25th Amendment

Scott Hardie | July 21, 2007
For all of our seething, righteous contempt for George W. Bush – I had to remind myself I was in public to keep from spitting on his photo in a magazine yesterday, honest – us liberals don't walk the walk when it comes to demanding his impeachment. Sure, we could mount a pretty good case: He has clearly broken the law and endangered the nation for his own gain. But if you need to understand why we could never go through with impeaching him despite all of the terrible things we think of him, I can sum up our reason in two words: President Cheney.

That said, I read in this morning's news (link) that for the second time, Cheney briefly acquired the powers of the presidency while Bush underwent a colonoscopy. Bush Senior did the same thing when Reagan was sedated for surgery. And I wonder: What makes surgery so special? It has required a presidential transfer of power for as little as two hours. Don't these men sleep, and have sick days, and otherwise get incapacitated from their job on a regular basis? (Insert joke here about how Bush & Cheney sleep at night.)

I suppose it has something to do with surgery's capacity for lethal mistakes and the need to establish order quickly in the event of coma or death, so that we don't have another Alexander Haig moment. But I hope someone here can help clear it up for me. And I wonder if anybody else finds it just slightly weird that the powers of the presidency can be temporarily tossed around like that, albeit with plenty of formal paperwork.

Amy Austin | July 21, 2007
God, I never thought of that... Cheney as President. I guess I'll cut the "pussy Democrats" some slack. ;-)

Since I don't really have any enlightening statements on the subject, I will go ahead and use the "Bush & Cheney are inherently evil" moment to ask if anyone else here has seen Comedy Central's "Lil Bush" -- I just happened to catch it for the first time a few nights ago, and it was pretty damn funny. Particularly the way Lil Cheney is voiced, though I'm sure I would tire of it after just one episode. I don't know if God regularly visits Lil Bush on the show, but that was a hoot, too.

Steve West | July 22, 2007
The transfer of power is apparently justified because of the use of anaesthesia. Section 3 of the 25th amendment presupposes that the President is compos mentis enough to understand his need to transfer power.

Aaron Shurtleff | July 23, 2007
When I recently had my colonoscopy, I was told that I wouldn't be able to make any legal decisions for a few hours (I thought it was closer to 4, but what do I know?). It must be the general nature of the anesthesia (or prehaps the fear of Bush making a rash (i.e. logical) decision when the stick is taken out of his ass to do the colonoscopy?) :)

Amy Austin | July 23, 2007
His head, not a stick. ;-)

Jackie Mason | July 23, 2007
[hidden by request]

Amy Austin | July 23, 2007
That's the one I saw! The one where God visits him, too (there may be other heavenly visits on other episodes for all I know, but this one slayed me) -- I agree though... could easily become too much, even for the fiercest Bush haters.