It occurred to me that there might be a scenario whereby the Republican Congress would actually choose to impeach and remove Bush and Cheney from the presidency next year as a matter of strategy.
It's not as crazy as it sounds. Or maybe it is. But I'm putting it out there anyway.
This theory depends on the assumption that Bush becomes completely toxic politically - that his presidency becomes utterly untenable, like Nixon in 1975...
More on the flip...
If Bush becomes meat-on-a-stick in the next few months, this endangers every Republican running for reelection next year. Anyone facing a hard race next year will have their party allegiance and connection to the Bush administration prove to be a liability instead of an asset. So they may not feel terribly beholden to back Bush in the first place, as a matter of sheer political survival.
But this strategy depends on more than a few rogue Goopers jumping ship. If the Fall of the Bush Dynasty seems inevitable, it would be a matter of preservation for the Party as a whole to enable his removal from office. That way, they can allow a few congressmen or senators not only to distance themselves from the administration, but actually show their constituents an independence and a moral center that could help them get reelected.
For example, someone like Mike DeWine in Ohio could get a huge boost in Ohio if he voted to remove Bush from office. It could pull the rug out from under a Paul Hackett candidacy if DeWine could show Ohioans that he is brave and independent enough to "go against his party leadership" -- the whole time having the party leadership's blessing.
In addition, if the GOP implemented a strategy to remove Bush from office now instead of pushing it off to the next Congress, they would be looking at President Hastert instead of the prospects of a President Pelosi in 2007. And possibly the "independent" Goopers who voted against Bush could retain their seats, and the GOP would retain control of the presidency AND both houses of Congress, with two years to recover the trust of the swing voters who put them in power in the first place.
Clearly, this would be a worst-case scenario, poison pill strategy for the GOP. Bush would have to bottom out, with no chance of recovery. And it is not in Bush's nature to resign from the presidency - he has not once been known to face up to his responsibilities or admit a mistake, and all his life he has been saved from his failures by his daddy's buddies, and surely would expect to be bailed out of this one too. So it will take a full impeachment trial to remove him from office. I doubt very much this can happen before next November. But if their situation continues to unravel and there are no other options available, this scenario may well present the GOP's "next best alternative" to fighting for a untenable presidency.