Cheney favoring Georgia over the Republicans? He'll do both

Never mind that Vice President Dick Cheney will actually keep his speaking date at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul on Monday night. Or that he never intended to stick around after that anyway. Or that President Bush is speaking that night and also making a hasty exit.

It was just too delicious to ignore: We're talking about the possibility that Bush had found a way to keep the man with an even lower job approval rating than his far from the Twin Cities while the GOP meets there.

It didn't take much to suspect that Bush had something other than national security on this mind when he decided to send Cheney to Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Italy next week in the midst of the Republican convention. Can you say "political security?"

Conspiratorialists immediately began fanning the fires, spreading the word that perhaps Bush's real motive in sending Cheney to the Caucasus region was to get him as far from the upper Midwest as possible. The Far East and Middle East are relatively quiet now; a trip there would have been too obvious a detour.

Enter the latest hot spot.

Besides, Georgia is probably somewhat more distant from St. Paul than the vice president's infamous "undisclosed location." With fears of a new Cold War, what better place to send the nation's premier cold warrior?

CBS News' Political Animal had some fun at the vice president's expense, reporting Christopher Orr's notion that Georgia was chosen only because the International Space Station was booked.

But Megan M. Mitchell of the vice president's press office had a six-word no nonsense message for any who suspected that Cheney was splitting the country rather than letting himself be seen anywhere in the vicinity of Republicans about to nominate Sen. John McCain as their presidential candidate:

"He will still speak on Monday."

As for the conspiracy? Oh, never mind.

-- James Gerstenzang and Johanna Neuman

Photo: Jim Mone / Associated Press

Comments

[Erik]

This is just way to funny... So they duck the PR shots by sending the ugly side of the family on a not so nice "Vacation"... on the bright side maybe they will keep him