If - God forbid - Harry Whittington shouldn't pull through or suffers a lasting disability, what will happen to the Bush administration?

There's a good chance that Dick Cheney will resign. Of course, you never know, and he might decide to stick around.

If he does resign, perhaps Bush will try to get Jeb, "P", or even Daddy to replace him. The first two for on-the-job training, the last for an experienced hand in times of continual crisis.

Another alternative is that the entire Bush administration - including all family members - will decide to leave the U.S. They could still continue to run the U.S. via a videophone link-up from Mexico, Brazil, or some friendly Mideast country like the UAE. One day their domestic staff will wake up and realize that they've flown the coop during the night.

I'm betting on the latter being the most realistic scenario.