Vice President McCain?

No, I'm not talking about John McCain being the Vice Presidential running mate to the 2008 Republican nominee...I'm talking about Senator McCain becoming the Vice President within the next few months. I wish I could claim that I have some sort of insider info here, but this is all just a collection of various puzzle pieces, if you will, that I've observed over the past weeks and months that just might fit together. Take a look at the pieces, and decide for yourself...

• President Bush's approval ratings are somewhere around the low 30's and have been there for quite some time; additionally, more than 64% of the country does not support the current Iraq policy and instead approve of a withdrawal of American forces from Iraq.
  
• Several media outlets have reported of a growing suspicion that a professional and personal rift has developed between Vice President Cheney and President Bush, originating with the results of the 2006 election and the firing of Donald Rumsfeld as Secretary of Defense.
• Vice President Cheney has been conveniently traveling oversees the past few weeks, away from the White House during an important period of policy development regarding the situation in Iraq; for example, last week's decision to finally begin talking with Syria and Iran was reportedly influenced by pressure from Condoleeza Rice and the absence of Dick Cheney.
• Vice President Cheney has had a history of health problems, including his most recent hospital trip today for a potential blood clot problem.
• Over the past few weeks, McCain has been extremely vocal regarding his belief that the blame for the mistakes of the Iraq War rest in the lap of Vice President Cheney, and less so in the lap of President Bush.
• McCain has arguably been the strongest supporter of President Bush's troop surge plan for Iraq.
  

When you string all of these observations together, you potentially get the following picture:

[An unpopular President Bush that desperately needs to shed negative attention and change the public perception of his administration and his Iraq policy]
+
[An extremely unpopular Vice President Cheney that has taken a large helping of criticism for the problems in Iraq, that may have become isolated within the administration, that has a history of health problems that would make for a convenient exist from the White House]
+
[A presidential candidate John McCain that has become the loudest cheerleader for all things President Bush, that has become the loudest critic of all things Dick Cheney, that desires to find a way to get a leg up in a presidential primary that has no incumbent candidate]
=

[A Vice Presidential replacement of Dick Cheney with John McCain]

Now, if I'm right about this, I expect MSNBC to give me my own political talk show (they can put me in Tucker's current time slot, since he basically spends 60 minutes talking out of his ass). And if I'm wrong...we'll just assume the White House read this blog post and decided to change course just to make me look foolish.

[UPDATE: The jury is out, and Scooter Libby has been convicted of four of five counts and will face up to 30 years in prison plus fines...yet another straw on the vice presidential camel's back?]