THE NEOCONS ARE ALREADY DITCHING BUSH – HIS FAILURE TO PARDON LIBBY CLINCHES IT

William Kristol, writing in the neocon comic ‘The Weekly Standard’, has told readers:
“So much for loyalty, or decency, or courage. For President Bush, loyalty is apparently a one way street; decency is something he's for as long as he doesn't have to take any risks in its behalf; and courage--well, that's nowhere to be seen. Many of us used to respect President Bush. Can one respect him still?”

Bush’s days are numbered but there are still a few to go before he goes. America is still well over a year away before they are rid of him but, or at least so it seems, the neocons are already preparing the way for the candidate they are giving their support to, John McCain.

Of course, the President the neocons would really like to have is Dick Cheney but, short of something nasty happening to Bush, that is unlikely to happen. The problem for the neocons is that there are a lot of hoops to go through before their man gets to the top – not least of which is, first, getting him up as the Republican candidate and, second, winning the 2008 Presidential election. If he, or the any Republican candidate for that matter, loses then the neocons are going to be back out in the political wilderness where they were after the demise of the Reagan/Bush snr. era when Clinton got elected.

Naturally, a lot can happen in a year but, from where everyone is sitting at the moment, the President and the Republican Party are pretty much on the American people’s collective nose right now and the chances of a Republican President getting elected next time round looks fairly remote.

One couldn’t put it past the ultra-hawks not to try and arrange some way of getting Cheney in considering the circumstances. Just prior to the last Presidential election the idea was mooted that there may be some ‘October Surprise’ that would ensure that either Bush or Cheney retained power. One scenario was a massive ‘terrorist attack’ that would guarantee a Bush re-election while another scenario suggested that Bush may be ‘assassinated’ by some deranged lone gunman which would give Cheney the Presidency who would immediately suspend the constitution on the basis of ‘national security’ effectively giving himself dictatorial powers. As it turned out, there was instead a ‘November Surprise’ where Bush was returned by virtue of massive voter fraud at the election – just as he was ‘voted-in’ in the first place in 2000. Of course, there could be a massive ‘November Surprise’ in the 2008 Presidential election but its going to be very difficult to repeat that again if, going into the election, the opinion polls are about where they are now. It’ll be more than just a bit suspect if a Republican candidate gets up under those circumstances.

This brings us back to another shot at the ‘October Surprise’ scenario; except it doesn’t necessarily have to be in October 2008, it could be any time between now and then.

Whatever happens, it’s quite clear that the neocons have had it with Bush. And there really is only Cheney left standing as far as the neocons are concerned at this moment of time. A worry!