Now that the possibility of Cheney leaving has reached the level of a spurious rumor reported by Josh Marshal I'd like to raise discussion of how progressives and the Democratic Party should react to Cheney stepping down.
Now I actually don't think it likely that Cheney will step down so long as he is able to still draw breath. However, it seems to me also that we on the left would do well to be prepared, even for unlikely scenarios. Also, given the disaster produced by the failure on the part of Rumsfeld to prepare for contingencies, I think it prudent for us to do so. One other reason for bringing this up is the tendency in all discussions I've seen so far, including the lead in to the New Republic article linked to by TPM, talk as if the President will simply name the new VP and that will be it. But the actual text of the relevant portion of the twenty-fifth amendment is:
Section 2. Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress.
This gives the Democratic Party a lot of say in who, if anyone, will replace Cheney.
Keep in mind that no action is taken until there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President. So Cheney needs to step down first. At that point Nancy Pelosi is the next in line for the Presidency and wingnut heads all over the world start to explode. I say that that is a problem for Republicans and this administration, not for Democrats. I think Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid should take the position that the nation has more pressing business than filling in the office and that the Congress will not just rubber stamp any nomination that the President puts forth. This might be politically difficult if, as the TPM rumor suggests, Ms. Rice is put forth as the nominee. Progressives would need to get the CBC to agree that Ms. Rice should not get the position. If that can be done, I would want the Democratic leadership to refuse to approve anyone for some period of time (a few weeks, maybe a few months, maybe only days, I'm not sure what the best time period might be) and then finally in a spirit of bipartisan comity, after much pressure from the Republicans, agree to propose a list of people who would sail through the Democratic Congress. The list would be composed of good, staunch, party loyal, conservative Republicans, who all, coincidentally, are Senators from states that are controlled by Democratic legislatures and Governors.
Any comments or thoughts? Does this make any sense? I think we, as progressives, should have on hand, plans for these kinds of events.