The Atlantic's Matt Yglesias argues that, should Congress file articles of impeachment against George W. Bush, they should, on the same docket, impeach Vice-President Cheney.
I agree.
However, Yglesias suggests that Speaker Pelosi and Senate President Pro-Tempore Robert Byrd (both Democrats and the next two in line for the presidency) should vow not to accept the office in the event that the Senate convict the war criminals now running the Executive Branch. Yglesias argues that, because the next in line would be Secretary of State Condi Rice (a Republican), such a move by Pelosi and Byrd would "demonstrate a lack of partisan motivation" on the part of the Democratic controlled Congress.
Perhaps. But it would also fly in the face of the Constitution and current federal law. In their congressional roles, the Constitution calls for the elevation of Pelosi or Byrd to the presidency in the event that the President, Vice-President, (and the Speaker of the House should Byrd elevate) are removed from office by impeachment, resignation, or death.
No...what should happen in the highly unlikely event of a joint Bush/Cheney impeachment and conviction is that President Pelosi (or President Byrd) vow not to run for a full term in the 2008 election. (For the record, I suggested dual impeachment last year when the Republicans held the majority in Congress and Dennis Hastert was still Speaker of the House and thus next in line for the presidency after VP Cheney.)
One more thing...think back to 1998 when the Republicans forced impeachment against Bill Clinton over a sex scandal. Do you think for a minute that then-Speaker Newt Gingrich or then-Senate President Pro-Tempore Strom Thurmond would have thought, for even an iota of a second, about giving up the presidency in a scenario that would have removed both President Clinton AND Vice-President Gore from office?
Yeah...neither did I.
