Palin vs. the Constitution

[Ravi]

PALIN: Well, again, as I tried to explain last night, our executive branch will know what our job is. We have the three very distinct branches of government. You know, we might be bleeding our authority over to the Legislative or Judicial branch to do our job in the Executive branch as administers.

Think Progress Palin Says She Will Seek Some Authority Over Legislative And Judicial Branches

Any conservative want to explain this?

 

[Missourian]

Doesn't the VP preside over the Senate?

Doesn't the President nominate Judges?

Seems simple enough to me.

 

[PeterS]

Think Progress Palin Says She Will Seek Some Authority Over Legislative And Judicial Branches

Any conservative want to explain this?

The latest polls are out. I think they are too busy bleeding...

 

[Isolde]

The latest polls are out. I think they are too busy bleeding...

In an election like this, polls are meaningless until 2 days before the vote. There are undecideds who are still undecided, whoda guessed? I will grant you that he has a slight edge, but he should be ahead by double digits by this time, I think he has peaked too soon.

 

[CA95380]

I did a search and you are not allowed to use Palin and The Constitution in the same sentence!

 

[The Paperboy]

Note to Joe Biden: The words "Vice President" do not apear in Article One of the Constitution. Perhaps you might want to give that plagiarism thing another try.

NY Times: Biden Admits Plagiarism in School But Says It Was Not 'Malevolent'

Story here

Newsbusters: Biden's 1988 Campaign Plagiarism Goes Well Beyond What Wiki Reveals

Story here

 

[PeterS]

In an election like this, polls are meaningless until 2 days before the vote. There are undecideds who are still undecided, whoda guessed? I will grant you that he has a slight edge, but he should be ahead by double digits by this time, I think he has peaked too soon.

I live in the Dallas area and haven't seen a presidential ad on TV in decades. This is one of the reddest states in the nation and it is pointless for either party to waste money in it and yet, on a daily basis, there are McCain ads on TV. When McCain has to spend money defending a state that should be a slam dunk it means the party is over. I don't know by how much Obama should be leading or why you think it should be double digits, you have a higher opinion of him then I, but his lead is solid and Sarah will be back in the frozen tundra in a month...

 

[DiveCon]

Think Progress Palin Says She Will Seek Some Authority Over Legislative And Judicial Branches

Any conservative want to explain this?

well, i guess it depends on how you take the comment "bleeding our authority"
to me, its give some of your own authorty to them.


and it figgures, think progress where they neither think nor progress, would get it wrong

 

[Missourian]

I live in the Dallas area and haven't seen a presidential ad on TV in decades. This is one of the reddest states in the nation and it is pointless for either party to waste money in it and yet, on a daily basis, there are McCain ads on TV. When McCain has to spend money defending a state that should be a slam dunk it means the party is over. I don't know by how much Obama should be leading or why you think it should be double digits, you have a higher opinion of him then I, but his lead is solid and Sarah will be back in the frozen tundra in a month...

And Obama is defending Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Minnesota, the state that stayed blue in '80 when the west and the north-east went red. So what's your point?





.

 

[WillowTree]

Doesn't the VP preside over the Senate?

Doesn't the President nominate Judges?

Seems simple enough to me.

The Vice President is President of the Senate.

 

[Isolde]

I live in the Dallas area and haven't seen a presidential ad on TV in decades. This is one of the reddest states in the nation and it is pointless for either party to waste money in it and yet, on a daily basis, there are McCain ads on TV. When McCain has to spend money defending a state that should be a slam dunk it means the party is over. I don't know by how much Obama should be leading or why you think it should be double digits, you have a higher opinion of him then I, but his lead is solid and Sarah will be back in the frozen tundra in a month...

Because Obama has to overcome the Bradley effect.

 

[Tristan]

Note to Joe Biden: The words "Vice President" do not apear in Article One of the Constitution. Perhaps you might want to give that plagiarism thing another try.

U.S. Constitution - Article 1 Section 3

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.

U.S. Constitution - Table of Contents - The U.S. Constitution Online - USConstitution.net

Still, the fact remains that Biden Mangled the Constitution and does not rightly grasp the role of the VP.
Via John at Powerline...
Power Line: Biden Mangles the Constitution

This isn't what's conventionally described as a gaffe, and it won't swing any votes, but last night Joe Biden garbled the Constitutional role of the Vice President. I wanted to read the transcript before commenting; here was Gwen Ifill's question:

Governor, you mentioned a moment ago the constitution might give the vice president more power than it has in the past. Do you believe as Vice President Cheney does, that the Executive Branch does not hold complete sway over the office of the vice presidency, that it it is also a member of the Legislative Branch?
Here is Biden's answer, in full:

Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. The idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.
And the primary role of the vice president of the United States of America is to support the president of the United States of America, give that president his or her best judgment when sought, and as vice president, to preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit.

The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is the vote, only when there is a tie vote. He has no authority relative to the Congress. The idea he's part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive and look where it has gotten us. It has been very dangerous.

For a man of Biden's experience, this is a surprising series of misstatements. First of all, he gets wrong one of the most basic facts about the Constitution: Article 1 establishes the legislative branch, not, as Biden said, the executive branch. This is not exactly an obscure fact; my 17-year-old daughter pointed it out at the time.

Second, it simply isn't true that the Constitution treats the Vice President only as a member of the executive branch. The Vice President is mentioned in Article II as part of the executive branch, but he is also given legislative powers by Section 3 of Article 1, which establishes the Senate:

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided.
Vice President Cheney's "bizarre notion" is in keeping with the plain text of the Constitution.

Finally, Biden misstated the Vice President's role in the Senate. It isn't true that he "preside over the Senate, only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote." The Constitution contemplates that the Vice President will be the full-time President of the Senate, replaced by a President pro tempore "in the absence of the Vice President." It's true that the Vice President only gets to vote in case of a tie; but, of course, that's the only time it matters.

If Joe Biden were a high school student taking a test on the Constitution in a government course, he would get a C or a D. Some would say his mistakes were minor, and, as I said, they certainly won't swing any votes. But it is distinctly odd that a man who has been in the Senate for more than three decades doesn't understand the Constitutional role of the Vice President with respect to that body.

Joe Biden is not a man I would want to have one heartbeat away from becoming POTUS. He has too little of an understanding of what the Executive Branch is.

 

[Isolde]

Joe Biden is not a man I would want to have one heartbeat away from becoming POTUS. He has too little of an understanding of what the Executive Branch is.

Perhaps he has little regard for the Constitution, as most liberals do.

 

[Missourian]

The Vice President is President of the Senate.

Thanks for correcting that Willow .

 

[Tristan]

Perhaps he has little regard for the Constitution, as most liberals do.

Indeed. I think we can even go so far as to agree that liberals have very poor understanding of understanding.

 

[Ravi]

Thanks for the effort, kids. I don't consider anyone that answered a conservative, but it was a good effort.

 

[dilloduck]

Thanks for the effort, kids. I don't consider anyone that answered a conservative, but it was a good effort.

yw mom

 

[Navy1960]

“My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” John Adams

"I am vice president. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything." - John Adams, elected vice president 1788 and 1792.

"I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than vice president." - Theodore Roosevelt

"The vice president has two duties. One is to inquire daily as to the health of the president, and the other is to attend the funerals of Third World dictators. And neither of those do I find an enjoyable exercise." John McCain

It seems to be that this notion that the Vice President is anything much than what is outlined in the constitution is just that a notion and nothing more. If the President wants to give the Vice President additional duties he is of course able to do so. However, it also seems pretty clear that the Vice President is a member of the Executive Branch

 

[DiveCon]

Thanks for the effort, kids. I don't consider anyone that answered a conservative, but it was a good effort.

and who made you a arbiter of who is and who isn't a conservative?

 

[Tristan]

“My country has in its wisdom contrived for me the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived or his imagination conceived.” John Adams

"I am vice president. In this I am nothing, but I may be everything." - John Adams, elected vice president 1788 and 1792.

"I would a great deal rather be anything, say professor of history, than vice president." - Theodore Roosevelt

"The vice president has two duties. One is to inquire daily as to the health of the president, and the other is to attend the funerals of Third World dictators. And neither of those do I find an enjoyable exercise." John McCain

It seems to be that this notion that the Vice President is anything much than what is outlined in the constitution is just that a notion and nothing more. If the President wants to give the Vice President additional duties he is of course able to do so. However, it also seems pretty clear that the Vice President is a member of the Executive Branch

I love all those quotes, Adams in particular as I recently read McCullough's book on the life of John Adams. However, the Constitution itself trumps the funny but bitter quotes of those frustrated potential POTUS seekers.

The Constitutuion is clear that the VP is a member of each Branch in question.