This morning, voices from surprising quarters are embracing the idea that "there is a cancer on the white house, and it is Dick Cheney and his staff".

It would be wild if this proved to be the tipping point.

This weekend's events gives the Bush team a black eye with sportsmen.  I think the 'class' angle of participation in a canned quail hunt is not as divisive as some have suggested. Plenty of hunters participate in (or envy participation in) canned hunts of one form or another. But the notion of driving up the covey in a car,  the 'horsey set' hunting partners straight out of central casting, the (seemingly) running away from responsibility and blaming the victim.  All that combined is an embarrassing blow to the 'sportsman for Bush' in places like West Virginia where these group bird hunts are not a huge part of the hunting culture, where due to the prevailing terrain and veg cover, grouse are more typically taken 'en passant' during other fall hunting. And where the shooter is ALWAYS at fault (I'm talkin' to YOU Cousin Brian!)

People are trying to remember when, exactly, Cheney was a paragon of republican manhood...and they're coming up blank. Scales have fallen from eyes. Elmer Fudd is now their poster boy. The image sticks, and it stings.

We already seem to have passed a point where Cheney (or even Wittington) can step up to the cameras, come clean, and be believed.

So, what if this is it.  If Cheney leaves before the '06 election (by begging off medically, or whatever).  What does that get opponents of Bush. Won't Bush just bring in Karl's '08 pony (whoever that proves to be) as the 'new-improved' VP, let them play the part of 'white knight' and exploit the advantages of running from the White House with none of the baggage of the last 6 years?