He'll have the neocon vote sewed up, but he'll need a culture war conservative as a running mate to get the "values voters" on board. Let's see, who would be available? It can't be a Mormon. How about Sarah? Or Huckleberry Hound? Gary Bauer?

A third term...? Who will do the brush clearing, golf, goat book reading and the bike riding? What about Scooter?

Nor is he too old. In 2012, he will be the same age John McCain was in 2008.

That's too old.

And since Palin called Cheney right before she bumbled through her resignation... what do you want to bet that she is being trained and bred to be a Veep once more running with the Dark Lord Bumbledick.

Should we start donating money now to fight them?

He may be among the many Winston Churchill worshippers among the more militaristic of our country's political class. So it's possible he sees himself in that light: the principled, unloved and unappreciated leader, turned to only when all seems lost for his country, and desperation seems the order of the day.

The reason, I venture, why he hasn't seriously sought to be elected to the presidency until now is that he realizes that in ordinary times the only way a person can get elected president in this country is to make a mighty good show of genuflecting to what he seems to regard as the sillier ideas held by many voters. And his heart isn't in that prospect. He sees it as an unworthy use of his time and talents.

And, of course, if he thought he could run the country, or at least its foreign policy, as Vice President, why go through the hassle and uncertainty of running at the top of the ticket?

OTOH, he seems to want another major terrorist attack on the homeland so he can say, however inaptly, in the court of public opinion: "told you so". And--who knows?--possibly relieve a sense of guilt that 9/11 happened on his, well, technically on W's, watch? (On second thought: nah.)

If something did happen and there was another panicky, muddle-headed reaction by the public as after 9/11, all bets could be off in terms of the normal rules on who could get elected to the Presidency in this country. Heaven help us.

I prefer to focus on ways to help our current president give the voters as many reasons as possible to re-elect him.

Now, if you are talking about a Palin/Cheney ticket...you had better start spending your money now, because that would definitely be a winning ticket!

ex animo

Response in Latin: Sed nemo potuit tangere: merda Palin-Cheney

I doubt the chickenhawk of all chickenhawks is snarling because he misses his Secret Secure Location and wants to back and grow senile there. He is probably snarling (a) because he is incapable of doing much of anything else in public and (b) because his Big Lie mentality is stuck in high gear and he thinks if he can con people into thinking that Obama is Devil Incarnate, then they might come to believe that his 8 years spent laying waste to America's economy, military power and moral authority can't quite have been the worst U.S. presidential administration of all time after all.

Nevertheless, he has my vote: for President of the Abu Ghraib Prisoners Association, and with no term limits - a lifetime appointment to residency in his own special dream house.

This is exactly why there needs to be accountability for the crimes of the Bush administration - he can't run in 2012 if he's where he belongs, IN JAIL.

I don't know why everyone is so confident that the Democrats already have the White House wrapped up for 2012. If the economy continues on a downward trajectory, or simply spends the next 3 years sputtering along, there are going to be lots of folks out there in the "real America" who'll like the sound of Palin's tortured syntax, or Romney's faux-CEO soundbites. Remember Carter? Bush 1? It's the economy, stupid.

Well, it's the economy, and the fact that the Democrats for some unknown ungodly reason continue to think that bipartisanship is essential, that you can negotiate with the Grassleys and the Vitters and the Sessionses.

So here's how I see 2012 playing out, worst case scenario: after sucessfully defeating meaningful healthcare reform, the screamers/Republicans continue to disrupt every Democratic proposal in ever more vicious and deceitful terms. The Dems, under the weak and shaking hands of Reid and Pelosi, refuse to fight back, insisting on wonky details and appeals to our better nature to combat the visceral in-your-face attacks that, while built on lies, strike a chord with unsettled Americans. Here comes the 2012 elections, Palin/Romney/Gingrich continue the assault, and voila, there you have the progressive era ending before it ever really began.

rcb209: The fallout for Democratic overconfidence is happening right now and will probably play out in the 2010 congressional elections. The overwhelming rejection of the Bush Republicans should not have been taken as a mandate for the entire Democratic platform.

With a more balanced post-2010 congress (and Pelosi replaced), I bet most voters will be happy to support Obama.

Personally and with only a half snark or so, I think he's positioning himself to become President of Allied States of America.