The lineup…

The lineup…

They've come up with a new line of succession, slotting the Homeland Security chief at number eight. Of course, if we ever got to number eight, you'd think it was pretty clear evidence that the Homeland Security Secretary was somewhat incompetent at his present task, let alone a higher one. Here's the new list...

· Vice President Dick Cheney
· House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL)
· Senate President Pro Tem Ted Stevens (R-AK)
· Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
· Treasury Secretary John Snow
· Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld
· Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
· Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff
· Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton
· Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns
· Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez
· Labor Secretary Elaine Chao
· Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt
· Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson
· Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta
· Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman
· Education Secretary Margaret Spellings
· Veterans Affairs Secretary Jim Nicholson

Gutierrez and Chao are ineligible, of course, for being foreign born (Cuba and Taiwan respectively). I'm left wondering though, how, in the relentlessly partisan atmosphere of the Bush White House, Secretaries Bodman, Spellings and Nicholson feel about being plugged in below the only Democrat on the list. Doesn't sound much like a vote of confidence, does it?

No surprise to find Veterans Affairs at the bottom of the list, though. After all, Bush hates veterans...

Hat tip to Terry Turner