Historically, sitting vice presidents are sent out of the country to winter Olympic games or funerals of heads of state or other non-headline type of activities.
And, historically, hardly anyone pays attention to what former vice presidents have to say or even remember what administration they served in when they to talk in public.
What about former vice presidential candidates? They are usually even more of a footnote in American history.
Yet, here we are with Vice President Joe Biden and former Vice President Dick Cheney dominating the news on the television talk shows.
And, even former vice presidential candidates Sarah Palin and John Edwards are headliners in the news these days.
Commentators and analysts are falling all over themselves wondering if Palin will be a presidential candidate in 2012. Other political analysts and citizens alike are appalled and disgusted at what we are hearing about former vice presidential and presidential candidate John Edwards. The new book on John Edwards, The Politician is moving up on the bestseller lists making people aware of what a dreadful person the former senator turned out to be.
And, even former Vice-president Dan Quayle is back in the news telling reporters in Arizona that his son is going to run for public office.
I cannot think of any time in our political history where vice-presidents or former vice presidential candidates were such newsmakers.
What is going on?
Vice President Joe Biden is and has always been a colorful character and he should be applauded for his outspoken views. He is a forceful advocate for the president's national security policies. As the former head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he is an integral part of the president's foreign policy team and a behind the scenes decision maker.
The current vice president has never been at a loss for words and even while he is attending the Olympics in Vancouver is always ready to give a notable comment.
Why former Vice President Dick Cheney has set himself up as the key spokesman for the Bush administration is a mystery. He is far too strident in his comments and it is highly unusual for him to be this out front in his criticisms of the Obama administration. Cheney should let his record stand or fall on the views of historians. The former VP should quit trying so hard to make his case that what Bush-Cheney did was so correct and Obama is so wrong. History is not so black and white and Cheney talking all the time and criticizing all the time will not change what was done--good or bad--during his time in office. It might be good for him to take some time off from his critical comments of Obama and Biden.
To his credit, former President George W. Bush has remained quiet and let Cheney be out front in criticizing the current president.
Then we have former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin whose every move and comment is carried as Breaking News. Let us all back off and let the former GOP vice-presidential candidate learn about national and foreign affairs before we hear everything she has to say. She has no program and is mainly good news to cover because of her cutesy comments about "how is that change and hope thing going".
She has only been on the national scene for a short period of time and has very little knowledge of foreign affairs and national security so stop covering her and her remarks because they are of little value to any of us.
As Senator John Kerry recently stated, the Edwards scandal is a "Greek tragedy." The Politician shows that Edwards was an egomaniac who was willing to sacrifice the Democratic Party to his shortcomings. No one could make this all up. It will be a movie soon.
Edwards was a total phony who could have sunk the Democratic Party if he had been the 2008 presidential candidate. He is a self-centered individual who should never have been part of the national political scene. The former vice presidential candidate who ran with John Kerry is really a disgrace and a soap opera we should quickly turn off.
There you have it: vice-presidents and vice presidential candidates being newsmakers when they should be left to the obscurity they so richly deserve.
And, who is one of the biggest draws for the Democrats and environmentalists these days? Former Vice President Al Gore.
So there is hope that if you become a VP or a VP candidate you won't sink into oblivion.
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I don't know why he doesn't just retire on his fat, taxpayer-funded, government retirement salary and do what other people do, collect social security and enjoy his hobby... Oh, his hobby is going hunting with friends. That explains that. Recruiting "friends" for Dick Cheney hunting trips is a tough sell these days.
So I guess his second favorite passtime is finding wars to declare. War on taror, Iraq, Afghanistan, Iran, Yemen. Damn, he's already to the "y"s. I guess we could still declare war on Zimbabwe if Dicky wants. After all, they could have WMD, right? Probly a handoff from Saddam.
Only in America.
As for Sarah Palin, she is of below average intellect (or simply has none) who has nothing intelligent to say. Even on her best days, her level of knowledge and education is comparable to a first graders'.
are you really saying 'ordinary' americans cannot remember the names of magazines they read, cannot remember their talking points without writing them on their hands, cannot construct a logical sentence, cannot understand the difference between satire and insult, ... (okay, i'll give you that one, maybe), quits when the going gets tough, thinks freedom of speech means no one gets to disagree with you,
i could go on for pages with a list of things that 'ordinary' americans do not do.
but above all, sarah palin is not an ordinary american. she is the owner of a very large swath of property in alaska; her husband is part alaska native so her children do not ever ever ever have to worry about health care, despite what she says; she receives a permanent fund dividend check every year, as do her husband and her children, which is a state payout to each alaska resident as their share of the public wealth (can we say socialism, anyone?). she is not an ordinary american, and does not understand or represent ordinary americans. 'ordinary' americans are smarter than that.
attractive, i'll give you. exciting, also, but in the same way that a train wreck is exciting.
sarah palin is a true beacon of conservatism. she is just like us. she knows the trials and tribulations of real americans. well, those of us with witch hunters.
she has them liberals running scared with her down to earth common sense solutions.
oh they knock her and say she has nothing of substance to say but she has the answers right in the palm of her hand. literally. and in permanent ink marker to boot!
The White House seems plenty nervous about Cheney, whose winning this argument, big time. After pulling the 9/11 terrorist trials out of NYC (that was a Cheney victory; not an Obama one), let's see if they end up in military court, and if Gitmo ever actually closes.
Also, batting Joe Biden around is good sport.
"Iraq could be one of this administrations great achievements?"
Seriously?
Anyway, basically, and I'm so not typing all of this again, I was just trying to say that it seems there's a cognitive dissonance when it comes to people like Edwards and Spitzer (though I guess Clinton is an exception), who seem to fall out of grace with the right AND left. While those on the right - recently Vitter, Ensign, Sanford; going back Gingrich, Guliani, McCain; with pundits Rush, O'Reilly - still get to pretty much keep their positions, and continue on unabated. With the only exceptions being those like Foley or Craig. Seems hypocritical to me, especially from the "family values" crowd. That was all I was trying to point out.
Palin is still out of luck. Even though her party likes her, even most of them think she's unqualified, not to mention the rest of us. Keep talking about her though, it's entertaining and if it shows off how bad her supporters are, all the better to stay away from the rest of the public being duped by another Bush. Even if in lipstick. Though many will only cite her favorability, not a fair comparison as Obama's is MUCH higher even as people are disappointed in his job performance.
Pundits wish to cover our sitting vice president in a worthy fashion ONLY because there was a potential verbal fisticuffs. Well, in this case thank goodness for media focus and preview of "war of words" because Biden came out swinging and clocked the former VP not in one showing but in two.
America was biting at the bit to observe a nasty rumble and instead observed what we should have been observing all along: The U.S. has a bright, exceptional vice president in Joe Biden. Obama showed great judgement in picking this plumb, and in my not so humble opinion I say let Biden do what he does best, part of which is having no fear in calling down critics and setting the truth straight.
And for crying out loud, it's time Media and Blogosphere begin covering Biden's hard work and numerous contributions.
This Sunday’s political talk show circuit revolved around the debate between Biden and his predecessor Dick Cheney. Their discussion spanned three networks, focusing mostly upon the Iraq War and national security policy.
“He’s not entitled to rewrite history. He’s not entitled to his own facts,†Biden said of Cheney before declaring him to be “factually, substantively, wrong on the major criticisms he is asserting.â€
As to what his predecessor’s motivations might be for obscuring the truth, Biden correctly concluded that, “He is either misinformed or misinforming.â€
It’s refreshing to see a Democrat, especially one as high-profile as the Vice President, finally come out swinging in the fight against Republican propaganda. In doing so, Joe Biden also struck a forceful blow against those who seek to characterize him as bumbling and incompetent. Above all, he bolstered my belief that our current administration will soon make good on its promise of change.
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Granted, though ... as Vice President, Biden now finds himself in a whole new position vis-a-vis being able to speak freely. As much as I am grateful that he is at President Obama's side, I still very much miss Senator Biden for this very reason.
Unfortunately, there will never be a shortage of people who collectively make up the dysfuntional and toxic media and political culture who will continue to demonstrate their own ineptitude and incompetence as they propagate their asinine storyline on Joe Biden which is taken up by a largely ill-informed electorate - hook, line and sinker.
Fortunately, there are enough of us who know better. And so, I thank-you for your post!
Therein lies the White House's biggest problem: Cheney isn't wrong at all. The White House is now doing (albeit reluctantly) what Cheney has been saying all along.