(A 2nd poll-oriented poll) What GOP Veep-nom do you fear most? --a poll

[Bucky]

Regardless of who you think they really will nominate, who do you fear them nominating the most. To clarify, I mean scary in terms of how much it'll them help "re"elect Bush, not how scary this person would be if they were just a heartbeat away from being the Finger on the Button.

Most effective GOP VP nominee:

[Leilani]

1. McCain or Rudy

But it won't happen!

[Dems Will Win]

2. Rudy - following the Hannah and Libby indictments in Cheney's office

http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/020704A.shtml

Cheney's Staff Focus of Probe
By Richard Sale


-SNIP-

Federal law-enforcement officials said that they have developed hard evidence of possible criminal misconduct by two employees of Vice President Dick Cheney's office related to the unlawful exposure of a CIA officer's identity last year. The investigation, which is continuing, could lead to indictments, a Justice Department official said.

According to these sources, John Hannah and Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis "Scooter" Libby, were the two Cheney employees. "We believe that Hannah was the major player in this," one federal law-enforcement officer said. Calls to the vice president's office were not returned, nor did Hannah and Libby return calls.

The strategy of the FBI is to make clear to Hannah "that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time" as a way to pressure him to name superiors, one federal law-enforcement official said.

According to one administration official, "The White House was really pissed, and began to contact six journalists in order to plant stories to discredit Wilson," according to the New York Times and other accounts.

-SNIP-

next story:

The Day Cheney was Rocked to the Core
By Jim Lobe

-SNIP-

Quoting "federal law-enforcement officials," UPI's intelligence correspondent Richard Sale reported on Thursday that the two main suspects were none other than Libby and Hannah. One official reportedly told Sale that Hannah was being advised "that he faces a real possibility of doing jail time" in order to pressure him to implicate higher-ups - presumably Libby, if not, perhaps, Cheney himself.

A 1982 law makes deliberately revealing the identity of covert intelligence officers a felony punishable by as many as 10 years in prison. If either Hannah or Libby were officially named as suspects or actually indicted, the impact on Cheney's credibility and electability would be devastating.

According to recent polls, Cheney's approval ratings, hovering around 20 percent, are already far below Bush's, which have themselves sunk below 50 percent for the first time in his presidency. Even Halliburton, whose public image has become so tarnished that it has launched a controversial television ad campaign to boost its image, last week listed Cheney's association to the company as a "risk factor" for its shareholders.

Republicans in Congress, particularly on the intelligence and foreign relations committees, find themselves having to devote more time and political capital to defending the vice president, and even some influential Republican donors have privately suggested that Cheney bow out. Speculation about possible replacements - most recently, former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani (the Republican convention is in New York City, August 30 to September 2.) - is growing steadily. Of course, there's always another day.


-SNIP-

[Ruby Romaine]

5. Negatives for repukes-Rudy has had sex scandals & McCain was in Keating 5

[bryant69]

6. I don't know about Rudy

But the nation has already dealt with the Keating Five issue, and forgiven McCain for it. That won't be much of an issue (I agree that it should be, but it won't be).

But I can't believe he would accept the nomination. He'd be isolated from the first minute he got in the white house, and if they won, he'd face the prospect of the white house running against him in 2008 (in favor of Jeb).

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[Bandit]

3. McCain will be a force to be reckoned with

They will chose him and he will accept but we will still win. It will just be a lot more difficult.

[Tyler Durden]

4. Frist.

Heard his name mentioned now at least twice. Also have heard Santorum, and since the chances of a fair and unbiased (Oh, those WORDS!) election are slim and none, Santorum gives me the worst willies.

[librechik]

7. ditto

and he seems to be ambitious enough to stop at nothing, if he wanted it...Maybe he'll be on in 08 with Jeb!

:scared:

[Beaker]

14. lots of cat-owners vote...

and frist isn't going to be very high on their hit parade.

[Bucky]

8. One argument against (seeming winner) McCain

McCain would cause us the most grief, I agree. Rudy would be too easy to tear apart with all the personal crap in his life and his wedgability with the far right.

But the more I think about Jeb and his aspirations, the more I doubt that Poppy would let a real '08 contender get onto the '04 ticket. That would prove to be too much trouble for Jeb's aspirations in '08. So they need someone who presents no real threat to the airhead apparent. That would mean Powell or Giuliani, who could never get nominated in the party of Robertson, but would certainly help assuage moderates this year in the fall campaign. A true mainstream, outsider, media-savvy conservative like McCain is capital T trouble for Jeb if he has a national platform and a toe in the water for heir to the war on terror.

Unless Georgie is down 20 points this summer and they need a hail mary nomination, McCain is probably out. As is anyone else with reasonable ambitions.

[Chovexani]

9. No way in hell will Fooliani be offered the VP slot

I think people worried about Mussolini-on-the-Hudson don't know anything about the man beyond 9-11 (when he DID HIS FUCKING JOB for once, that doesn't make him a goddamn saint). First off he is way, *way* too liberal for the Repukes to run nationally. Fer cripes sake, a Repuke can't be a PNAC neo-con and win 2 terms in a city where damn near everyone is a registered Dem. He's pro-choice and supported gay rights so that makes him anathema. Secondly he has way too much baggage. First he married his cousin, then the guy went to court to keep his mistress in Gracie Mansion with wife #2 and kids. About the only thing he ever did that the fundie base could probably get behind was trying to tell us what art we could and could not look at. Fooliani isn't even on the radar screen.

I'd be way more worried about McCain, even though I don't think he'd take a VP slot if offered.

Besides, I can't help shaking a feeling here that the BFEE is acting like the Harkonnens here, with Poppy as the Baron, Chimpy as the Beast Rabban and Jeb as Feyd-Rautha. Chimpy runs the country into the ground, Kerry can't fix it fast enough, and Jeb comes riding in like a knight in shining armor in '08.

Let's just hope Kerry can ride a sandworm. :silly:

[Bozita]

10. Quayle, Dan Quayle

wouldn't that be a pair?

[Chovexani]

13. The Dumb and Dumber ticket (n/t)

[Beaker]

11. I don't see Rudy being a big help to the lil'dictator down south...

a pro-choice catholic former new york city mayor who co-habitated with gay men during his high-profile sex-scandal plagued divorce case...

i don't see too many guys named "bubba" coming down on rudy's side of the fence.

[indepat]

12. The devious, deityous, delightful, delectable, and delicous DeLay

[jsw_81]

15. I fear McCain and Giuliani

But there is no way that either one would be chosen. Bush and McCain hate each other, and Giuliani is far too liberal for the party's insane conservative base; they'd riot if a "pro-abortion, pro-homosexual agenda" :eyes: Republican like Giuliani ever got on the ticket.