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.