Presidential Succession

Breaking news:
-For God's sake, Pat, just shut the hell up. If God consistently smote Bad Guys, you'd have been dust long, long ago.
-"I have no specific recollection of that organization." Oh, Sam. You've made Uncle Ronny so proud. And we're still stupid (or numbed) enough to just nod and say Okay, thanks, onto the next question.

And now onto our main feature. Tuesday's post got me thinking about the whole "impeach George and Dick, then what?" thing, so I did a bit of research and found out that... well, we won't be much better off impeaching George no matter how far down the list we go. This site made that much clear (to me, at least -- a completely impartial observer -- heh):

1. The Vice President: Richard Cheney
2. Speaker of the House: John Dennis Hastert (Ed. note: Roy Blunt currently leads the vote to take this spot permanently.)
3. President pro tempore of the Senate(1): Ted Stevens
4. Secretary of State: Condoleezza Rice
5. Secretary of the Treasury: John Snow
6. Secretary of Defense: Donald H. Rumsfeld
7. Attorney General: Alberto Gonzales
8. Secretary of the Interior: Gale A. Norton
9. Secretary of Agriculture: Mike Johanns
10. Secretary of Commerce: Carlos Gutierrez(2)
11. Secretary of Labor: Elaine Chao(3)
12. Secretary of Health and Human Services: Mike Leavitt
13. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development: Alphonso Jackson
14. Secretary of Transportation: Norman Yoshio Mineta
15. Secretary of Energy: Samuel Bodman
16. Secretary of Education: Margaret Spellings
17. Secretary of Veterans Affairs: Jim Nicholson
18. Secretary of Homeland Security(4): Michael Chertoff

NOTE: An official cannot succeed to the Presidency unless that person meets the Constitutional requirements (born in the US, of appropriate age, etc. -- Ed.).
1. The president pro tempore presides over the Senate when the vice president is absent. By tradition the position is held by the senior member of the majority party.
2. Carlos Gutierrez was born in Cuba and is ineligible.
3. Elaine Chao was born in Taiwan and is ineligible.
4. In late July 2005, the Senate passed a bill moving the Homeland Security secretary to number 8 on the list. The bill is awaiting House approval.

Oh yes, let's move Michael Chertoff up ten notches -- he proved SO competent at handling Hurricane Katrina. And Condi and Donald, right up there in the top ten, would define compassionate conservatism for all time, don't you think?

Don't get me wrong -- if we as a nation actually have the courage and conviction to move forward on impeachment, I'll be shouting hosannas from my rooftop. But I won't be holding my breath for much, if any, actual deviation from the Right-Wing Master Plan of Domination and Silencing All Opposition.

UNLESS...

... impeachment of King George and Big Dick doesn't happen till after the Dems take back the House in the November elections.

So there is hope. I feel much better now -- I think I'll go practice some hosannas...