress regardless of whom Bush picked as a replacement? And comparing Cheney to Quail, even indirectly, is grossly ingenuous.

Just suppose Bush went completely insane and chose Condi tomorrow. The MSM and every other Lefty in the country would have two plus years to bash her before and during the 2008 elections. This is a good thing?
Auld Pharte | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 11:51 am | #

I personally like Rice where she is. Who would fill HER position?
Jean | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 11:51 am | #

Lieberman?
anonymous | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 12:05 pm | #

I thought Rice was going to be good at State, but I've been unimpressed. And I assume Cheney has been doing a lot of important things behind the scenes, since they don't send him off to attend funerals. He is a valuable member of the team, and it would be a great loss if he left for any reason.
lmg | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 12:16 pm | #

I agree that Bush needs to stand firm on this one. It's not like they caught Cheney naked in bed smoking crack with a male prostitute or something. To fire or retire Cheney now would be to lower the bar way beyond reason. What next - impeach the President for bumping into somebody in the hallway?
Sam | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 12:36 pm | #

Peggy Noonan has lost her marbles for a while now. Reading her opinionjournal @ WSJ for the last year and a half, her contempt for Bush and his co. "leaked" out more and more into the open. After reaching a certain age, people just can't help themselves to look back at the "good old days" at their own achivements with rosy-tinted glasses.

Exactly how many times a veep (as she puts it) has been replaced in US history? With a flimsy excuse as Cheney serving as MSM's "hate magnet"?
According to her, she's not close to any of the Bush circle, just her knowledge of people practicing politics.

Exactly how placing someone at VP position for less than 2 years is going to carry the Repub banner or Bush doctrine into 2008? Her idea of Red Staters' IQ is no better than the progressive leftists.
always right | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 1:41 pm | #

I like the idea, very creative.
AbbaGav | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 1:52 pm | #

Well, she's inside the Beltway so doesn't that give her a 50 IQ point advantage on everyone OUTSIDE?

J.
JLawson | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 2:24 pm | #

I think there is a very good argument for not naming Dr. Rice, as much as I like her - and that is that she's doing a terrific job as SecState and she has won enormous respect in Europe and elsewhere. Also, Russia seems afraid of her.

But I touched on this here and do think that there is a candidate who could be named - Rudy Giuliani - it gives the "I'll-never-vote-for-him-because-he's too-socially-liberal" bast a chance to see him in a national role, and positions him nicely for '08. And, as I say in my piece, choosing McCain nicely triangulates the Democrats and the press. Also feeds McCain's endless ego.
theanchoress | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 2:38 pm | #

I think Condi would be the smart choice, but do not think Cheney is going anywhere.
Defense Guy | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 2:49 pm | #

What you propose is a doomsday scenario for the left.

They would implode.

That said, I think Cheney will weather the storm.

What he lacks in terms of Condi's strengths, he more than makes up for in administrative and even strategic skills.
sigmund, carl and alfred | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 3:16 pm | #

I'm not advocating that Cheney resign, but if he did, I still think Rice would be a good choice for many reasons.
Dr. Sanity | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 3:35 pm | #

I'm glad that you're not advocating that Cheney resign, but (much as I like Noonan's articles most of the time)Noonan does seem to point in that direction.

Loyalty to the aims of the team is a hallmark of the Bush Administration and of the president himself. He stands by his choice of VP just as Cheney stood by the man he accidentally shot from the time the event occurred. Generating "spin" or seeking lawyers or "official" press coverage seem to be the least of his concern. He took personal responsibilty for the shooting. The official police investigation exonerates him of charges.

Cheney's "role" as a hate magnet reveals more telling tales about the mindless, vicious hate of his detractors than it undermines his adult leadership and effective managerial skills.

Should his health concerns determine a resignation, I would prefer to see the position filled by someone skilled in governance and demonstrated executive experience like George Allen.
onlineanalyst | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 6:36 pm | #

I love Condi, and I hope she runs in 2008. But I dislike any attempts at trying to game the system, and I don't think W is likely to go that route. Nor should he. There is no reason for Cheney to resign, and as difficult as it may be to be the hate magnet, he knew the job was dangerous when he took it. If some reason arises that necessitates Dick Cheney resigning, such as his health, then I hope a new VP is chosen solely on the basis of how s/he would function if s/he suddenly had to be president. It is my belief that Dr. Rice fits that job description, and I would be pleased at that result. But we have to keep forcing ourselves back into the mentality that any political advantage must be secondary. If we start to play those games, we'll be Democrats in a decade.
Assistant Village Idiot | Email | Homepage | 02.16.06 - 8:39 pm | #

> Who would it be? Someone who's a strong supporter of Iraq, and, presumably, the Bush doctrine.

>Let me suggest, that if President Bush--who is known for doing the bold thing--really wanted to be bold; and make history; and at the same time do the right thing for his party, then the choice is obvious.

Condoleeza Rice.

Y'know, doc, I was still reading the blue stuff and thinking exactly the same answer to the question before I got to your comments...

I have no idea if there is any intention in that regards, but Condi certainly is an incredibly obvious choice, even more so than Powell, since she and Bush are more on the same page.
Oh Blutige Hölle | Email | Homepage | 02.17.06 - 2:07 am | #

> Just suppose Bush went completely insane and chose Condi tomorrow. The MSM and every other Lefty in the country would have two plus years to bash her before and during the 2008 elections. This is a good thing?

AP, one of the best complaints about Condi is a lack of direct executive experience (the BoD of Exxon is the closest thing). This could remedy that resume defect -- further, if she can't handle them as Veep, then she couldn't handle them as PotUS... and she seems to have already done a fairly good job in her last two positions, so it seems obviously the best way to go...
Oh Blutige Hölle | Email | Homepage | 02.17.06 - 2:10 am | #

I fully supprt Condi running for president on the Republican ticket in 2008. Go Condi.
Mitzell | Email | Homepage | 02.17.06 - 2:54 am | #

I see Condi as the right person for VP or President.


I also don't see her as taking any crap from the left.
Christine | Email | Homepage | 02.17.06 - 7:59 am | #

Kicking McCain upstairs would also get him out of the Senate, where he's done quite enough damage (Keating Five, anyone?)...
PSGInfinity | Email | Homepage | 02.17.06 - 11:38 am | #

Mitzell, I am gonna SOOO laugh my ass off at your sarcasm when she becomes PotUS.

I'm recording this for posterity.

> Kicking McCain upstairs would also get him out of the Senate, where he's done quite enough damage (Keating Five, anyone?)...

I fully agree McCain needs 'podus' applied to 'tuchus', but not as to destination...
Oh Blutige Hölle | Email | Homepage | 02.18.06 - 2:33 am | #