libertango | Grudging respect

As part of the whole Wednesday Morning Quarterbacking fest that MSNBC broadcast today, someone made comment that now Rumsfeld has been fired by Bush, perhaps the same thing could be done to Cheney.

Pat Buchanan earned a small amount of respect from me with his response: "Bush can't fire Cheney. He's a Constitutional officer."

Which, as I reminded a co-worker (almost certainly at boring length), is not something I would usually think of on my own, but is an excellent point.

It's worth remembering that the Vice President doesn't serve "at the pleasure of the President." The Veep is elected on his own stick, straight from the Electoral College. In principle, the Electors could vote in anyone they wish for Veep, and leave any putative "ticket" in the dust.

What's interesting about that is, any given President could cut a VP almost entirely from the day-to-day running of government, if they wanted to. Which isn't firing, exactly, but...

Something to think about.

(There's also all kinds of fun, "What if?" scenarios here. What if the President was of one party, and the Senate dominated by another -- and the Veep switched parties? That is, he or she really became a "President of the Senate" with some teeth, in some deal cut in advance for so deeply embarrassing el jefe? I'm not saying it's possible this time around -- Cheney has burnt too many bridges behind him -- I'm talking more on the level of a political novel plot.)