I especially liked when she’d point out that "neither of you answered my question". Tee hee.

This as what I expected, two VPs finding ways to work their running mate’s sales pitches into the questions they answered. Palin did well since she had time to prepare answers and Biden didn’t let loose and remarkable gaffes.

Yeah, he’s the new Aaron Burr, right? Yeesh.

Well, not quite; Arron Burr only shot his enemies under the supervision of a formal duel. Cheney shot his friend in the face under the influence of al-kee-hol. What’s more dangerous is debatable. :)

The APPEARANCE of conflict of interest is generally considered to be enough to recuse people from participating in events with that appearance. And if you don’t think there is an appearance of conflict of interest here… well, I don’t know what to think about that.

CosmicConservative’s last blog post..Palin says Obama ?palling around? with terrorists

The Breakthrough: Politics and Race in the Age of Obama  

That there is a clear conflict of interest with not anyone having read the (unpublished) book seems a very shaky, subjective opinion.  
 

It’s a very clear conflict of interest.

Biden made numerous factual misstatements, some of which demonsrate his ignorance of the job (such as not knowing the VP is always President of the Senate) and some which he knows aren’t true ( McCain did not vote for that tax increase), and several statements that were deliberately misleading (such as arguing McCain was for deregulating FNMA and Freddie Mac, when in fact it was Democrats like Barney Frank who were demanding they back the subprime loans that have gotten us in this mess).

Of course, the press has said very little about this because they so badly want Obama to win.

And, yes, the VP’s legislative duties are in Article I. But that cuts precisely against the point that Biden was trying to make. Here’s what Biden said : "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. . . . 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."

This is wrong on multiple levels at once. Article I — which deals with the legislative, not the Executive branch, says: "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided." The Vice President presides over the Senate by right, whenever he/she wants to, regardless of whether there’s a tie vote.

Glenn Reynolds

Aziz,

Seriously, you need to get back on the learning curve, because you are so very incorrect.

"Constitutional Law Scholar" Biden’s Article I Gaffe  

During a recent policy kerfuffle, Vice President Dick Cheney’s office briefly argued that the Vice President is really a legislative official, and hence not subject to some obligations of the Executive branch. Though Cheney’s office quickly shifted its argument to less controversial statutory grounds, it turns out that the Vice Presidency’s legislative character is, in fact, quite significant.

Glenn Reynolds University of Tennessee College of Law

To the extent that the Vice President is a legislative official, however, it is likely that extensive delegation of Presidential authority to the Vice President, of the sort that Vice President Cheney has enjoyed, is probably unconstitutional and certainly unwise. This Essay argues for congressional action to limit the Vice President’s role in Executive business.

The President is not legislative, and she or he cannot be involved in debate on the floor. The VP, on the other hand, has the Constitutional position to use the rules of the Senate to control debate.

In fact, according to Professor Reynolds, the VP’s budget was a Senate expense up until Spiro Agnew.

Again, In Article I, the President of the Senate is a specified office for Congress and "All legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States". When the VP is otherwise engaged, the office is filled by the President Pro Tempore.

For you to simultaneously believe that a) presiding over the Senate / breaking ties is an Executive power and b) that a single person can wear only 1 hat, you should also believe that Robert Byrd is a member of the Executive Branch as he fulfills that same duty by virtue of being President Pro Tempore.

Also FYI – breaking a tie vote is not a check on Legislative power. With a tie, nothing happens so there is nothing to check.

Really, it’s as easy as "one man/office, two hats".

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