Please help me to understand

[whosinpower]

I just read explosive innuendoes that Cheney is the target of Fitzgerald's investigation. (Couldn't happen to a nicer guy methinks)

BUT - let's say that Cheney is indicted......what happens?
And let's say that Cheney resigns immediately.....what happens?

I don't know the ins and outs of American rules - who gets to be VP? Does that force an early election - for president and VP?
How does it shake out?

[highplainsdem]

1. Bush appoints someone else VP.

[Skink]

5. Bush reappoints Cheney vp

Cause Dick tells him to.

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. It doesn't go to the Speaker?

Vice President Hastert? :shrug:

On edit: Lotta simultaneous posts. I stand educated.

[deadparrot]

2. The WH will nominate a VP candidate...

and that person has to be approved by the Senate.

[Berserker]

8. Well thats good news and bad news

We get rid of a piece of shit and move into and asshole.

[deadparrot]

11. Indeed.

Though, IF this all occurs (and that's a big if), it would be interesting to see how the split Republicans react to the VP nominee.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

3. It's the anniversary

(plus one day, I believe) of the resignation of Spiro Agnew from his job as Richard M. Nixon's Vice-President.

Now, go read about that time, about Nixon, and about Watergate. You'll get the whole big picture.

It's a great story and large chunk of your country's history that you must know if you are to be effective as you go on in this world, making your own history.

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. Bush apoints a VP who HAS to be aproved by the Senate

it does not have to be a member of the government but chances are will be a moderate pug, now this is pure speculation, but I am guessing McCain

[MnFats]

6. It's happened before...Spiro Agnew...Nixon's VP

a real law'n'order man...
caught taking bribes...on on occasion in his D.C. office....
Nixon picked Gerald Ford to replace him...it happened very quickly....Agnew pleaded "nolo contendere" to the charge....corrupt asshole.

[TallahasseeGrannie]

7. I'm remembering when Agnew quit

and Nixon was pres. Nixon named Ford VP and he went before confirmation hearings. Then when Nixon quit Ford named Rockerfeller (or however you spell it.) He had to be confirmed, too. Therefore Fords admin was completely un-elected.

[Greeby]

13. "Therefore Fords admin was completely un-elected."

Maybe the first, but certainly not the last :(

[TallahasseeGrannie]

14. Yes, it was prophetic.

[Greeby]

9. President nominates under 25th amendment, Congress votes to confirm

Nixon picked Ford, who was House Minority Leader. And he was confirmed on 92-3 in the Senate and then 387-35 in the House.

I doubt anyone Bush would pick in that case would be anymore tolerable

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerald_Ford

[madame defarge]

17. Brownie's looking for a job... n/t

[UDenver20]

12. It remains vacant until...

...the president nominates a VP, who must be confirmed by the Senate.

Taken from: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0101032.html

According to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the Senate president pro tempore1 was next in line after the vice president to succeed to the presidency, followed by the Speaker of the House.

In 1886, however, Congress changed the order of presidential succession, replacing the president pro tempore and the Speaker with the cabinet officers. Proponents of this change argued that the congressional leaders lacked executive experience, and none had served as president, while six former secretaries of state had later been elected to that office.

The Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed by President Harry Truman, changed the order again to what it is today. The cabinet members are ordered in the line of succession according to the date their offices were established.

Prior to the ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, there was no provision for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. When a president died in office, the vice president succeeded him, and the vice presidency then remained vacant. The first vice president to take office under the new procedure was Gerald Ford, who was nominated by Nixon on Oct. 12, 1973, and confirmed by Congress the following Dec. 6.

The Vice President Richard Cheney
Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
President pro tempore of the Senate1 Ted Stevens
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
Secretary of the Treasury John Snow
Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Secretary of the Interior Gale A. Norton
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns
Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez2
Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao3
Secretary of Health and Human Services Mike Leavitt
Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Alphonso Jackson
Secretary of Transportation Norman Yoshio Mineta
Secretary of Energy Samuel Bodman
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings
Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jim Nicholson
Secretary of Homeland Security4 Michael Chertoff

NOTE: An official cannot succeed to the Presidency unless that person meets the Constitutional requirements.
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.
See also:

[Mnemosyne]

16. I believe they jumped Cherkoff up

to number 8 on the list several months ago. I'll see if I can find the article. But I'm really sure, or maybe they were going to and never did. Most likely it happened and was quiet. Sneaky pricks.
Scary thought.

[Der Blaue Engel]

15. Heh...your name is your question.

:D