President Pelosi – A Question of Time

The feeling here is that Hillary may be too late to become the first female President of the United States. According to the 25th amendment, the only thing standing between us and President Pelosi is the simultaneous resignation, or incapacitation, or impeachment, or abdication of the sitting President and Vice President.

That may not be as farfetched as it seems at first view. We may be living in a fool’s paradise, but we believe this is still a nation of laws to which no one is immune, and we are absolutely convinced that both George Bush and John Cheney have committed multiple felonies, high crimes and misdemeanors in the course of deliberately misrepresenting intelligence findings, misleading the country into war for personal and political reasons, illegally arresting, detaining and torturing citizens and foreign nationals alike, wiretapping, eavesdropping and warrantless searches of same, illegal fundraising, rigged contract adjudication and financial/regulatory manipulation of the media. For starters.

Furthermore, as these guys are no smarter than your average power-mad megalomaniacs, we are convinced of the existence of multiple smoking guns, paper trails and incriminating recordings pertaining to the above-mentioned transgressions. The principles have all been so thoroughly cutthroat for so long we are sure they have all collected insurance policies in the form of incriminating photocopies, emails or tapes. Once the shit starts hitting the fan for real, this whole rotten regime is going to collapse like a house of losing scratch tickets.

Or maybe that is just wistful thinking. As incompetent and traitorously fraudulent as Bush and Cheney have been, there are powerful interests invested in preserving their legacy and keeping their asses out of jail. The sanctity of the office, and the lingering odor of sulphur, and Skull and Bones. They may yet wriggle out of actual hard time, but the both of them belong in jail, for what they’ve done to dishonor the sacrifices of so many, for so long.

So supposing that the Democrats grow some real balls, and start putting pressure on the principals, some modern-day John Dean is going to crack, and the sordid details will start to pour out. At that point, it will all come down to timing.

If the righteous wrath of the Democrats is turned first against the Price of Darkness, aka the Vice President, as a prelude or warm up to going after the Bushman himself, the Republicans will just replace Cheney with a bland Mitch McConnell or Dennis Hastert or somebody, so that if Bush gets impeached or resigns a Republican stalwart reigns.

After all, this is the Gerald Ford blueprint. First, the improbably named vice president was replaced with a Ford, as the powers that be doubted America would withstand a President named Spiro. And let us not forget, as Maureen Dowd reminded us yesterday, it was Gerald Ford who brought us John Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld in the first place.

Conversely, if the Democrats go after Bush first, on the theory that he would be the more likely to carelessly leave his fingerprints on a crucial document, or that the VP will be harder to get to in his still undisclosed location, this would allow Cheney to ascend to the top job directly, despite his well-know aversion to public events, the press, and direct sunlight. Flushed out of his crypt, there is no telling what he would be capable of.

Which makes it imperative to concoct a scenario wherein both of these dudes take the fall together, or at least more or less simultaneously. Perhaps if they are co-defendants in the same case? Who knows? But here’s hoping the Democratic leadership has some pretty smart sleaze bags and shysters of its own working on the case as we sleep…..and dream of the ascension of President Pelosi and all that it would entail.

English teacher’s afterthought:

“This is an historic moment,” Mrs. Pelosi said in her first remarks as speaker of the 110th Congress. “It’s an historic moment for the Congress. It’s an historic moment for the women of America. It is a moment for which we have waited for over 200 years.”

from the New York Times

Now, this is not an auspicious start, from a language point of view. As we all know, the indefinite article "an" is used in front of words that begin with vowels, or words that begin with a silent "h", like "an hour" or "an honor". Now, the last time we checked, the "h" in "historic" IS pronounced, unless one is from Liverpool, like the "h’s" in "a house" or "a hearty meal". Is it too much to ask of our next President that she take a bit more care of the language than her predecessor?