What are the chances that, if beaten, Bush will attempt a "Cleveland"?

[Fenris]

By "Cleveland" of course I mean Stephen Grover Cleveland, the 22nd (and arguably 24th) President of the United States, the only President in the history of this country to serve two nonconsecutive terms. Cleveland was defeated in 1888 by Benjamin Harrison in a manner very similar to Al Gore - he won the popular vote, but lost the electoral college. But four years later, he was again back on the Democratic ticket, and was elected President of the United States in 1892. Interestingly enough, Cleveland tried for the Democratic nomination in 1896, but lost the race to perennial favorite William Jennings Bryan, who went on to lose to William McKinley.

We have seen the true madness of George W. Bush and his team over the past four years. The man believes God picked him to be President. And he'd be following a family tradition if he was ousted this year (which seems quite likely). What do you think the chances are that George W. Bush will be resurrected for a second run in 2008?

And if George doesn't run again, there's always Jeb.

[bhunt70]

1. man, that creeps me out.

[Fenris]

2. It should.

I think it's possible.

[NWHarkness]

3. I doubt it

I think he will adopt a bitter, vindictive attitude, believing the American people "betrayed" him, that they were not worthy of his leadership.

[ArnoldLayne]

14. I agree with you

he is much to petty and would think he is to good for the people.

[asthmaticeog]

4. I doubt he'd get re-nominated

PNAC can find any number of far more electable puppets. Another possibility is that the Republican Party could re-moderate, and thus be out of the extremist thrall it's been in for the past couple of decades, which would also make GWB* an also-ran.

[daa]

5. ZERO

even half the repukes hate his sorry ass now.

[childslibrarian]

6. I think at heart

Bush is a slacker. He doesn't want to be President, it is something they have made him do...Dick Cheney and Rumsfeld will be too old to boost Jeb...

[Ironpost]

7. considering he'll be a convicted felon

for war crimes. I doubt he will ever be back in politics. I don't think Americans will ever embrace another bush*.

[Seth Gecko]

8. can people in prison run

for President?

[nostamj]

9. even if he *wanted* to...

would the repubs get behind ANOTHER one-termer named BUSH???

I doubt it. and when he goes down, it should take all things BUSH off the national political table.

[RoyGBiv]

10. Possible, but...

Modern political parties tend not to put much backing into someone who has lost a general election, even if it was close. Hell, look at Gore. He actually won, but the Democratic leadership was worried that he might run again. I will be especially skeptical if Democrats make significant gains in Congress. If that happens, and maybe even if it doesn't, there's going to be a shake-up within the Republican Party after the election.

Tensions between conservatives and neoconservatives are nearing a fever pitch. In my view, the only thing that's not causing it to boil over at the moment is the election process itself. Should Bush lose, traditional conservatives are going to scream bloody murder and put a good deal of the blame straight on Bush's and the neoconservatives' heads. I doubt they'll change much, but they'll provide enough resistance that it'll likely kill Dubya's active political career.

Jeb is another story. Assuming Kerry wins, I fully expect him to be a candidate in '08. Whether he makes it out of the primaries will depend a great deal on how deeply the Republicans split in the wake of a loss.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

11. i've wondered the same thing

his supporters are like a cult and the GOP nomination could be his in '08 without question

[maveric]

12. Can you be a candidate from a prison cell in Prague?

I truly hope that karma comes back and bites chimpy in the ass.

[djg21]

13. More likely a "Dennis Vacco"

He was the incumnbent NY AG that Spitzer beat in 1998. Vacco refused to concede for a week, and when he finally gave a "concession" he whined incessantly (and essentially continued to refuse to concede) for what seemed like hours. Fittingly, after he was thrown out of office, he went on the work for Waste Management, Inc. Of course, that was a company investigated by the NYAG during his tenure as AG.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

15. sounds kind of like 'pulling a dornan'

b-1 bob, to this day, can't accept that loretta sanchez kicked his ass