Hillary and Bill for President

[snopes]

The making of a nightmare...

This will give you sleepless nights

Let me describe it to you briefly...

1. Hillary wins the Democratic Party nomination for President of the
United States

2. Naturally, she wants to choose as her running mate someone with a lot
of knowledge and experience in government and foreign affairs, someone
who is a seasoned campaigner who could bring a lot of strength to the
ticket. Who better than Bill, her husband?!!!

3. Hill and Bill go on to win the election in November and the Democrats
maintain control of the House and the Senate.

4. Hillary is sworn in as President on January 20, 2009. The next day,
after all the inauguration parties are over, she calls a press conference
to make an announcement: she is resigning as President!!! Bill, as the
Vice President, immediately becomes President!!! This is all perfectly
legal under the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution, for it states that "no
person may be elected as president more than twice". Bill is not being
elected for a third term but is merely serving out the remainder of
Hillary's term --- all 4 years of it.

5. But wait! There's more! The following day Bill calls a press conference
to make an announcement. He has chosen someone to fill the now-vacant
office of Vice President. Guess who he picks? Why, Hillary, of course!!!

[Chloe]

Wait, why...Oh, never mind.

[Arriah]

DH and I have been discussing this very scenario (mostly). We missed that key word there "elected" as president. I'm suddenly a bit more worried about this than I was before.

[Four Kitties]

It is my understanding (which may be wrong) that no one can be Vice President who is not constitutionally qualified to be President. And since Bill has already been elected twice, he is now disqualified.

#3 is a huge assumption.

#5 neglects to mention that the VP has to be approved by both houses of Congress.

Four Kitties

[Chloe]

But (and here is the why I would have written earlier, except I thought it was patently obvious) why would Hillary Clinton give up her chance to be president?

[Ryda Wong, EBfCo.]

Originally Posted by Chloe

But (and here is the why I would have written earlier, except I thought it was patently obvious) why would Hillary Clinton give up her chance to be president?

Cause she's a woman, and women just don't want to be in control. They want to be submissive to their husbands. It's just natural and right.

[lord_feldon]

Originally Posted by Four Kitties

It is my understanding (which may be wrong) that no one can be Vice President who is not constitutionally qualified to be President. And since Bill has already been elected twice, he is now disqualified.

Bill meets all of the qualifications to be the President, he just doesn't meet the qualifications to be elected President.

No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once.

(Bolding mine) Theoretically, there is no limit to actual time served as President, just the number of times elected.

Originally Posted by Chloe

But (and here is the why I would have written earlier, except I thought it was patently obvious) why would Hillary Clinton give up her chance to be president?

Because she's really just a puppet for her man. Silly wimmin can't actually think for themselves! Hillary belongs in the kitchen cooking up a good roast for her husband!

ETA: Spanked by Ryda on the last point.

[Chloe]

Originally Posted by Ryda Wong, EBfCo.

Cause she's a woman, and women just don't want to be in control. They want to be submissive to their husbands. It's just natural and right.

Oh. That's why I couldn't figure it out.

[Arriah]

Honestly, if she's elected, I rather expect there to be a lot of assassination attempts on her. I think there are enough people in the country that do think a woman just isn't qualified and enough of them that would take drastic action that the Secret Service is going to have their hands full.

[lord_feldon]

I'm surprised there haven't been many (known) attempts on President Bush's life. There was the grenade thing in whatever country that was, but I can't think of anything else.

[MidgardDragon]

Let's see, bringing Bill Clinton back into the White House? Check. A Democrat as President? Check. George W. Bush nowhere near the White House? Check. This sounds like a dream come true, not a nightmare.

[RBCal]

The scenario must have originated on NRO, FREEP or Rush's show. Although ludicrous, hopefully it will give them a lot of sleepless nights.

[RoseyDawn]

Originally Posted by Arriah

Honestly, if she's elected, I rather expect there to be a lot of assassination attempts on her. I think there are enough people in the country that do think a woman just isn't qualified and enough of them that would take drastic action that the Secret Service is going to have their hands full.

Sadly one image that plagues me is that there will be assassination attempts on either Sen. Clinton (cuz female) or Sen. Obama (cuz non-white.) I would expect ... read that HOPE ... the Secret Service is already beefing up its Presidential security just in case. It distresses me that this has to even be a concern in any country -- but it is reality.

[keokuk]

Originally Posted by lord_feldon

Bill meets all of the qualifications to be the President, he just doesn't meet the qualifications to be elected President.

There's actually a very interesting constitutional argument to be made about this.

Under the Twelfth Amendment, "no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States."

This specific line doesn't make any reference to actual election, but the rest of the amendment is all about the election of the president and vice president. So there's an argument that you may be able to extrapolate the 12th Amendment into the 22nd Amendment, and there could be a somewhat persuasive argument that since a former two-term president is ineligible for election to the presidency, he might also be ineligible for election to the vice-presidency.

[Towknie]

Originally Posted by Ryda Wong, EBfCo.

Cause she's a woman, and women just don't want to be in control. They want to be submissive to their husbands. It's just natural and right.

I actually read it as a way to put the Clintons in the White House for 12 years instead of 8. By Bill naming Hillary as his vice president, he could resign on his last day, and she could run in '12 as the incumbent with two terms of eligibility. Of course, if she were elected in '08, I guess she couldn't be elected twice more, could she?

Sorry, my eyes just crossed, and my brain just shrunk away from my skull a little bit. Don't mind me.

[snopes]

Didn't we pass a law prohibiting the President from appointing family members to office (because some people were disgruntled that Kennedy made his brother Attorney General)? Or did that only apply to cabinet positions?

- snopes

[A Turtle Named Mack]

A big problem would be that the Vp and the president cannot be residents of the same state. Of course Cheney re-registered as a Wyominger just before being nominated, after having lived in Texas for several years.

[Silas Sparkhammer]

Originally Posted by snopes

Didn't we pass a law prohibiting the President from appointing family members to office (because some people were disgruntled that Kennedy made his brother Attorney General)? Or did that only apply to cabinet positions?

Even were it so, no problem; the Clintons would simply get a convenient divorce. No longer "family members," no qualifications disputes.

Silas

[Four Kitties]

Originally Posted by A Turtle Named Mack

A big problem would be that the Vp and the president cannot be residents of the same state.

Where in the Constitution does it say that?

[Bryan With a 'Y']

I'm just glad that someone had the courage to stand up and expose this nefarious scheme being perpetrated upon us by a small cabal of nefarious conspirators, evidently consisting of Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, a few key campaign staffers, and a voting majority of the American public.