Everywhere other than in Big Media newsrooms, Americans speak openly of President Joe Biden's cognitive decline and wonder whether he can last out his four-year term. If he cannot last, there are certain things we can be confident will happen and other things about which we can only speculate. The latter will be much more intriguing.
Should Biden leave office, willingly or otherwise, Kamala Harris will become president. This is a given. Article II, Section 1, Clause 6 of the Constitution makes clear that in "case of the removal of the President from office, or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the powers and duties of the said office, the same shall devolve on the Vice President."
The Constitution, as written, did not address what happens next. The 25th Amendment, adopted after the assassination of President Kennedy, answered that question, at least in principle. It reads, "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress."
In recent memory, there have been two precedents, both involving Richard Nixon. On October 10, 1973, Vice President Spiro Agnew pleaded no contest to charges of tax evasion and money-laundering and resigned. Despite Nixon's landslide victory in 1972, Democrats retained firm control of Congress, with a 50-seat majority in the House and a 14-seat majority in the Senate. This mattered. The Democrats all but dictated Nixon's choice of the congenial, moderate House minority leader, Gerald Ford, to assume the vice presidency. Ford was nominated two days after Agnew stepped down and confirmed by overwhelming majorities in both Houses of Congress.
At the time of Ford's confirmation, Democrats had good reason to suspect that Nixon would soon be forced out himself. The coordinated Democrat-media plot to oust Nixon as a result of his presumed involvement in the Watergate affair was well underway. The plot climaxed on August 9, 1974, with Nixon's resignation. Ford was sworn in later that same day.
It now fell to Ford to choose his vice president...
As history shows, the "when" of a vice presidential opening can determine the "who." Right now, Big Media remains deeply in denial that there will ever be a "when."...
In July of 1974 I went to work as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Pete Domenici.
On August 9, 1974 Richard Nixon resigned his Presidency.
Several of us staffers sat with Domenici in his office and watched Nixon's resignation speech. Just as the speech ended, CBS called Domenici and wanted him to come to their studio for an interview. There were several senior staffers there, but for some reason Domenici asked me to drive him to CBS (I later figured out that since I was the last person to go on his staff from NM, Domenici figured I had been least influenced by the system and most accurately reflected the views of New Mexicans, especially rural New Mexicans, on Nixon).
When we arrived at CBS they put us in a waiting room which was surrounded by tv monitors. After a short period of time a CBS employee came and took Domenici away to get his nose powdered for the tv appearance.
That left me in the room alone. Keep in mind that at this point I had not quite bought into the media bias thing.
I was watching the monitors as they interviewed Ronald Reagan who at that time was the Governor of California. In walked Daniel Schorr, chief White House correspondent for CBS. Schorr looked up at the monitors, saw Reagan being interviewed, and with a hateful scowl on his face said,"Burn, Ronnie baby, Burn."
I remember thinking, "You know, there might be something to this media bias after all."
That thought has been mightily reinforced over the last thirty-six years.
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