"I do not seek..and I will not accept the nomination of my party..."

[69KV]

"for another term as your president." - Lyndon B. Johnson, 1968

OK, suppose Bush has seen the writing on the wall and makes such an announcement days before the convention.

Is this a worst case scenario for us or would it help even more?

The tinfoil hatter in me is starting to be very suspicious of all the sucking up John McCain has been doing to Bush lately. To the point that it wouldn't surprise me if Bush is planning on stepping down and the Repuke party is busy right now grooming John McCain to step in as the nominee.

Thoughts?

[Flagius]

1. Are you kidding?

He doesn't have the class to do something that decent.

[jeffrey_X]

13. Speaking of LBJ...is there a good book regarding his legacy?

The political history of this country is somethign I cared little about until the past few years. LBJ is one of the people I'd like to learn more about.

Thanks.

[chelaque liberal]

15. His tapes are public record now.

NPR did a series on the 40th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. They played his actual conversations about it being an election year and he didn't want to look weak compared to an ultra hawk like Goldwater and about trying to get the North to attack our ship so that we could retaliate. 58,000 Americans and how many Vietnamese dead so he would look good in the polls!

[tritsofme]

21. 58,000 dead young men

There's a legacy for you.

Visit the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, that is LBJ's legacy.

[loathesomeshrub]

2. no way would that asshole sacrifice himself for the good of the

party; plus no way could McCain be controlled as he is.

[Catch22Dem]

3. Johnson did that with honor

And with the good of the nation in mind. Bush has neither honor nor a conscience. Won't happen.

[MichiganVote]

4. Dream on. Shrubbie like being class president

[whalerider55]

5. nuh huh

Well, i do believe W will do what he is told.
if he stepped down, tho, wouldn't dickie c be the obvious choice of the hardline conservative wing of the party- then again, dc does have a heart problem (which I actually believe, contrary to popular wisdom, will "force" him to step off the ticket in a week. Hence, McCain may end up on the ticket, as a countervail to Kerry-

then again, the governor of Arizona is a demo, so would she appoint a replacement for McCain?

complications...

whalerider55

[69KV]

11. The AZ governor would appoint a replacement

who would only have a few months left to serve out the term. McCain's AZ Senate seat is up for re-election in 2004. If McCain winds up on the Repuke ticket either as VP nominee to replace Cheney, or in my unlikely hypothetical situation above he heads the ticket, the Repukes would name somebody else to run for Senate in his place. That person would run against Dem candidate Stu Starky who is not well known, it's too late for anyone else to get on the ballot unless Starky steps down after the primary so the Dems can name a higher-profile replacement. The senate seat could easily be in Repuke hands again after a few months.

[cally]

6. No

* expects to win and thinks he is annointed by God. He will never quit. Cheney might. I'm worried McCain may be the running mate.

[69KV]

14. That's a lot more likely

I'm just talking hypotheticals here.

Cheney steps down, McCain named as VP nominee - worst case scenario for us.

Bush steps down - not likely. But supposing he did, McCain is the only Repuke who their party knows for sure would win the election. But the responses so far have convinced me that Dubya is too power-mad for this to happen.

[Danger Duck]

7. Wake up

Johnson couldn't win. * can, and is essentially neck and neck with Kerry right now, with a convention and October surprise to come.

Kerry needs to get his campaign on track. he can do it, sometimes I feel like the party doesn't want him to win. I want him to just go after the issues, the real issues, not the ones that * and co throw in his path.

[wuushew]

9. Regardless of wether he could win...LBJ wanted to run

Lady Bird would not let him run because the men in his family had histories of bad heart conditions and did not want him dying in office.

[69KV]

12. "Wake up"

Whoa there, it's just a hypothetical, a "what if". I don't think it's likely that Shrub will step down. Just my inner tinfoil hat speaking after I read some articles on liberal blogs about how desparate the Bush campaign looks right now. Their campaign strategy is spending much of their energy just trying to keep the Repuke base from defecting.

[Danger Duck]

16. sorry,

I didn't mean too be harsh.

[Gman]

8. No way in hell

will they ever surrender power to someone like McCain.

[roguevalley]

10. he is oblivious to the handwriting and he couldn't read it if he was.

[Selwynn]

17. This guy is convinced he will win - almost like he knows something...

..we don't.

I'm praying for delusion, but the cynic in me says the fix is in.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. Win? Win?

Surely you mean... "Win"

[Selwynn]

19. Yeah, "win" :)

[mountainvue]

20. No way.

They'll have to drag him out of the Oval Office come January.