posted on October 3, 2008 06:36:59 AM new
Biden gets veep role wrong
Stephen Dinan (Contact)
Friday, October 3, 2008
Democratic vice presidential nominee Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. appeared to incorrectly outline the constitutional role of the job he's seeking in Thursday's debate.
In attacking Vice President Dick Cheney, Mr. Biden said the vice president's only role is to support the president and to preside over the Senate "only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit."
The Constitution, though, actually says the vice president is always president of the Senate and legal scholars say he has the right to preside at any time. Early vice presidents, such as Thomas Jefferson, actively exercised that role, the vice president still keeps offices at the Capitol, and scholars say it wasn't until the middle of the 20th century that the vice president had an office at the executive office building.
The president pro tempore, usually the senior senator from the majority party, takes over only when the vice president is absent. In recent practice, as the vice president has taken a bigger role in the executive, that's meant the Senate operates almost all of the time without the vice president in the chair.
The Obama campaign didn't return a message for comment left late Thursday, after the debate.
For her part Republican vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said she plans to take the vice president's role of president of the Senate seriously.
"I'm thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president's policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are," she said.
Mr. Biden, who's been in the Senate for three decades, also mistakenly stated that the executive branch is defined in Article I of the Constitution. In fact, Article I describes the legislature, while Article II lays out the executive.
It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.George S. Patton
posted on October 3, 2008 07:02:16 AM new
And Palin does? Oh, brother, bear, she didn't even attempt to answer that question. Please, for the sake of every American, remove the glasses. Most Americans couldn't tell you the true duties of the VP. Most couldn't tell you that the VP is part of the Executive branch and not the Legislative branch of the government (Ahem, Palin comes to mind on that one). Sad, but true. I still say Palin could NEVER be president. Make that SHOULD never be president and that's all that matters.
Cheryl
[ edited by cblev65252 on Oct 3, 2008 07:02 AM ]
posted on October 3, 2008 09:54:17 AM new
Bear, You are brave to even go there. A few minor mistakes by Biden in no way abrogates the dozens of errors and complete lack of knowledge of Sarah Palin. Can't name one Supreme Court decision, other than Roe v. Wade? Can't name one newspaper or magazine she reads? Can't get the name of the commander in Afghanistan correct? The list is endless.
When Sarah Palin was announced as John McCain’s running mate, President Bush said that she “had the executive appearance and that’s what it takes to be a capable person…in the executive branch.” But like Bush’s own vice president, it’s not clear that Palin would consider herself to be part of the executive branch.
The Hill reports that it inquired with both Joseph Biden and Sarah Palin about whether they would consider themselves to be part of the executive branch in the next administration. The Hill’s Kevin Bogardus reports, “Sen. Biden (Del.) believes the office he is seeking is solely in the executive branch, according to his staff. But aides to Alaska Gov. Palin did not answer the question”:
[A] spokesman for the Republican presidential campaign did not answer the question. Instead, he e-mailed remarks Palin gave at a campaign rally in Golden, Colo., on Monday.
Palin did not say what branch of government she believes the vice president’s office is part of in those remarks. Instead, Palin said she and Republican presidential nominee John McCain had discussed what responsibilities she would take on as his second-in-command.
Dick Cheney, and his chief aide David Addington, have repeatedly tried to argue that the vice president is not part of the executive branch. Cheney, who has referred to his office as “a unique creature,” has tried to exempt himself from a presidential executive order designed to safeguard classified national security information.
Already, Palin’s handling the “Troopergate” probe has demonstrated a striking resemblance to Cheney’s penchant for secrecy. Palin is thwarting both a state legislature probe and a state Personnel Board investigation into the ethics scandal. Like the Bush White House, she is claiming “executive privilege” on e-mails from personal accounts. And just yesterday, her husband Todd Palin — following in the footsteps of Harriet Miers and Josh Bolten — said thanks but no thanks to a subpoena demanding he appear before the state Senate Judiciary Committee.
