Chris Matthews Battles Nancy Pfotenhauer Over Elementary School Civics

Yesterday, Sarah Palin was asked to describe the duties of the Vice President, which is something she'd never before been briefed on by anyone other than maybe Dick Cheney, because she answered by straight making stuff up off the top of her topsy-tailed dome:

PALIN: A Vice President has a really great job because not only are they there to support the President's agenda, they are like the team member, the teammate to the president. They are in charge of the United States Senate. If they want to, they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes that make life better.

Oh. But? No! Of course, the Vice President is not "in charge" of the Senate, and, similarly, does not have the opportunity to "really get in there with the senators" and "make a lot of good policy." I know this to be the case because, if Palin became Vice President, she'd face a Senate run by ... uhm ... the Democratic Party. I also know this because I successfully graduated from elementary school.

But someone had to go on Hardball tonight and battle Chris Matthews over this weird statement from Palin, and, apparently, "real Virginian" Nancy Pfotenhauer drew the short straw. Since she couldn't just go on and say something truthful like, "Chris, look. I don't know if you've noticed, but our Veep candidate is sort of a dumbass with a lot of pluck," she instead had to say weird crap like this:

I'm not a Constitutional scholar, but I have been reading a commentary on this that seems to be that people are parsing her words and she was trying to explain to a young child what the Vice President would do.

But Palin wasn't talking to a young child, she was talking to a grown-up news reporter! And you don't need to be a Constitutional scholar to know that the duties of the Vice President is to step in as President if the Chief Executive is unable to perform their duties, and to cast tie-breaking votes in the Senate. You can glean this just by being a Constitutional reader. Or just a listener to someone -- anyone -- who knows what the heck they are talking about.

Pfotenhauer, nevertheless, keeps up her crazy attempt to defend Palin, first explaining that Palin was "simplifying the explanation" for the absent child, when in reality she was badly complicating the VP's role, and getting it wrong to boot. Then she insisted that the same standard be applied to Joe Biden, who's never demonstrated a similar ignorance of the role. Eventually, all she can do is sort of sit there and let Chris Matthews shame Palin again and again, by saying things like: "The clothing allowance was right and the prep sessions were not ... By the way, I like the red leather jacket, but what's underneath it is a problem."

Anyway, for once, it was a good day to be Tucker Bounds.

[WATCH.]

MATTHEWS: I want to talk about the role of the Vice President. I want to give you a shot at this. You are not somebody in from out of town. What is the role of the Vice President under the U.S. Constitution? Simply put, you know it or you don't. Either a person understands the role of the Vice President or they don't. What, as you understand it from the Constitution, as a professional, is the role of the Vice President? We are filling the part.

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PFOTENHAUER: That's right. Obviously the role of the Vice President is to support the President, but also to preside when necessary over the Senate. This is also --

MATTHEWS: That's not the role of the Vice President. I gave you a shot, Nancy. Try again. What is the Constitutional role of the Vice President in the Constitution. What's written in the Constitution?

PFOTENHAUER: I'm not a Constitutional scholar, but I have been reading a commentary on this that seems to be that people are parsing her words and she was trying to explain to a young child what the Vice President would do.

MATTHEWS: Nancy, I appreciate you coming on the show. It's a tough defense of Sarah Palin. She doesn't understand the role of the Vice President. Let me state it vetr clearly right now. It's to replace the president if necessary. as Colin Powell said, to stand ready in the tragic circumstances to replace the President. Now, that's one role. The other is to have only a tie-breaking role as presiding officer in the senate. That's it. The Constitution specifically prescribes that. In fact that's all that the person has the right to do. Here's Sarah Palin with her definition of this role, which sounds strange to me. I have been in this city for a long time and never heard anybody say -- it's similar to what she said in the debate with Joe Biden. Where does she get her civics? Here's Sarah Palin.

PALIN: A Vice President has a great job because not only are they there to support the President's agenda, they are like the team member, the teammate to that President. They are in charge of the senate. 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.

MATTHEWS: Continue that thought, Nancy.

PFOTENHAUER: I think she is clearly just trying to break down what it means to preside over the U.S. Senate upon occasion to a young child. Having raised five, I can tell you that you obviously have to simplify things when you discuss it. I think you guys are --

MATTHEWS: She is talking to a news reporter at the time. She had been asked the question earlier by a second grader, but this time she is talking to a news reporter. Either she's right about the role of the Vice President or I'm wrong. I would say the role of the vice presidency is limited to breaking ties in the U.S. Senate. It has nothing to do with policy making or Senate leadership on either side of the aisle. There is no policy role for the Vice President. If you even watched "John Adams" on television a few months ago, you would know that going into the beginning. The Vice President has a formal role only. She believes somehow that the Vice President has a commanding policy development role to lead the Senate. Where did she get that.

PFOTENHAUER: You can't just apply this criticism to Governor Palin and not apply it to Joe Biden, who is constantly inferring...and Barack Obama as well. He is going to offer a function as a chief foreign policy adviser. Off the record, claiming that Barack Obama is basically going to make our enemies nervous enough that they will contrive...

MATTHEWS: It is so obvious to everyone watching that you are changing the subject. I want to ask you because you know the answer, what is the legislative authority of a Vice President?

PFOTENHAUER: From the standpoint of ... they cast tie breaking votes. I don't even know how you are parsing legislative authority. Obviously legislation is drafted in the House and the Senate. Certain legislation like revenues or tax bills have to be in the House and passed in the Senate.

MATTHEWS: Does Governor Palin know this? She thinks she set up policy shop in the United States Senate.

PFOTENHAUER: You know the Vice President has a permanent office in the U.S. Senate. They engage casually -- maybe not formally, but casually -- all the time with the Senate Republican Policy Committee.

MATTHEWS: No, no, no.

PFOTENHAUER: Yes, they do.

MATTHEWS: Let's watch her again. You are missing what she is saying. She is saying she will be a leader developing policy. It's very important we get this right. The clothing allowance was right and the prep sessions were not. Let's take a look. By the way, I like the red leather jacket, but what's underneath is a problem. Let's take a look.

PALIN: A Vice President has a really great job because not only are they there to support the President's agenda, they are like the team member, the teammate to the president. They are in charge of the United States Senate. If they want to, they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes that make life better.

Comments

[alembic54]

Go Chris Matthews!!!! I You have redeemed yourself in the last few months. As for Pfotenhauer? Stupid is as stupid does.

[edwcorey]

PFOTENHAUE­R--another National Socialist party member.

[Myrell002]

GOTTA LOVE HARDBALL!

[LHoney]

Biden has taught a class "Topics in Constitutional Law" at Widener School of Law in Delaware since 1991. I rest my case...

[sueno]

For the first time (in a long... time),
Chris got it right! Thanks for defending the letter of the law-
Palin thinks shes Cheney, ready to further destroy this country.
KUDOS! Great Job!

[suzonne]

Chris, keep up the great interviews. You were in a rut for along time but now your back on top.

[Tropiholic]

ms pfartenfluffer is turning out to be an an embarrassment as a mc*gaffe surrogate, isn't she?

[iluvsam]

I simply don't understand how one thinks they are qualified to be Vice President when they have never even read the Constitution. If one doesn't even know what the contract is between the state and its people, how can one say they are the proper party to defend it? She doesn't understand the laws of the United States, the structure of the United States, the tax system of the United States, the history of the United States, etc. I would bet a year's salary that she cannot name the Presidents in order. Most Americans probably can't either (which is a sad commentary of the education system), but when you are running for VP, one should know the Presidents, what they did, when they did it, and why they did it. Knowing the basics is vital. If you don't know the history of the world, you will not make good, informed decisions with regard to America's place in it. She is severely lacking in any intellectual curiosity. Remember when she said that governors are more experienced because "Senators only vote on things"? UGH. She's just really , really stupid, and I'm frightened as hell that people don't care how stupid she is. This is not the time where we need another intellectually challenged person anywhere NEAR the oval office.

[edwcorey]

She doesn't understand the laws or constitution of Alaska either, apparently, what with her using her office as a sledgehammer for her self-interest.

[08politicaljunkie]

I don't think she cares.

[saltpeter]

Sort of reminds me of religious fundamentalists who have never read the Bible or Governors who aspire for federal office who care so little about foreign affairs that they didn't bother to get a passport until they were in their 40's. Palin is a prime example of the intellectually uncurious neo-con who would rather repeat the mistakes of the administration that is dragging the whole party down than to learn what can improve that party to continue to make it relevant in the modern world. She's taking her cues about the Vice Presidency from Dick Cheney instead of the Constitution as she is taking her cues about the world from the Alaska Independence Party and her cues about religion from witch doctors and from a yahoo End Days pastor who thinks that Alaska is a refuge for the rapture.

The reason she appeals to anybody who supports the GOP is because she is pandering to those who are also willfully ignorant. The reason her fans like her because she doesn't bog her message down with them there FACTS and instead tells people what they want to hear to stroke their uneducated egos and not what they NEED TO HEAR as a citizen of a first world nation that is constantly engaged with the rest of the world. She doesn't challenge her fans to lose their myopic views of the world because she has not once done that to herself.

[Pragmatus]

1 Washington
2 Adams
3 Jefferson
4 Madison
5 Monroe
6 J Quincy Adams
7 Jackson
8 Van Buren
9 W H Harrison
10 Tyler
11 Polk
12 Taylor
13 Fillmore
14 Pierce
15 Buchanan
16 Lincoln
17 A Johnson
18 Grant
19 Hayes
20 Garfield
21 Arthur
22 Cleveland
23 B Harrison
24 Cleveland
25 McKinley
26 T Roosevelt
27 Taft
28 Wilson
29 Harding
30 Coolidge
31 Hoover
32 F Roosevelt
33 Truman
34 Eisenhower
35 Kennedy
36 L Johnson
37 Nixon
38 Ford
39 Carter
40 Reagan
41 G H W Bush
42 Clinton
43 G W Bush

[BrnPhil]

Wow.... Go Chris. Bachman and now this. Can you get Palin herself...­. there is wishfull thinking.

[wolfgangmo]

Bachmann is now personally blaming Mathews and Olbermann for fundraising over 1 million for her opponent [ http://www.tinklenberg08.com/ - donate some today- let's get the crazy out of congress].

This means that she believes herself to be blameless for saying what she said, likely because God or some other voice she listens to tells her so.

I am working to get her unelected as my congress critter.

[militarymomforobama]

She would NEVER go before a real journalist (and intellect) like Matthews. I have no doubt that he would be considerate, but he would definitely ask the tough questions.

[phoebie]

Important safety tip, people. When going on Hardball, get throughly acquainted with constitutional issues before sparring with Chis Matthews instead of refreshing botox.

[Kassandra]

I don't know why the Republican tools even bother to debate these idiotic statements by Palin; it just draws more attention to them. Rear-guard action here.

[Pragmatus]

Sarah Palin sees everything the way a high school cheerleader sees them. To preside over a legislative body, to her, is like being elected head of the Student Council. Her brain doesn't stretch far enough to understand a concept like the Separation of Powers, which insists that the Vice President's role in the Senate is severely limited.

Presiding over the Senate is akin to presiding over meetings of the Ladies' Garden Club. The presiding officer's purpose is to move the agenda along, while it is up to the members and their committees to advance ideas, debate them and then vote on them. It is a big parliamentary no-no for the presiding officer to take sides, or encourage one faction over another, or to interfere in any substantive way with club decisions. Palin seems to think the Vice President would be a sort of dictator in the Senate who would set the agenda, allow senators to speak only at her whim and determine herself what would be brought up for a vote.

Yet more proof folks that this woman has no business within a thousand miles of the levers of power.
.

[militarymomforobama]

And when the other members don't agree, you and your bff's snub them and disinvite them from the summer barbecue.

[sammyscout]

Classic Chris Matthews

[Rianna]

Good for Chris Mathews! Hold their feet to the fire. They have got away with this crap for too long.
Palin's ignorance shows too much, and it is time they answered to her amateurish answers.
I wish the media acted this way in 2000 and 2004.

Pfotenhover just cannot talk straight. They must be ashamed to represent such an ignorant candidate.

[DXM]

If, God forbid, Sen. McCain is elected President, one of the more entertaining moments will be the first time a V.P. Palin strides into the Senate chambers and attempts to exercise the authority she thinks she has... especially in a Senate where the Democrats and the independents hold 58+ seats. The dressing down she would get (and the possibility of her being escorted off the Senate floor by the Sergeant at Arms after being censured by that body for not following that chamber's rules set down 220 years ago) would almost (ALMOST!) be worth the price of a McCain/Palin win. Obviously Gov. Palin is not a heavy reader. Perhaps she should watch the recent HBO series on the life of John Adams during one of her long campaign plane trips... and watch the episode where John Adams (a V.P. with an intellect far superior to Ms. Palin's... they are not even remotely in the same league) presides over the then new Senate a couple of times.

[rose london]

I agree DXM. this is the main reason why the Mcsame's camp placed her in a cubicle away from the media. The Mccain Camp knew she is CLUELESS. COUNTRY FIRST????????PLEASE GIVE ME A BREAK.