# If Kerry were hit by a flaming toilet from the sky... **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 27, 2004, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176 "2004-07-27T23:21:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/21 "2004-07-28T19:44:04Z")
> [@AvhHines](#): > > That precludes someone from being elected twice, or from serving out someone’s term as VP for more than two years and then being elected twice. It does _not_ preclude someone from being elected VP (and then inheriting the presidency) after being elected twice. Apparently the authors of the amendment never considered this to be a possibility. Because it was already precluded by [Amendment XII](http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxii.html). > [@](#): > > But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States. Amendment XX makes Clinton constitutionally ineligible for the presidency, and therefore he is ineligible for the vice-presidency under Amendment XII. ---
**Author:** ![spectrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@spectrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spectrum)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/22 "2004-07-28T20:38:30Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > Not a chance. The vice-president is mainly our spare tire, the one who is there to take over the presidency right away should POTUS die, resign, be impeached and removed, or become incapacitated. The office really has no other important functions – the VP is nominally president of the Senate, but usually the president pro tem of the Senate does the presiding. Clinton, having served two full terms, is barred by the 22nd Amendment from ever being president again, so there’s no point in making him VP. Not only is there no point – it wouldn’t be legal. To be elected vice president, you must legally be qualified to be elected president, which Bill Clinton is not. ---
**Author:** ![spectrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc29f/32.png) [@spectrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spectrum)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/23 "2004-07-28T20:40:50Z")
Gah, that’s what happens when I forget to hit send before going to lunch, and doing it right when I get back! :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2004, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/24 "2004-07-28T22:32:03Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Because it was already precluded by [Amendment XII](http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/constitution.amendmentxii.html).Amendment XX makes Clinton constitutionally ineligible for the presidency, and therefore he is ineligible for the vice-presidency under Amendment XII. I stand corrected. Thank you, **Spoiler** and **Spectrum**. Rather disappointing, in the sense that it makes life in FLACOD (thanks, **Bricker**!) world a little less interesting. Oh well… ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/25 "2004-07-29T00:47:24Z")
> [@](#): > > I think, given the confusion about his heritage, the odds are greater that he would find out that his parents lied to him and adopted him as a baby from a country other than the US than he would be killed by a flying toilet. Do you contend that finding out that one is adopted is less likely than being killed by a flying, flaming, bathroom fixture? Either senario is unlikely, but toilets seem more unlikely IMO, so I proposed a slightly more realistic reason he would lose the presidential nomination. YMMV Except that the flaming toilet scenario, unlikely as the possibility might be, is an event entirely based in the future. The international adoption scenario would have to be based on events which occured sixty years ago but where somehow never known until now. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 29, 2004, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/26 "2004-07-29T01:00:23Z")
As long as we’re on the subject, I’ve always wondered what would happen if a president elect cacked it before the inauguration. Would the veep elect automatically be sworn in instead or would something else happen? And wht if BOTH the prez elect AND the vep elect cacked it before inauguration day? Would the party get to appoint a replacement? is there any contingincy plan in the law for a cacked prez elect? ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/27 "2004-07-30T21:27:22Z")
This question does, in fact, have a factual answer and it has nothing to do with the Constitution. In 1972, Thomas Eagleton was nominated for VP by the Democrats, then resigned before the election. The Democratic National Committee (not convention delegates, their role was finished after the convention) met in a special session and nominated Sargent Shriver to replace Eagleton on the ticket. Time magazine ran a relatively famous cover of McGovern and Eagleton together at the convention, with Eagleton’s head cut out and Shriver’s crudely pasted in its place. The role of the National Committees is forgotten by the public (particularly since the 1972 McGovern-Shriver ticket was buried in the Nixon landslide) but beloved by writers of political fiction. It’s the best “smoke-filled room” scenario left in American politics. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2004, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/28 "2004-07-30T21:38:21Z")
Good heavens, I’d forgotten that! Thanks for the reminder, **kunilou**! ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/29 "2004-07-31T13:11:21Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > Amendment XX makes Clinton constitutionally ineligible for the presidency, and therefore he is ineligible for the vice-presidency under Amendment XII. You mean Amendment 22, don’t you? The 20th Amendment, which deals with questions of what happens when the President-Elect or Veep-Elect dies or “fail[s] to qualify” (whatever that means; maybe it would cover the international-adoption scenario) between the election and the inauguration, could somehow interact with this mess, I suppose, but we start with the 22nd and 12th Amendments. At any rate, the 22nd Amendment makes Clinton constitutionally ineligible to be **elected** to the Presidency a third time. It doesn’t speak to the question of whether he could, as Vice-President, _succeed_ to the Presidency upon the death, resignation, or impeachment and removal of the President. IANAL, but my understanding would be that the absence of any such language legally implies eligibility to succeed in such a fashion. So then we go to the concluding sentence of the 12th Amendment: “But no person constitutionally ineligible **to the office** of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.” Since the 22nd Amendment doesn’t say Clinton’s ineligible _to the office_ of President, but just says he’s ineligible _to be elected_ to that office, it seems that the 12th Amendment doesn’t disqualify Clinton from being veep. Anything I’m missing, here? In answer to **Dio** ’s question, the _20th_ Amendment specifies that “\*f, at the time fixed for the beginning of the term of the President, the President-elect shall have died, the Vice-President-elect shall become President.” Can’t tell the amendments without a scorecard! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2004, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/30 "2004-07-31T13:20:58Z")
We went through a lot of this when people started wondering if Bill could be Kerry’s Vice President. Clinton’s take is that “a reasonable interpretation of the amendment” would bar him from being VP (might not be an exact quote, but close). ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/31 "2004-08-04T15:28:12Z")
If Prince Charles were hit by a Flaming Toilet from the Sky it would be known as a Royal Flush. I rose off a sick bed to bring you that horrid joke. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/32 "2004-08-04T15:38:56Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > As long as we’re on the subject, I’ve always wondered what would happen if a president elect cacked it before the inauguration. Would the veep elect automatically be sworn in instead or would something else happen? > > And wht if BOTH the prez elect AND the vep elect cacked it before inauguration day? Would the party get to appoint a replacement? is there any contingincy plan in the law for a cacked prez elect? This question was addressed by [The Master](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_133.html) nearly 25 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Hoopy\_Frood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoopy_frood/32/8452_2.png) [@Hoopy\_Frood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoopy_Frood)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/33 "2004-08-04T16:27:35Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > The vice-president is mainly our spare tire, the one who is there to take over the presidency right away should POTUS die, resign, be impeached and removed, or become incapacitated. The office really has no other important functions I think Dick Cheney missed that memo. ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2004, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/34 "2004-08-04T18:53:58Z")
[MPSIMS Moment] Oh. My. God. We made thread-spotting! Entirely **Bricker’s** doing because of his lovely acronym, but I’ll settle for that! Me, little **AvhHines**! Woo Hoo! [/MPSIMS Moment] We now return you to your regularly scheduled debate. ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/35 "2004-08-05T23:58:02Z")
is the flacod made in the usa or canada? sometimes the flacods that are made in the usa don’t get the job done on the first go. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/36 "2004-08-06T06:53:01Z")
Continuing the theme of FLACODs… 😃 Suppose the election is over and Kerry has won. It’s the night before (alternate: after) the Inauguration, and as the Earth rotates, it runs into a stream of FLACODs, devastating the entire northern US, from New York to Washington right across the US. Pretty shitty, huh? But **everyone** of import - Bush and his team, Kerry and his team, the party bigwigs, senators, Pentagon, ex-Presidents, etc - are all gone. Who takes over? ---
**Author:** ![Oy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bc8723/32.png) [@Oy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oy)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 10:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/37 "2004-08-06T10:22:12Z")
> [@qts](#): > > Continuing the theme of FLACODs… 😃 > > Suppose the election is over and Kerry has won. It’s the night before (alternate: after) the Inauguration, and as the Earth rotates, it runs into a stream of FLACODs, devastating the entire northern US, from New York to Washington right across the US. Pretty shitty, huh? But **everyone** of import - Bush and his team, Kerry and his team, the party bigwigs, senators, Pentagon, ex-Presidents, etc - are all gone. Who takes over? We now have the post-Apocalyptic scenario beloved of sci-fi authors. While Niven and Pournelle’s _Lucifer’s Hammer_ is somewhat outdated in some ways, I think it still makes some valid predictions with respect to this situation, even if the problem there was a comet rather than a stream of FLACODs. Many people would die, not only in the intial FLACOD strike, but in the subsequent breakdown of infrastructure resulting. There would be a rapid and rather nasty breakdown in law and order, particularly among people who (with some degree of justification) had felt that laws and law enforcement existed to keep them locked into poverty and misery. The cities would, IMHO, within a week or two look like Iraq a few weeks after the invasion was “accomplished” - looting and rampant crime. Industry and agriculture might continue, but would not achieve much because shipping would be dead in its tracks. Eventually strongholds would evolve, based around a person or group able to provide protection and some basic living needs. Depending on the motivations and relative strengths of the strongholds, we would either plunge into a feudal neo-barbarism or gradually re-establish a civilization as we know it. Unless you mean that the FLACODS would take out _only_ those who were in the legally established line of succession for President and former Presidents. In that case, I don’t have a clue! ---
**Author:** ![dalej42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@dalej42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dalej42)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/38 "2004-08-06T16:12:47Z")
> [@AvhHines](#): > > Unless you mean that the FLACODS would take out _only_ those who were in the legally established line of succession for President and former Presidents. In that case, I don’t have a clue! I think I’ve read that in such an unlikely scenario, the Governors of the several states would be in line for succession in order of their admittance to the Union. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/39 "2004-08-06T16:57:19Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > the Governors of the several states would be in line for succession in order of their admittance to the Union. Does Arkansas count from 1836 or 1868? ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2004, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176/40 "2004-08-06T17:52:34Z")
Well, we have now answered the question factually, and also there have been suppositions. My guess is that if Edwards didn’t get it- a non-runner would get it. That’s the way the “smoke-filled rooms” usually perform. And, yes, the Constitution is unclear, but the current SCOTUS would rule against Bill. No doubt of THAT, In my mind anyway. :mad: [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-kerry-were-hit-by-a-flaming-toilet-from-the-sky/257176.md?page=1)