"Hello, Morton's? What will it run to buy one entire month's output?"Vice President Dick Cheney might retire within a year, shortly after the mid-term elections, according to senior Republican sources who spoke to Insight magazine. The sources said they envision Cheney being persuaded to step down as he becomes an increasing liability to President Bush.
There is a growing rift between the president and the vice president and their staffs, the sources said, citing Cheney's delay in informing the president of the accidental shooting of the vice president's hunting colleague. The accidental shooting highlighted the lack of communication between Bush and Cheney staffers, the sources said. Nobody on the president's staff could get to Cheney, the sources said, to advise him to contact reporters. "At that point, the president picked up the phone and suggested that Cheney get his story out fast," a source said.
Cheney could face a new crisis by the end of the year with possible accusations from his former chief of staff Lewis Libby, who faces charges in connection with the CIA leak probe. Libby told a grand jury unnamed "superiors" directed him to relay the content of a National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq in July 2003. The White House, according to Insight, anticipates Libby putting Cheney on the defensive with claims the vice president ordered Libby to relay classified information – a charge that could lead to a congressional probe and even impeachment proceedings. "Nothing will happen until after the congressional elections," a GOP source told Insight. "After that, there will be significant changes in the administration and Cheney will probably be part of that."
The vice president has struggled with the departure of his closest aides, the sources said. Along with Libby, he lost his media adviser, Steve Schmidt, to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election campaign. The president, the sources told Insight, has been urged by people close to his father to dismiss Cheney but has rejected the advice. Bush values Cheney for his national security experience and trust by Rantburg conservative Republicans.
