What exactly is the 25th Amendment you ask? It states that: "Whenever there is a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, the President shall nominate a Vice President who shall take office upon confirmation by a majority vote of both Houses of Congress." My crazy theory of why this might be important is below the jump.
Bush and his people will have spent eight years consolidating power and "fixing" the system. Do you think they would take the chance of losing all that to a moderate Republican, or even worse, gasp, a RINO, that had a strong showing in the next presidential primary? Power needs to be handed to an annointed candidate so that the risk of losing is decreased dramatically for the cabal in charge.
Cheney has no "political ambitions" after this administration, so he will not run in 2008. I think Cheney might be replaced at some point after citing "health problems".
This will allow some very conservative Senator or Representative to become Vice President with all the power that comes with an incumbent in the next election. Do you think the Conservatives in charge will risk losing power to a RINO? That would be as bad as losing to a Democrat in some folks eyes. Someone like Frist or Santorum would not be palatable to many in the nation, not even some Republicans, so this is a way around that problem. Whoever it might be, would have instant support from the GOP and lots of backing. Of course this didn't help Gore that much, but one could argue that he ran away from his previous eight years in office while on the campaign trail.