(2006-01-09) — When Vice President Dick Cheney was hospitalized this morning complaining of shortness of breath due to a reaction to medication, the White House said there was no transfer of executive authority to President George Bush.
“The vice president remained conscious the whole time,” said spokesman Scott McClellan. “So, even if a big decision had to be made, he would have been fully able to direct the president what to do.”
In the event the vice president had fallen unconscious, or worse, the line of succession would hand executive power to Deputy White House Chief of Staff Karl Rove, then to Focus on the Family founder Dr. James Dobson, followed by former First Lady Barbara Bush.
“Our allies and enemies can rest assured that no matter what happens to Vice President Cheney, the executive branch of government remains rock solid,” Mr. McClellan said.
3 responses so far ↓
1 nelmezzo » Blog Archive » Cheney’s heart and constitutional succession // Jan 10, 2006 at 12:25 am
[...] Interesting details on the constitutional succession of power, given the Vice President’s heart problems. [...]
2 Not So Fast » Blog Archive » What about Scotty? // Jan 10, 2006 at 11:19 am
[...] The real line of succession in the Executive branch. [...]
3 VirusHead // Jan 21, 2006 at 2:24 pm
[...] Cheny Hospitalized, Power Not Transferred to Bush [...]
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