NYT: Dick Cheney, Palin's Role Model

Saturday's New York Times runs an editorial hammering Gov. Sarah Palin over her debate comments about expanding the powers of the vice president:

In all the talk about the vice-presidential debate, there was an issue that did not get much attention but kept nagging at us: Sarah Palin's description of the role and the responsibilities of the office for which she is running, vice president of the United States.

In Thursday night's debate, Ms. Palin was asked about the vice president's role in government. She said she agreed with Dick Cheney that "we have a lot of flexibility in there" under the Constitution. And she declared that she was "thankful that the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president also, if that vice president so chose to exert it."

It is hard to tell from Ms. Palin's remarks whether she understands how profoundly Dick Cheney has reshaped the vice presidency -- as part of a larger drive to free the executive branch from all checks and balances. Nor did she seem to understand how much damage that has done to American democracy.

Here's the video:

The NYT continues, saying Palin's understanding the vice presidency "frighteningly wrong":

Mr. Cheney has shown what can happen when a vice president -- a position that is easy to lampoon and overlook -- is given free rein by the president and does not care about trampling on the Constitution.

Mr. Cheney has long taken the bizarre view that the lesson of Watergate was that Congress was too powerful and the president not powerful enough. He dedicated himself to expanding President Bush's authority and arrogating to himself executive, legislative and legal powers that are nowhere in the Constitution.

Any president deserves a vice president who will be a sound adviser and trustworthy supporter. But the American people also deserve and need a vice president who understands and respects the balance of power -- and the limits of his or her own power. That is fundamental to our democracy.

So far, Ms. Palin has it exactly, frighteningly wrong.

Comments

[lthuedk 1]

Aren't dictators mavericks?

http://www.light-to-dark.com/sarah_cheney.html

[darthdarcy]

"Welcome to the dark side Sarah, we've been waiting for you..!"

[Sassys]

The fact that Palin does not understand our Constitution and how it should work, says it all! This is a woman that barely reads any magazines or newspapers and yet she really does believe she is "capable" Well I beg to differ, she is not the brightest bulb in the bunch and she will do untold harm if she is elected as VP...perso­nally I wouldn't hire her to clean my home, much less give her untethered run of the White House.

[fuzzywuzzy6]

She doesn't read newspaper or magazine articles that aren't about her unless she feels they can further her aims and ambitions. She is that self-absorbed.

[forebode]

Her ignorance, like GWB's stupidity, makes them unqualified even as a doorstop. Inanimate doorstops have more brights than the two put together. I guess the Repugs like to put unqualified people in leadership spots so they will have an excuse when all goes wrong. Typical Repug reasoning.

[Lpeter]

She is the Anti Christ! No doubt. What a perfect disguise.

Oh Sarah to the VIP room. Cindy main stage.

[DieHardObamaSupporter]

FIRED UP READY TO GO!


1. If your state has early voting, PLEASE VOTE EARLY and take others with you.

2. If you qualify for ABSENTEE voting, do it and tell others who qualify.

3. Advise SENIOR CITIZENS to do absentee voting if early voting is not an option, b/c the lines will be too long for them. Their age alone will qualify them.

4. Due to the record breaking lines on this historical election day, those who do not have the above options, request a PERSONAL LEAVE DAY from your job, if it does not cause you any substantial hardship. It's worth what we need to do. McBush in office is a hardship we cannot afford.

5. Advise EVERYONE to vote a straight democratic ticket to get the filibuster proof, 60 seat majority, so O can get legislation passed.

6. Pass the above info to family, friends, neighbors, co-workers, other blogs, local Obama Campaign offices, man at the gas pump, lady in the grocery store, person you run into at the Post Office, heck even your dog or cat, et al........­You get the picture. SPREAD THE WORD.


CHECK this WEBSITE to see if your state has early voting or absentee voting.

http://earlyvoting.net/states/abslaws.php


After Nov 4th, let's see who got jokes about COMMUNITY ORGANIZERS.

I apologize for the caps. I am not yelling just emphasizing.

P.S. If anyone has any other helpful strategies, please share with us and other blogs.

[forebode]

I think that by Nov. 4th, Obama might not be running since it will be found that he was born in a foreign country, (and not there due to a member of the family being in the military) and therefore, not qualified to even be a Senator. We will be voting for Hillary.

[Badgirl]

Palin is the most confusing speaker of the 21st Century. It is impossible to follow her rambling as she speaks in choppy phrases, switches subjects midsentence and never completes a grammatically correct sentence (i.e., noun-verb-object). She created completely new words during that Couric interview - like "Foundationally" . Is that a hybrid of Foundation, Functionally and fundamentally? I've try to listen but she doesn't make any sense.

[01202009]

Sarah Palin is not confusing. She's illiterate.

[PumaAnn]

If she's illiterate, then Biden is brain-dead. There's an article analyzing the verbage. She came out a grade ahead of him. *haha

[DiBaskin]

I agree. During the debates she was so off she kept making me forget the questions. I see nothing quite about her little remarks like "Say it Ain't So Joe." I don't relate to her on any level. I would love to have an intelligent women as VP or President. Sadly she doesn't even come close.

[Nomccain]

Anyone who believe that about Cheney should be barred from politics!!!!!!!!!! This man is the consumate liar and profiteer. He has absolutely ruined George W. "Dubya" Bush with his advice and along with Karl Rove, destroyed American confidence in the White House and the values this country was established on. The term "conservative" makes me sick at my stomach now since I know what it really stands for. Greed, corruption, dishonesty, incompassion, and favors for the rich. I hope it's 20 years or more before any of them occupy the White House again.

[combatveteran]

Nomocain, settle down. These people are not conservatives. The true conservatives that I know are voting for Obama. Listen to a real conservative Google Fresh Air 9/1/2008 Andrew Bacewich. Goldwaters, Eisenhowers, Roosevelts are sick about this.

[forebode]

Then call the conservatives "regressives," because that is what they are. They want to roll back all the forward thinking policies to where certain groups of people are kept from succeeding in life at every turn because of who or what they are.

[reggieb]

She's sort of like a mosquito. Buzzing around and annoying people but not really making you change what you were going to do. So, you ignore her but that high pitched whine keeps buzzing around your head til finally you swat the crap out of her. Then you have to wash the little black speck off your hand before you can go about your business.

[Lupin77]

Lord love a duck!! Cheney as a role model? If this is the way she thinks, God help us if she gets in as vp. Probably more wars and the economy not down the tubes but hitting rock bottom.

[MandyVin]

Well, she did already say that if the McCain-Palin ticket does win, then there is a good chance we'll go to war with Russia.

[alieninvader]

She has the brains of Bush and the power thirst of Cheney. SCARY!!!!!!!

[layman]

tHE ELECTION PROCESS IS FAILURE. IT NEEDS FIXING.

[forebode]

Diebold and its renamed subsidiary needs to be forbidden to have ANY part in the voting process. Any company that will not allow a person to know how their vote was recorded needs to be forced to BUTT OUT!

[cbeenthere]

Do as I say, not as I do

[cbeenthere]

Simply put, Palin represents more of the last really ten years. Such a manipulator.

[Lupin77]

Sorry to see that she sees Cheney as a role model. He's been behind the bad decisions made by this admin including getting us involved in two wars and the economy going down the tubes. This shows bad judgment on her part. As a Wash DC outsider she doesn't know how games are played there and is like Little Red Riding Hood in the Woods. Totally clueless.

[elevation]

not to mention the issue of torture...­.

[cobobs]

Would only be bad judgement if she could be convinced that there is a better way

[mccainmakesberries]

Man, that is ugly...

http://tinyurl.com/4na3vz

[clover2]

Gwen Ifill's reference to Cheney's claim about the Vice Presidency being part of the legislative branch and Palin's clueless answer was one of the most insightful episodes of Thursday's debate. This woman hasn't shown enough attention to national politics during the last eight years to be considered eligible for the position of VP much less President. She might as well be the governor of inner Mongolia.

On the other hand, she has acted a lot like Dick Cheney in her disregard for science and her secrecy. It turns out she had more than one private e-mail account which she was using to conduct government business. Transparent, she ain't.