L.A. Times Editorial Calls for Cheney's Ouster

LOS ANGELES, April 23 -- A Los Angeles Times editorial Sunday called for a "far more audacious" makeover of President Bush's administration, saying he should send Vice President Cheney into early retirement.

Last week, Press Secretary Scott McClellan resigned and Karl Rove gave up his policy role as part of a White House sweep aimed at reviving Bush's sagging job-approval ratings ahead of November's pivotal midterm elections.

"The remaking of the president in the public eye likely will require more than last week's game of musical chairs," the editorial said.

"Bush has acknowledged that he has spent much of his political capital on Iraq, and the way to replenish the reserves is to replace the officials most associated with the overreaching that led to the tragedy in Iraq -- and with the administration's broader disdain for diplomacy."

The newspaper noted broad speculation that Treasury Secretary John W. Snow is likely to be ushered out next, but said a better solution would include the resignation of Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld -- whose critics, including retired generals, have demand that he step aside -- and Cheney's ouster.

"Throwing Cheney overboard would be an implicit repudiation of the excessively hawkish foreign policy with which the vice president, even more than Rumsfeld, has been associated," the paper said.

Cheney told CBS's "Face the Nation" on March 19 that he had no intention of resigning. "I didn't ask for this job. I didn't campaign for it. I got drafted," Cheney said.

"I've now been elected to a second term," he told CBS. "I'll serve out my term."