Peggy Noonan was a special assistant to President Ronald Reagan from 1984 to 1986. In 1988 she was chief speechwriter for George H.W. Bush when he ran for the presidency. She writes a column for the Wall Street Journal. She thinks Dubya looks just dreamy in a flight suit. She elicits such a visceral amount of hate from my wife that I have, for years, been forced to turn the channel anytime she appears on television. She also thinks its time for Dick Cheney to go.
Right now in the White House they’re discussing how to help the vice president get through his problem. They’ve already tried the wearing of orange ties, an attempt to take the sting out of the incident by showing they don’t feel the sting. Duck! Ha ha!
But what are they thinking that they’re not saying? Here’s a hunch, based not on any inside knowledge but only on what I know of people who practice politics, and those who practice it within the Bush White House.
I suspect what they’re thinking and not saying is, If Dick Cheney weren’t vice president, who’d be a good vice president? They’re thinking, At some time down the road we may wind up thinking about a new plan. And one night over drinks at a barbecue in McLean one top guy will turn to another top guy and say, “Under the never permeable and never porous Dome of Silence, tell me . . . wouldn’t you like to replace Cheney?”
I don’t think Ms. Noonan is freelancing here. This column, appearing in today’s Wall Street Journal, is a major shot across the gunman’s bow.
And Noonan dutifully lays out the reasoning for sending ‘Big Time’ out to pasture.
It’s not the shooting incident itself, it’s that Dick Cheney has been the administration’s hate magnet for five years now. Halliburton, energy meetings, Libby, Plamegate. This was not all bad for the White House: Mr. Cheney took the heat that would otherwise have been turned solely on George Bush. So he had utility, and he’s experienced and talented and organized, and Mr. Bush admires and respects him. But, at a certain point a hate magnet can draw so much hate you don’t want to hold it in your hand anymore, you want to drop it, and pick up something else. Is this fair? Nah. But fair has nothing to do with it.
Fair has nothing to do with it. That is almost the credo of the Bush administration. And how might they convince Swinging Dick that his time as Emperor has come to an end?
The key thing is Iraq. George Bush cares deeply about Iraq and knows his legacy will be decided there. It has surely dawned on the White House that “Iraq” will not be “over” in the next two years. Iraq is a long story. What Dick Armitage or Colin Powell said about the Pottery Barn rule was true: If you break, it you own it, at the very least for the next few years.
George Bush, and so the men and women around him, will want the next Republican presidential nominee to continue the U.S. effort in, and commitment to, Iraq. To be a candidate who will continue his policy, and not pull the plug, and burrow through…
…It would have to be a decision made by Dick Cheney. If he didn’t want to do it he wouldn’t have to. If he were pressed–Dick, we gotta put the next guy in here or we’re going to lose in ’08 and see all our efforts undone–he might make the decision himself. He’d have to step down on his own.
Many people have suggested that we are wasting our time in dwelling on the shooting accident. We’re not. The right wing is panicking. They want to use this opportunity to remove Dick Cheney and put in a replacement that will have a leg-up on the 2008 nomination. They figure that two years as Vice-President will confer a gravitas on their man that no contender outside of McCain currently enjoys.
The problem with their reasoning is that Dick Cheney is George Bush’s safety net. So long as Dick Cheney is Vice-President, there is no point in impeaching Bush unless Cheney is part of the package.
Nevertheless, there is probably no single thing we could do to benefit the country that would be more productive than to help push out Dick Cheney. He is a bad influence on the President. Even the father thinks Cheney has ruined his son’s presidency.
So, I’m with Peggy. Send Cheney packing and put someone else in his place that won’t fuck everything up.
It won’t be easy to settle on a replacement. Peggy notes:
This new vice president would, however, have to be very popular in the party, or the party wouldn’t buy it. Replacing Mr. Cheney would be chancy. The new veep would have to get through the Senate, which has at this point at least three likely contenders for the nomination, at least two of whom who would not, presumably, be amused.
So, who is your pick? George Allen, Sam Brownback, John McCain, or Chuck Hagel? I can’t see Bush settling on anyone but the affable and pliant George Allen. Time will tell.
would it really be better for the country in any significant way?
i think its better for the country to keep him in there as long as possible…it is making people uncomfortable and thats is exactly what we need.
You raise a good point.
I think it would have a beneficial effect on Bush’s foreign policy. But it might help them prevent the backlash they have coming to them.
So, what’s better?
it depends on what your goal is
just like in the pa and oh senate race…if your goal is a simple majority in congress of dem senators then by all means people should let schumer and rendell etc decide who will run in the primaries.
but if your goal is to take down the democratic people in power who are fucking things up and destroying the empowerment process and leading good people to disengage from the system, then you fight against the schumer machine which might include doing things that would lead to another democratic defeat in the short term but so much discomfort that the pendelum will swing left and masses of people who were sleeping will be woken up and start participating in democracy. (assuming you cant have both of course)
right now i am for anything that makes people uncomfortable…and cheney is very good at pricking people the wrong way.
i say lets keep him….and let the republicans be the only voices pushing for his removal….just like many dems stood back and allowed the repubs to kill the miers nom because she was feard to be a closet lesbian/women’s issue supporter (not because she wasnt qualified blah blah blah)
I think if a Cheney departure was a signal that the neocons in toto were being pushed out of power, then I think it would be a good thing if for no other reason than the agenda for the continued escalation of violence perpetual war would be seriously curtailed. If, on the other hand, his departure gave others the cover they need to keep this insane aggressive agenda going then obviously a departure by Cheney would probably do more harm than good.
I’ve postulated since the beginning of the Bush regime that there’s been a major battle going on between the Cheney/neocon gang and the gang that formerly dominated US policy overseas for decades, the Carlyle Group types such as James Baker, Scowcroft, Carlucci, Colin Powell etc. I see these two opposing criminal gangs battling against each other for control of US policy like I see the Mafia and the Columbian drug gangs fighting over markets and turf.
Peggy Noonan, shameless gasbag hack that she is, was very close to the former Carlyle types, and despite the fact that she performs rhetorical fellatio on Bush regularly, there doesn’t seem to be much evidence that she has any fondness for the neocon psychopaths in the Cheney cabal.
Even though the neocons are still ostensibly running the show I think they’ve lost considerable influence and power within whatever circles they need that influence to remain strong in. And if Noonans little dig here is indicative of a concerted effort to sideline these neocon maniacs again, (just like they were sidelined during the Reagan and Bush Sr. regimes), then I think it would be a good thing.
Better the sake in sight than the one in tall grass.
If he gets to slither out and rule the world from an undisclosed location, we’ll never get our security deposit back. Put him in charge of DNR and RFID him until the lease expires. If he goes and takes all of the blame with him, what do we have left?
None of the above. I think Condi’s the one. McCain may start to understand just how used he has been by Bush and Co.
They are not going to get rid of any body. There is no heat on them really.
Look, they just published more photos of Abu Ghraib. And still nothing. The nation is run and controlled by fascist elements who are simply dealing with minor problems in the press from left over democratic minded columnists in papers that are already under the control of the governing forces.
In two weeks this will blow over, even if Whittington were to die.
Nothing came from Fitzgerald´s indictment of Libby and nothing will come from his indictment of Rove.
THis nation has passed a milestone and it is not coming back. The rest of the world is following it. It will take decades for this to change.
The Democratic party no longer exists. Certainly it is not an opposing force.
Look at all that has happened…all of it negative…and yet there is not even any consistent protest either in the streets, media of among democrats.
The United States is a developing fascist nation. It is a myth unto itself at this point.
We are a horror to the world and the world is following our example.
It sinks in and people fester. there is a malaise out there. Folks know something is terribly wrong, but in many case don’t talk politics publicly.
I don’t think you realize the impact that Abu Ghraib had on this country, and now though the photos will generate no outward comment there is a deep, deep dismay that shows itself as a sullenness.
the public knows it screwed up choosing Bush, suspects foul play in the elections, but will not vocalize it.
If I were a Republican, I’d try and party like it’s 1999 too. but, as anger rises, and the public gets callused by the mockery of this administration, there will come reprisal at the ballot box.
I think the Republicans are going down, and that the D’s who have sat back and let Bush play the idiot will reap the benefits.
GWB may not be the brightest bulb in the pack but he’s smart enough to not want a VP that everybody likes.
If McCain doesn’t know by now how much he’s been used, he may challenge GWB for the dimmest bulb award.
why does john mccain care if he is being used?
he will be the repub nominee and he will trounce any dem in the race.
he is laughing all the way to the white house
I think McCain is going along, he picks his pet project and then other than that he just doesn’t make a lot of waves! He and the real Republicans have had many many many back room chats and they have their plan on the table and they are lining it out. As usual…..Bush didn’t have any plan after his first 90 days. McCain and his crowd want the NeoCon freakshow gone but they will be doing it with a smile on their faces and completely polite.
I think if McCain is in it means the neocons are out. If the imbecile George Allen gets in it means the neocons are in.
I think, however, that McCain is now every bit as dangerous as the neocons, bot because of delusional ideology but because of the seriously emotionally disturbed condition he seems to demonstrate.
Either way, we’re screwed for a while longer.
If the comment is for me, I think he’s helped develop the mutual using on purpose and has known the extent of his politiprostitution
I was replying to this
McCain may start to understand just how used he has been by Bush and Co.
to give. I think he’ll have to be replaced for that reason alone and they have to start warming someone up in the bullpen. John McCain though Booman…..are ya on daiquiris? I think Dubya hates McCain’s guts so bad that he has a Johny doll on his night stand that he sticks pins into before falling asleep every night and upon waking up every morning! John McCain is everything Dubya wants to be when he grows up, he is a war hero and smart and he could even win a presidential election without anybody rigging the fucking machines. McCain would just go into Iraq with a bunch of other smart Pentagon war heros and they would change all sorts of stuff because Dubya had it all fucked up and then McCain would solve Iraq and party boy McCain would make sure he took total credit for anything positive coming out of Iraq by making sure that it was spelled out quietly but stilled spelled out in the history books that those other Republicans had really fucked everything up but thank God Johny McCain showed up again and heroed America out of another war mess and saved us all and the day!
Since he came out and kissed dubya, I am wondering if he has cooties!
No McCain couldn’t Tracy, for Iraq is no longer a “military problem,” and militarily, never was a problem.
Iraq has hit the “administration” phase, and for the US,”administration” phases are where we screw up.
Iraq is now an administration fiasco. No amount of military posture, killing, mass bombing, napalming, thunderclapping, hades bombing, propaganda leafleting, or daisy cutting will change that.
Bush failed the moment no WMD were found, and had to go looking for “the rationale of the week.” We lost Iraq the moment that Abu Ghraib excesses were revealed, we might have saved a lot of lives by breaking off at that point, for we had in that instant lost the entire middle east.
The concept of “endless war” serves Bush and only Bush, and there is little room in GW Bush’s heart for anyone but Bush.
Also, I don’t think Cheney will go quietly, and that is something to think about.
Replacing Cheney with George Allen (G2) sets up Allen to become prez if Bush (G1) is impeached. He gets to run in ’08 as an incumbant then twice again for a possible rule of 10 years. George2 is a pliant fool and will be as good of a puppet as George1 has been.
G2 better not pardon G1 (or anyone else) — that certainly put a crimp in Gerald Ford’s plans…though it could be argued that the Republican Powers-That-Be would’ve found a way to push him aside for Ronald Reagan in 1980 anyway…
Well, she might think that, and I’d go so far as to say that she probably thinks that, but reading what she wrote, she doesn’t quite actually say that.
She basically says that she has a hunch about what other folks might be thinking “based not on any inside knowledge but only on what I know of people who practice politics, and those who practice it within the Bush White House”. She also speculates a little about how that might play out.
It’s a trial balloon for trial balloons.
I wouldn’t rule out Giuliani as a possibility, though he’d probably have a hard time getting confirmed. Though airing Giuliani’s dirty laundry now could, theoretically, preempt the kinds of problems such close scrutiny would cause during the primary / general; and it could do an end-run around the rabid base, who, left to their own devices, might end up nominating a nut like Brownback or Tancredo, i.e., someone who cannot win. A Guiliani appointment could re-energize disaffected moderate Republicans and help them wrest control from the fundie nuts.
My rationale here is that Giuliani is probably the most revered Republican out there right now. He’d win a general election in a walk, especially against (presumably) Hillary. And, if you take NY out of the Democratic column, there would be no way we could win in ’08.
Giuliani’ has a lot of dirty laundy, though — truckloads — so perhaps he’s too radioactive. But after Cheney? Torquemada would be a step up.
middle white bread america aint going for that
Yes, but they’ll replay the 9/11 shit over, and, over , and over . . . if you see my point.
If it comes down to Giuliani or Hillary, middle America will hold its nose and vote for Rudy.
People want change, not same old-same old.
Guiliani? That’s like saying A’Amato. and Hillary will not be running.
My bet, Feingold Warner or Clark and either Feingold or Warner…
And Hillary? I think you need to get used to “Madame Majority Leader,” after Senator Reid steps down.
We’ll see what happens.
I think if this last week has proved anything, it’s who is really in charge in the WH. Everybody defers to Cheney; nobody even bothers to ask Bush. Remember the incident with the plane approaching the WH? Get Cheney to the bunker; no reason to tell Bush anything is wrong until he finishes his bike ride.
I have serious doubts as to whether Bush COULD force Cheney out if Cheney didn’t want to go. And if Cheney does leave, I wouldn’t doubt that Cheney would be the one to handpick his own successor — most likely someone whose strings he can manipulate just as effectively as he has Georgie’s. This man likes playing puppetmaster from behind the curtain.
With no guarantee that anything — policywise — would change if Cheney isn’t actually occupying the office of VP, I’m not sure it’s even in the country’s best interests to replace Cheney now.