Article: Will Republicans Find the Courage to Tell Bush and Cheney It Is Time To Go?

I know it will be terribly difficult to face the fact that their control of the Whitehouse must end, even harder to let go of that control.

But if the Republican party is to survive, it must face the fact that Bush and Cheney have been the worst executive team ever to hold office. The Republicans must face the reality that their party could literally become extinct if they passively sit by and allow Bush and Cheney to continue the incredibly destructive job of leadership they have been doing the past six years.

It is not just about saving their party. It is about saving the nation. The US is no longer tumbling down an economic and diplomatic fall. It is plummetting down, losing economic viability, losing allies, becoming the planetary pariah that was once the role of Bush.

Bush is already among the walking dead. His secretary of state is one of the most ineffective, useless ever. His appointees have, deservedly, earned the mistrust of the world. Why would anyone trust ANY of the appointees Bush has chosen?

Every day the Republicans in the congress continue to allow Bush to stay in office, they violate their duty to their constituents, to the nation, to the constitution, to international laws.

Now, it's understandable that the Republicans don't want to give up the last bastion of federal power they have, but failure to do will cost them even more dearly in 2008.

It is notable that no polling organizations are asking the question-- Will you vote for a Democratic or Republican presidential candidate in 2008? They're not asking because the answer will be devastating to the Republican party. Shame on the pollsters for not asking. Then again, having commissioned public opinion polls myself, I know that it may be that the questions are being asked, results gathered, but NOT reported.

Now, if the Republicans start facing their unpleasant reality, that they MUST initiate the removal from office of Bush and Cheney, it is likely that they will want to negotiate. They might want to get the Dems to authorize a replacement for Cheney, before Bush and Cheney resign. They might ask for approval of a Republican vice presidential replacement.

Of course, this is wild speculation. But it would take the bite out of the Republican loss, if they could keep the executive branch. The possibilities are pretty wild.

The Dems could approve a republican VP who would become president, if a Democratic VP were also agreed upon.

Or the Dems could approve a democratic VP who would become president, if a Republican VP were also agreed upon.

Of course, if the Dems hold firm and insist on removal of Bush and Cheney, then Nancy Pelosi would become president.

But if the dems do their usual spineless, invertebrate kind of move, they will allow the Republicans to pick a replacement for Bush. It is unlikely they will accept one of the front running Republican presidential candidates, since incumbency would give that candidate an enormous advantage. So they will probably insist upon a moderate, low keyed, less ambitious candidate. Unfortunately, there aren't many.

Hmm. Who would they suggest? Jeb Bush? No. I don't think so. Trent Lott? No way. Forget about McCain, Giuliani, or Romney and leave Ahnold out while we're at it. If this wild scenario were to occur, a blue state republican governor might be a possible candidate, or one of the few remaining moderate Republicans, like Olympia Snowe.

Sure, this is wild speculation. And my own preference is to wait until the Republicans are forced to walk, en masse, to the Whitehouse to tell BUsh and CHeney that they are going to have to leave and that it is better for them to resign than to be impeached, with the cooperation of republicans. But we need to generate all the possible idea scenarios we can. America will probably survive two more years of disastrous Bush leadership, but it's not certain and we don't know how badly injured she will be. We have to stop the bleeding, the damage, as soon as possible.

The bottom line is, can Republicans rise above party interests to save America?