Palin Claims Vice President "In Charge Of The U.S. Senate"

Think Progress:

Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. In response to a question sent to the network by a third grader at a local elementary school about what the Vice President does, Palin erroneously argued that the Vice President is "in charge of the United States Senate":

Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, "What does the Vice President do?"

PALIN: That's something that Piper would ask me! ... [T]hey're in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom.

Read the whole story: Think Progress

Comments

[FogBelter]

The thing is, it's doubtful that Palin even understands what she is saying when she speaks. I think she is great at memorizing talking points, and she uses them like Lego blocks. Listen to her speak. She has maybe 15 or 20 "blocks" of speech available to her and she just affixes them together. It's not really thinking, it's simply assembling. I think that is why she has such a hard time responding to a question, even from a child. Palin isn't a thinker, she's a talking point assembler.

[evolution1223]

I think you're right: it is a talking point. But it is one that I've heard her say at least 3 times. And once was during her truncated speech, uh I mean debate.

It's the very same concept that Chen ey has been trying to push for the last 8 years, and I dare say, she has the same people around her that groomed Shrub. So more than likely, she would attempt to pursue that course, if elected.

[IzzyCA]

I am seriously starting to wonder what meds this woman is on....

[daemos1]

She snorts moose-musk

[Pragmatus]

Miss America Pageant Pixie-Dust.
.

[TruthHasSpoken]

Better yet, does she even know what a president does?! This is very scary stuff folks.

[DonCosenza]

The President blows stuff up, and um... is a maverick and... it's all about jobs.

[siney]

i'd say this is an indictment of public education, but that would be the same foolish charge a republican friend of mine made earlier today on another issue... i had a public education in grades K - 12 and i understand perfectly that our 3 branches of gov't are equal and provide checks and balances on one another...while the supreme court has the last word on what is constitutional, no one branch is in charge of the other....palin is an intellectual lightweight and that is being kind...has absolutely no business running for VP and john mccain should be recalled by the voters in arizona for even selecting her....dereliction of duty of the highest order...

[DonCosenza]

Bless that Sarah Palin. Her rewards will be in heaven, won't they?

[sharonh]

Further south.

[repubsrbad]

PALIN: That's something that Piper would ask me! ... " you forgot the obligatory "also" at the end of this sentence..also. too.

[izAriver]

Anyone ever see the movie, "Black Widow"?

[siney]

theresa russell and debra winger...great movie :)....but palin's more like Sarah: Halloween part XIV, revenge of jason's bride...

[siney]

oh wait, jason would be friday the 13th....michael meyers! that's it....mikey's bride...

[LemonMeringue]

Maybe if they finally hammer into the brain that the VP has no power except when the Senate vote is tied, she will decide she does not want the job and GO HOME to face the charges against her there.

[RobinL]

DOH!!!!!!!!!!

[siney]

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV):
This comment is all the more puzzling because this is at least the 2nd time she has said this. Gov Palin needs to re-read or perhaps read for the first time the Constitution. While the Vice President presides over the Senate, he or she is not in charge of it. Article 1 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 Senate is part of a co-equal branch of the federal government.


'nuff said...

[Bitsko]

Obviously the right wing believes that being president of anything allows one to do anything they darn well please.

[jpsd]

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm

Under the original code of Senate rules, the presiding officer exercised great power over the conduct of the body's proceedings. Rule XVI provided that "every question of order shall be decided by the President [of the Senate], without debate; but if there be a doubt in his mind, he may call for a sense of the Senate." Thus, contrary to later practice, the presiding officer was the sole judge of proper procedure and his rulings could not be turned aside by the full Senate without his assent.

[Bruupo]

Here's the paragraph right before that one you keep posting, jpsd:

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm

'Several framers ultimately refused to sign the Constitution, in part because they viewed the vice president's legislative role as a violation of the separation of powers doctrine. Elbridge Gerry, who would later serve as vice president, declared that the framers "might as well put the President himself as head of the legislature." Others thought the office unnecessary but agreed with Connecticut delegate Roger Sherman that "if the vice-President were not to be President of the Senate, he would be without employment, and some member [of the Senate, acting as presiding officer] must be deprived of his vote."'

WOW, sure seems like a POWERFUL position the founders laid out, make the guy preside so we don't have to take away an ACTUAL Senator's vote- and that from the time that the VP was determined by being runner up in the electoral college PRESIDENTIAL vote, before there even was partisan politics in this country- and they still didn't give the job any real power.

Which part of this garbage you keep posting somehow backs up Palin's assertion of "getting in there and making POLICY"?

Try to actually speak rather than just copy and paste this time.

[zann]

Actually Palin has an arguable point. It goes against the custom in the senate, and they'd eat her alive, but you really should check out this link somebody posted:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/oct/03/biden-gets-veep-role-wrong/

Does everybody fake how smart they are?

[LemonMeringue]

The Constitution offers ZERO flexibility on the role of the vice president. She is full of beans. There is nothing in there that would remotely suggest such a thing.

She does not have an arguable point.

Now if McCain wants her informal advice on foreign policy there is nothing in there to prevent that, God help us all.

[jpsd]

http://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/common/briefing/Vice_President.htm

Under the original code of Senate rules, the presiding officer exercised great power over the conduct of the body's proceedings. Rule XVI provided that "every question of order shall be decided by the President [of the Senate], without debate; but if there be a doubt in his mind, he may call for a sense of the Senate." Thus, contrary to later practice, the presiding officer was the sole judge of proper procedure and his rulings could not be turned aside by the full Senate without his assent.

[Bitsko]

The Washington Times????? Puleeeeeze.

[Ozarks]

Read Constitution's Article 1 Section 1 and Article II... Clause 3. A senator has to be "elected" for a six year term to be involved in ANY legislative voting , actions , discussions et al. The best you can come up for the "President of the Senate" (VP) is some sort of diminished type of traffic cop on "Order of Procedure"

[JoeQCitizen]

Now, the modern custom is for the Vice President to allow the President pro tempore (latin "for the time being") to preside over the Senate unless a close vote is expected. In fact, the VP presided over the Senate proceedings full-time until the 1960's. I would imagine that had something to do with television and mass news media transforming the role of VP from that of peddling influence to it's current role of marketing. Also, the role of VP has evolved since the ratification of the 12th amendment firmly entrenched the "party system" and allowed for the election of presidential "tickets". Before that, the electorate got two votes for office of President and the office of Vice President was literally the "runner up". Imagine if you will, a President Bill Clinton with a Vice President George H W Bush or a President George W Bush with a Vice President Al Gore. One can see how the job of presiding over the Senate could be important to a Vice President even without a vote.

The person presiding over the Senate makes rulings on points of order and in doing so, determines the action on the floor of the Senate. The point is, it's "customary" today for the VP to turn the office over to the President pro tempore but I would imagine it's totally up to the discretion of the VP and the Constitution would be on the side of the VP should (s)he choose to assume their constitutional

[JoeQCitizen]

Umm! So, I'm confused here... Article One, section 3, clause 4 of the United States Constitution says; "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided. " So what does "President of the Senate" mean if not to "Preside over" or more simply, to "be in charge of" the Senate?

The only actual roles of office of vice-president specified by the Constitution are to fulfill the duties of the President should (s)he be removed from office, die, resign, or be otherwise unable to uphold the responsibilities of office of President (US Constitution Article I section 1 clause 6) and to preside over the Senate.

[DonCosenza]

It means they're conducting the procedural minutia. There's a reason they usually let junior senators preside over the Senate in place of the VP or the President pro tem. Do are those junior senators "in charge of" the Senate

[Halfwit]

I would say that "The Republican Vice-Presidential Nominee has no clothes," except with tonight's news of her RNC funded $75,000 each shopping-sprees at Neiman-Marcus and Sax Fifth Avenue, that (as Richard Nixon would say) would be wrong.

[Smirk]

Jebbus H. Cries.