On The Mark -- 16 More Years! 16 More Years!

I can hear this chant already from the next Republican convention. I was in DC last week and during lunch with some colleagues I tossed out a prediction. At first they thought I was crazy, but as the discussion progressed they started to realize it was a viable possibility.

A few weeks ago I posted that I thought Dick Cheney would be the next Republican candidate for president. One of our readers (sorry, I don't remember who it was) stated that it could go even further, with Cheney picking George W. as his running mate for vice president.

So that's what we discussed in DC. It went from impossible to reality (but they wanted to check to see if a former president could run for VP).

But I saved the best part for last. "But, wait!" I said like an informercial. "There's more." A loud groan could be heard. I continued, "After one year Cheney will step down, supposedly for health reasons, W will assume the presidency, and then appoint his brother, Jeb, as the new VP, thus setting him up for another 8 years, after W has finished out the remaining 7 years of his new presidency (assuming, of course, that they get re-elected).

Under this scenario, there would be a Bush in the presidency for 24 consecutive years (minus one while Cheney was in office).

At the same time, while Papa Bush's downfall was that he didn't know the price of a gallon of milk, W's downfall (I hope) may be when the price of gas tops $3 for good when we were supposed to be sending our men and women to die in Iraq to prevent this from happening.

People don't start paying attention until it affects their wallets.