Coming Tomorrow (Saturday): President Cheney (sort of)
(as the President goes under the knife)
By Mark Kilmer Posted in The White House — Comments (27) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
When President Bush has his 2 ½ hour "routine colonoscopy" on Saturday, he will transfer power to the Veep. Yes, for a brief time tomorrow, Dick Cheney will be acting as President.
The President will sign letters invoking the 25th Amendment, which will be faxed to Nancy and Bobby Byrd (senate pro tem), and to Dick Cheney. When it is all done, the President will tell Nancy and Byrd that he is taking his job back. They cannot object, and they would be foolish to do so. ("President Cheney." Yeah, they'd go for that.)
Although the position and title stay with the man who was elected, this is as close as we'll get to a "President Dick Cheney" In our lifetimes, though I am holding out hope that they will freeze his brain, just like they did with Teddy Baseball, so they can thaw him out at some point in our future when the left gains too much power and enacts their scheme of total subservience to the U.N., the Third World, and to whatever climate control bodies are still around.
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For those of you interested in the history of this sort of thing, here is the New York Times from July 15, 1985 – when President Reagan gave the temporary lift to Vice President Bush. There were some questions:
Some confusion has been caused by the wording of Mr. Reagan's written notification to Congressional leaders of his transfer of powers. Although it said he did not think the 25th Amendment applied to the situation and seemed to suggest that he was acting independently of it, some legal experts expressed doubt that he had any other legal basis for transferring the full powers of the Presidency to the Vice President.
Among these experts was Birch E. Bayh Jr., the former Democratic Senator from Indiana who was chief draftsman of the 25th Amendment. He said in an interview today: ''There is no authority to provide that kind of transition of power any place else except the 25th Amendment.''
The first time this happened for Bush and Cheney, the President left no question that he was invoking the 25th, and this time will be the same. Interestingly, President Reagan's White House Council at the time of the 1985 transfer was Fred Fielding. President Bush's White House Council this time is… well, Fred Fielding.
I wonder if Chuckie and Rahm will try any stunts. The moonbats will demand it.
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Coming Tomorrow (Saturday): President Cheney (sort of) 27 Comments (0 topical, 27 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you. Washington Elected Elite
a couple pardons?
" in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abe Lincoln
Frozen brains are cool, and all.
But what I hope to see is Helen Thomas' head explode, like EXPLODE, when Cheney becomes President.
Explode. Boom. On CSPAN.
I'm thinking of how nice it would be to see "Cheney-Bolton" on a bumper sticker--even if it's just temporary. I want the t-shirt, too.
And something like that -- especially with silhouettes, or John Bolton's moustache -- ah, that would be sweet.
It's war -- so when can we start shooting back at the enemy Democrats?
Isn't Pelosi next in line? Ha, what fun things would Cheney do to Pelosi if he were her immediate boss.
"Nance, I want you to go to Iraq and give a troop support speech on how we will stay there until the job is done."
"Nance,(in best Bill Lumberg ripoff from Office Space), Yeahhhhh, we're gonna go ahead and need you to fill out some TPS reports. Yeahhhh, then I'm gonna have to ask you to go ahead and go to the south pole to give me an update on global warming, ok? yeahhhhh."
Ask not what you can do for your country, ask what your country can do for you. Washington Elected Elite
Hey Nance, could you lick stamps for these 100 million letters to tax-paying Americans....that's OK, take your time.
Nancy doll, I got a coupla rooms of files that need to be sorted alphabetically.
Hey Nancy, I think I'll send you to Syria to meet with Mr Assad. Since you've already met him, and appear to be on very friendly terms, I think you're the right one for the job. I have a message for him, which I'd like you to deliver. That message: "Duck!"
It's war -- so when can we start shooting back at the enemy Democrats?
..but if Cheney were to be assasinated during the 2.5 to 3 hour time frame, wouldn't Pelosi assume the Presidency? And if that happened and she indeed was President, couldn't she just refuse to reinstate power back to Bush?
is to write to Nancy and Byrd that he's okay. That's how the Constitution, although the emanations of the penumbra might give Nancy the power to declare martial law in such an event.
But, in order to assume the Presidency, Nancy would be required to resign her seat in Congress. So she wouldn't even be the Speaker to whom President Bush would address his letter. The statute that sets the Speaker as second in line after the VP also states that both the Speaker and the Senate President Pro Tempore are required to resign there seats in Congress in order to assume the presidency.
Hey, maybe Cheney could fake a heart attack tomorrow and force NAncy to give up her seat. =)
So, in reality, Nancy would likely pass on the opportunity. Bobby Byrd (next in line) however, might take the reins. He would resign, and just have the Gov. of WV (a Democrat) reappoint him to his own vacant seat. If they both passed, we'd have Acting President Rice (the Sec. of State follows the congressional leadership).
_But, in order to assume the Presidency, Nancy would be required to resign her seat in Congress. So she wouldn't even be the Speaker to whom President Bush would address his letter._
Not being a member of Congress would not prevent her from being Speaker. The Constitution does not require the Speaker to be a member of the House. And, of course, San Francisco would re-elect her as soon as the special election was held.
_So, in reality, Nancy would likely pass on the opportunity. Bobby Byrd (next in line) however, might take the reins. He would resign, and just have the Gov. of WV (a Democrat) reappoint him to his own vacant seat. If they both passed, we'd have Acting President Rice (the Sec. of State follows the congressional leadership)._
I know Strom Thurmond always used to say he would pass up the Presidency if it ever came to him by this route, but does the statute _allow_ this? Certainly, Cheney could not refuse to be President if Bush died or resigned. Constitutionally, he would *be* the President whether he liked it or not.
Byrd, would, of course, *not* pass on being President, as the alternative would be to contemplate a Black President, something which goes against his oath as a Klansman. And could Nancy really pass up the opportunity of pipping Hillary to being the first woman President?
Quentin Langley
Editor of http://www.quentinlangley.net
International Editor of
The statute in question (see here) does not expressly provide for "passing" the presidency. But it does state that, for example, in the case of the Speaker or President Pro Tempore, that "upon his resignation as Speaker and as Representative in Congress, act as President." That means that as long as San Fran Nan refuses to resign her positions, she is ineligible to act as President.
That ineligibility would cause the other provisions of the law to become active, and we'd start down the list.
The subsidiary question, or course, has always been whether this statute is constitutional. There is a great deal of discussion among constitutional scholars about whether Congress can put the Speaker or President Pro Tem in the line of succession. The Constitution provides that "the Congress may by Law provide for the Case of Removal, Death, Resignation or Inability, both of the President and Vice President, declaring what Officer shall then act as President, and such Officer shall act accordingly, until the Disability be removed, or a President shall be elected." The term Officer is used earlier to describe the heads of departments and other individuals who are subject to the appointment and confirmation process stated. Some (I am among them) would therefore say that the Speaker and President Pro Tem are not "Officers of the United States."
Since it is highly unlikely, given the 25th Amendment, that we will ever get to the Speaker as President scenario (at least as a permanent situation - not just for a few hours or such), there is little chance that this will ever be reviewed by the courts.
I agree that the Speaker is not required to be a member of the House. But the statute does require her to resign as Speaker and as a MoC. So there would have to be an Acting Speaker to whom the President would transmit his letter under the 25th Amendment. After that, I'm sure the Democrat caucus could re-elect Nancy to the Speakership, but they would have to go through the motions.
Not that I have anything against Cheney, I have tremendous admiration for him.
But I would just love to see Robert Byrd's face when he got notification that Condi was in charge.
Quentin Langley
Editor of http://www.quentinlangley.net
International Editor of
"today we settle all family busniess"....
Val, Joe, Sandy....
" in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
Abe Lincoln
The question the moonbats need to ask is, how much damage to the republic can Cheney do in 2.5 hours?
Mwuuhuuhahahahhahahaah!
{Montgomery Burns}
Excellent!
{/Montgomery Burns}
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The CIA has better politicians than it has spies - Fred Thompson
but i would think he could pardon libby, commute the sentences of the 2 texas border guards, issue the command to send troops to the border and issue the command for surgical strikes on iran in that time.
if he did that, i'd bet everything i got that the republican base starts screaming for him to run for pres. in '08. heck, i'd be screaming for it.
If Dick wasn't such a lightning rod, I'd say that whoever got the nomination in 2008 should keep him on as VP.
But hey, maybe we can make heads explode anyway. How about our new Republican president return Dick to his old post as Secretary of Defense?
what is the source that people here seem to have on VP Cheney's views on illegal immigration. Many posts here seem to be based on the notion that Cheney, if he were president, would pardon Campean and Ramos, build the fence, and enforce all immigration laws vigorously. That, in short, the VP shares our views on illegal immigration. Presumably he would have promoted these views to the President at some point. If so he was not very successful. I haven't read much on this topic so I'd welcome more info. Has he said he thinks the President should pardon Campeon & ramos (which he should of course) or, that the President is wrong on immigration? Which he is. Thanks.
on Cheney's views on any of that. He's a loyal soldier, so the President's view will be his.
OTOH, we are having fun projecting. The left hates Big Dick more than Shrub (to indulge in their vernacular).
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.
And checking it twice. And faxing it to President Cheney.
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CongressCritter™: Never have so few felt like they were owed so much by so many for so little.