Exit Cheney, Enter Fred Thompson?

Sally Quinn, who knows a thing or two about movie scenarios, is pitching a neat idea for a political thriller in today’s Washington Post: Change the White House casting by replacing Dick Cheney with Fred Thompson.

“Cheney,” she writes, “is scheduled this summer for surgery to replace his pacemaker, which needs new batteries. So if the president is willing, and Republicans are able, they have a convenient reason to replace him: doctor's orders.”

As an actor, Thompson is accustomed to stepping in, as he did in “Law and Order,” and making himself a regular fixture on the show. When he auditions for the starring role next year, Thompson would have a head start.

Best of all, following Cheney’s chew-the-scenery performance, anything Thompson does would be considered under-acting. He couldn’t miss.