Dick Chaney Is Mighty Sick

09/24/2005

Paul Munnis

The GOP has a serious problem in the White House and it’s not just about politics. It’s also about a VP that is getting worse daily in terms of his fitness for national duty. If he were in the military he’d be given a discharge for reasons of health. If he were a private citizen, like you and me, he’d be on a reduced level of activity and likely be declared disabled and thus be eligible for Social Security Disability. We often wonder if he has thought about this as he and his associates attempt to destroy Social Security for their fellow Americans.

In a community like Rochester, sometimes dubbed “Med City,” we don’t have to explain to readers about the effects of vascular disease. Many citizens see the impact of blocked arteries daily at their place of work. As we go about our town we see patients who suffer from this problem almost daily.

Our VP likely has a genetic inheritance that causes his arteries to block with fatty deposits and his blood circulation to be thus impaired. These are treatable problems and indeed the VP has been treated for them on several occasions and with rising frequency as he ages.

Dick Chaney sports an implanted defibrillator, a pace maker, various arterial stents to keep his arteries open and the blood flowing, and he is now headed for patches to key arterial points in his body to repair arterial wall weakness. Likely he is on blood thinners and likely he has a regimen of reduced physical activity and he may also suffer from minor strokes and occasional lapses of memory. While his PR people hasten to point this out as a minor inconvenience we know better. Dick Chaney is a sick man and he needs increased medical attention as he ages.

We hasten to point out that this is not necessarily the results of personal lifestyle choices. More likely it is a genetic inheritance which may or may not have been aggravated by his lifestyle.

Our view is that if G.W. Bush has to resign from office, or has a heart attack himself, then we have a physically weak VP in line of succession to replace him. Chaney could be hit by a heart attack or a stroke within hours of being appointed president. This would create a compound crisis in government. 

We thus think that Dick Chaney needs to resign as V.P. for health reasons and that Congress should appoint a successor for him; a person who is healthy and fit for national service. Anyone who looks at G.W. Bush can see the strains of office on him and I doubt that Dick Chaney is up to the tasks that will be demanded of him if he must serve as our president.

For the good of the nation, he should resign now.