After Cheney, Vice Presidents Matter

Don't tell American voters that vice presidents don't matter.

In the wake of eight years of Dick Cheney, the old assumptions regarding the inconsequence of vice presidential candidates just don't hold up anymore. The oft-repeated fact that Dan Quayle was on a winning ticket makes a point that has been rendered obsolete.

By virtually all accounts, our nation's current vice president has grown the role of that office into one of unprecedented influence and power. Both personally and through his deputies, Dick Cheney has demonstrated the ability of a vice president to take advantage of an intellectually lazy and managerially absent president to drive U.S. policy - both domestic and international - with frightening consequence.

Dick Cheney and his staff have been instrumental in making (fabricating?) the case for the war in Iraq and determining American energy policy. He has provided cover to countless ideologues in the Bush Administration to root out dissenting opinion in the government and has been its strongest champion for torture and Guantanamo Bay.

And this is why the pick of little-known Governor Sarah Palin will doom Senator McCain's electoral chances in November.

Leaving aside the clear and disturbing implications of placing someone as inexperienced as Governor Palin in a position to replace the septuagenarian, two-time cancer surviving McCain, American voters - wary of the Cheney experience - will think long and hard about the next person they trust to uphold the role of the vice president.

Despite Palin's very thin record of achievement in public office, we already know two disturbing facts about her record. These should give voters pause regarding the manner in which she might actually serve as vice president. First - she is under state investigation for abuse of power - the inappropriate firing of a public official who refused to carry out orders to settle a personal score. Second - in her very first speech to the public as McCain's choice for running mate, she patently lied about the fact that in 2006 she publically supported the so-called "bridge to nowhere." Palin unabashedly stated then that Alaska should take advantage of federal earmarks while the state still counted powerful appropriators among its congressional delegation.

Palin's abuse of power and lies about past policy positions: not exactly what America needs in its would-be successor to Dick Cheney.

Couple these concerns with her unequivocal support for a down-the-line conservative social agenda and you have the makings for a frightening cocktail of a vice president.

Notwithstanding the obvious concerns for placing Governor Palin a heartbeat away from the presidency, voters are not likely to overlook Senator McCain's lack of judgment in nominating such an ill-qualified person to fulfill the difficult demands and responsibilities of the vice presidency. As Dick Cheney has made the world painfully aware, it's not just a ceremonial post anymore.

Read more reaction from HuffPost bloggers to John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate

Comments

[jeanrenoir]

Hope you are right. Obviously, Americans should laugh Palin off the political stage immediately. Whether Americans are bright enough to do that in massive numbers, I'm not sure. My fear is that the mob which voted for Bush twice because he seemed "more like us" will be enchanted with Palin as REALLY "like us," an Erin Brockovich to reform DC. If the dolts fall for the candidate who's "like us" Republican strategy yet again, America is truly history.

[LeftRight]

Why does everyone fall into the falsehood about Cheney being the first working veep???? GORE was the first working veep!!! Cheney may have expanded upon that, but GORE set the standard!

[FloridaShutterBug]

I'm trying to think of a reason why knowing who the 'first working veep' was would be important to me. I got nothin'. It's just another microscopic tidbit to take our minds off the real issues.

Looking at Palin's actions, her record and her 'beliefs' I can't see anything but Dick Cheney in a dress.

[LeftRight]

It's just a little pet peeve of mine, cause everybody is saying that the veep matters now in the post cheney world, even though I know that it's important in the post GORE world.

And you are ENTIRELY correct, although I would add that in cheney's case he's more intelligent, and willing to bend with the political winds a bit more.

[tompoe]

No need for a vice president. If McCain needs to lean on the CIA, the FBI, the Department of Defense, in order to make sure the intelligence is manipulated, he can trot over himself. If he needs an energy policy, he can use Palin, with her vast experience to coordinate things. It's easy. No problem. Unitary executives don't need to be surrounded by expertise. Palin's demonstrated how easy it is to fire anyone who doesn't tow the line. Turnover has the advantage of never having to explain things, anyway.

[babyboomerorig]

Thanks for expressing my opinion so well.

Cheney should have made all of us realize how important a VP candidate is. We've had enough.

If the allegations concerning Gov. Palin are correct, she's the female Cheney and not to be trusted. If they're false, I appologize. It's apparant that there was no vetting done and that McCain acted irresponsibly picking a running mate. IMHO, neither will make it to the election.