My rough guess is that Cheney would be a significant improvement.
Most notably in terms of competence and discipline (fiscal and otherwise – although perhaps not in matters of firearm safety).
Then again, Bush has proved to be more disappointing than I thought he would – so I suppose there could be no guarantee that Cheney would not show similar weakness if he got the big chair. shrug
Are you kidding? Cheney is the president. Where have you been? 
George W. is just his press secretary.
I thought Al Haig was still in charge.
[quote=“spook”]Are you kidding? Cheney is the president. Where have you been?
George W. is just his press secretary.[/quote]
heh 
I know that is a fashionable view, and one that is not uncommonly held.
At the end of the day, neither of us is likely to have enough information (being present at meetings where issues are decided, etc.) to be able to know for sure whether it is right or wrong. (So I admit that it may be right )
The reason I, personally, do not buy it is that there have just been too many instances where I think Cheney would have made a different decision if it were up to him. shrug
------ I think Cheney would have chosen to spend less time on vacation, for instance, and more time staying on top of the hurricane, or knowing what was going on with the DP Ports issue so he did not get stuck at a press conference with nothing to say but “Yeah… uhh… well… you know… I stick with my guys – and if that’s what they decided, then dagnabit, that was the right decision!”.
------ I think Cheney would have pandered less to the left on issues like immigration, education reform, steel tarrifs, and affirmative action.
------ I think Cheney would have vetoed some of the lard and corruption infested spending bills that Bush lets pass under his misguided and vacuous philosophy of “compasionate conservatism”.
------ I think Cheney would have nominated a qualified Supreme Court justice from the begining, rather than burning large amounts of political capital --before capitulating-- in a stubborn and amateurish attempt to elevate a (from all accounts) kindly and personable old woman who writes him cooing love letters.
As I say, I happily admit I could be wrong on any of these (although I am very doubtful I’m wrong on the Miers nomination 
). At the same time, I trust that you would admit that you may be wrong in thinking that Cheney would have handled these things in the same way that Bush did (even if we were both White House insiders, we would not be able to soothsay the counterfactual, or the future). Neither of us can know.
But suffice it to say that I remain unconvinced by the “Cheney is the president” chestnut – regardless of how clever or witty it sounds 
Quite simply, Cheney would have made too many different decisions if he were in charge for it to be true.
Cheers,
H
Does anybody have any idea what he does in his “undisclosed location”? I mean, is it really fair to assume that he actually works harder than Bush just because Bush’s massive vacation is actually known to all?
Not sure what the “left” positions have been pandered to by Bush. Regarding immigration, I suppose most Americans are not terribly happy to see new immigrants hauled off for indefinite detention, interrogation and torture with no factual basis for their treatment. However, I thought that was more of an issue of humanity rather than politics. Regarding education reform, Bush’s “No Child Left Behind” has become a national joke, so I don’t know if there was any pandering involved – nobody who knows education was fooled by this malarkey. Affirmative action? Not sure about that either – we’ve seen that Bush is willing to act affirmatively to help rich buddies but we’ve seen the poor of New Orleans drown.
Oh, you mean all the ones pertaining to Halliburton and Cheney’s buddies? The policies so far have been very compassionate towards the rich.
Or, on the basis that “great minds think alike,” he would have nominated Old Man Potter from “It’s a Wonderful Life” … and then shot him in the face.
As I’m sure you know, MFGR, there is much in your response that I agree with. No need for me to tick down the “Yes I agree with you that giving money out to your corporate friends is bad. Yes I agree with you that Bush’s education plan is a disgrace…” etc. list.
I did want to give you kudos on the Old Man Potter reference though… :bravo: 
Not only does it reference one of my favorite films of all time, but… well… Cheney does kindof look like Potter doesn’t he? 
One example as to who’s really in charge was when George Bush asked Dick Cheney to vet candidates for vice-president and Dick comes back and says, after looking long and hard, he was only able to find one qualified candidate, “a humorless corporate hack with one foot in the grave whose only child is a same-sex marriage advocate – me.”
If President Bush was really calling the shots surely he would have told Dick to go back to the drawing board on that corny decision.
It’s funny that when George I was president, people were so afraid of what his v.p. might do that there was a joke that should anything happen to George, the Secret Service had orders to shoot Quail.
Now you have George II, and people still have reason to fear the V.P., and there are still jokes connecting the vp and gunfire.
Much as I dislike Dick, I think you’ve got to agree the George II picked a better sidekick than did his father.
I’m sure he really cares what English teachers in Taiwan think of him 
If he is so stupid, why is he Chairman of the firm Cerberus Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar international hedge fund?
Despite being labelled a lightweight and making a famous spelling error (which you also did in the above-mentioned message 
), Quayle tied Gore in the '92 VP debates. I don’t think Quayle is as stupid as the Eastern Establishment media portray him to be. Sure, he lost the VP debates to Lloyd Bentsen in 88, but Bush Sr. also lost to Bentsen in Congressional races.
Quayle faced off against Gore in the vice-presidential debate, and, due in part to exceeding low expectations and staying on the offensive by tactics such as criticizing passages in Gore’s book Earth in the Balance, Quayle was generally seen to have at least tied Gore, faring much better than he had against Bentsen four years earlier.
Chewycorns, you can do better than that. Come on!
Cheney’s out shooting quail,
the thought of Cheney or Quayle as prez causes people to quail,
the joke was that the Secret Service had orders to shoot Quayle.
The joke is the joke, not the the, nor the guys involved.
(Guess I didn’t make that clear. So much for a career in standup.)
I’m sure he really cares what English teachers in Taiwan think of him If he is so stupid, why is he Chairman of the firm Cerberus Capital Management, a multi-billion dollar international hedge fund?[/quote]
Because he’s got good friends? C’mon … the Bush I and II legacy has been full of all these lovely favors that their circle does for them. Bush II was an absolute disaster as a businessman, but with careful use of the same sorts of debt-hiding shell companies that became famous with Enron, Bush II got millions for selling out his nearly-busted Arbusto. II ain’t a rocket scientist, but he was born into the right family.
[quote=“Chewycorns”][Despite being labelled a lightweight and making a famous spelling error (which you also did in the above-mentioned message ), Quayle tied Gore in the '92 VP debates. I don’t think Quayle is as stupid as the Eastern Establishment media portray him to be. Sure, he lost the VP debates to Lloyd Bentsen in 88, but Bush Sr. also lost to Bentsen in Congressional races.
Quayle faced off against Gore in the vice-presidential debate, and, due in part to exceeding low expectations and staying on the offensive by tactics such as criticizing passages in Gore’s book Earth in the Balance, Quayle was generally seen to have at least tied Gore, faring much better than he had against Bentsen four years earlier. [/quote]
You forget, of course, that everybody was a bit shaken. Does anybody remember anything from that debate other than the highly confused (problems with his hearing aid, not mental confusion necessarily) Admiral Stockdale bellowing out: “WHO AM I AND WHAT AM I DOING HERE?!?!”
Quayle’s debate style apparently consisted of him making up stuff about Gore’s book, which might have also left Gore a bit flat-footed. If we had reversed the party affiliations of Gore and Quayle (thus allowing Gore to break free from Democratic political restraints), we might get the following:
Gore: According to his autobiography, Breaking With the Wind, Dan Quayle is the kind of man who knocked up his own mother by the time he was 13 years old."
Quayle: What?!?
Gore: You wrote it. Page 87. (in a hushed whisper into the mike): losersayswhat.
Quayle: What?!?
Gore: Its precisely this sort of person who should not be in the vice president’s office.