Insight Magazine: Cheney seen retiring after midterm elections
Senior GOP sources envision the retirement of Mr. Cheney in 2007, months after the congressional elections. The sources said Mr. Cheney would be persuaded to step down as he becomes an increasing political liability to President Bush.
The sources reported a growing rift between the president and vice president as well as their staffs. They cited Mr. Cheney's failure to immediately tell the president of the accidental shooting of the vice president's hunting colleague earlier this month. The White House didn't learn of the incident until 18 hours later.
A few months ago I was out of town when I got a call from someone I'd hired on another event. An attendee at one of the events had a heart attack and died. I received this call within two hours of the incident as a casual heads up. In turn, I called the heads of our company.
18 hours to report to your boss, the President of United States, that you shot someone seems ridiculous. So ridiculous, I'm not certain if this is accurate. But if it is, anyone who doubts that the Cheney camp wasn't discussing how to spin the incident and likely cover-up portions of it are removed from the reality of not just politics, but the world. Cheney isn't an idiot, nor is he clumsy. The time gap in reporting this to the press or the President was not a mistake or lapse in judgement. Maybe the incident happened exactly as he's claimed... but his actions following the incident would lead me to believe he didn't want his staff or anyone to reveal details to anyone for a reason.
In the meantime, Bush needs a fall guy to blame everything that is tainting his Presidency, from Plame-gate to Halliburton ties and now this shooting. A vp slot filled by a single black woman, and one with qualifications to boot, could keep the GOP in the White House solidly for another four years, if not longer.
