Now I’m trying to work in the old golf joke…
“How was your hunting, dear?”
"Hit the ball, drag Cheney. Hit the ball, drag Cheney…
Not true. Cheney has the heart of a twenty year old.
Which he keeps in a jar on his desk as a warning to others.
o/`Aaaaah, look at all the scary people!
Aaaaah, look at all the scary people!
Richard B. Cheney, shooting the face of his friend when he’s hunting for quail.
Ass without fail.
Waits in his office, watching the heart that he keeps in a jar on his shelf.
None in himself.
All the scary people,
where do they all come from?
All the scary people,
where do they all belong? o/`
(with eternally insufficient apologies to Paul and John)
Did anybody hear “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me” on NPR today? Someone made the comment that Nancy Pelosi would be two heartbeats away from the Presidency. Or actually, a heartbeat and a strong electrical pulse away…
Or a pretzel and a round of birdshot away.
Sorry to continue the serious vein here, but what in fact does happen if, between November and January, say Dec. 1, the POTUS and the VP both die? I assume the current speaker of the House takes over immediately. But what happens in January, when the new House convenes? Does the (new) POTUS retain their seat for the next two years? Or does the job go to the new House Speaker?
Say hello to 2 years of President Hastert. The job title isn’t Acting President, with the Speaker du jour just signing more papers than usual, the Speaker becomes President outright.
In that case, Speaker Hastert would fill the full remainder of President Bush’s term under the Presidential Succession Act, 3 USC 19, which provides in relevant part:
an individual acting as President under subsection (a) [speaker of the House] or subsection (b) [president pro tempore of the Senate] of this section shall continue to act until the expiration of the then current Presidential term [unless temporarily filling a vacancy due to failure of President-elect and Vice President-elect to qualify or their temporary disability]
Which is why Bush and Cheney were out hunting with Pelosi. They’re not going alone into the woods with Hastert until February.
Three go out, but only two come back …