This is no small matter.
During the VP Debate, Palin said the 'Constitution' gave great flexibility to the Vice President.
Transcript: The Vice-Presidential DebateOctober 2, 2008 Following is a transcript of the vice-presidential debate between Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Gov. Sarah Palin in St. Louis, as recorded by CQ Transcriptions:
http://elections.nytimes.com/2008/president/debates/transcripts/vice-presidential-debate.html
During an interview with Fox News, Palin reiterates the same statement... and goes further...
If You Thought Cheney Was Scary…
October 4, 2008 · 3 Comments
…you ain’t seen Sarah Palin. In an interview this morning with Fox News Palin actually took Dick Cheney’s interpretation of the powers of the Vice-President (that the Vice-President is part of, and can influence, both the legislative and executive branch) even further. Palin believes that she should also be able to influence the judicial.
http://outtheotherear.wordpress.com/2008/10/04/if-you-thought-cheney-was-scary/
Just Monday during another interview wherein a question from a third-grader is posed, Palin continues to present her interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.
Video provided at Keith Olbermann site
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27329837#27313586
One that is simply and clearly, wrong...
Keith Olbermann noted Palin is wrong wrong wrong. (And Palin is not smarter than a third-grader)
Pat Buchanan on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Tuesday said she was wrong, but...
There are no buts when the Constitution clearly states what the role of a Vice President shall be.
Chris Matthews on Hardball... she had time to choose try on Neiman Marcus outfits she could have had time to pick up a copy of the US Constitution...
Net the Truth Online
Palin Says Vice President "In Charge Of" Senate
ABC News’ Imtiyaz Delawala and Z. Byron Wolf Report: Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said in a local interview that the vice president is "in charge of" the U.S. Senate and "can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes" – the second time she has claimed a more expansive role for the vice president than the U.S. Constitution outlines.
On Monday while in Colorado, Palin taped an interview with Denver NBC affiliate KUSA. At the end of the interview, she was asked to participate in the station's "Questions from the Third Grade" series, in which candidates have fielded questions from local elementary school students.
"Brandon Garcia wants to know, 'What does the Vice President do?'" Palin was asked.
"That's something that Piper would ask me, as a second grader, also," Palin responded, referencing her seven-year-old daughter.
"A vice president has a really great job because not only are they there to support the president's agenda, they're there like the team member, the teammate to the president," Palin continued. “But also, they're in charge of the United States 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. And it's a great job and I look forward to having that job.”
While the Vice President does serve as president of the Senate, according to the U.S. Constitution, the vice president’s role is fairly limited to casting tie-breaking votes.
Article I of the Constitution states that "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided."
In recent years, the role has been largely ceremonial. Vice President Dick Cheney has cast just eight tie-breaking votes during the Bush administration. Most recently in March, Vice President Cheney broke a tie on a procedural motion whether to consider an amendment that would have rolled back tax rates for the alternative minimum tax.
The vice president can also preside over floor debate in the Senate -- a role usually filled by the Senate president pro tempore, and more often done by first-term senators.
Palin was also asked the role of the vice president in her debate earlier this month with Senator Joe Biden, where she cited the vice president's role presiding over the Senate as a way to "exert a bit more authority" to work with the Senate on the president’s agenda.
"I'm thankful the Constitution would allow a bit more authority given to the vice president if that vice president so chose to exert it in working with the Senate and making sure that we are supportive of the president's policies and making sure too that our president understands what our strengths are," Palin said in the debate.
When asked to explain her remarks in an interview with Fox News the day after the debate, Plain reiterated her position that overseeing the Senate would give her "a tremendous amount of flexibility and authority" to work with the Senate.
"The vice president, of course, is not a member, or a part of the legislative branch, except to oversee the Senate," Palin told Fox News' Carl Cameron. "That alone provides a tremendous amount of flexibility and authority if that vice president so chose to use it."
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/10/palin-says-vice.html
Is Governor Sarah Palin Right That the Vice President Has the "Flexibility" to Play a Larger Role in the Legislative Branch? Though the Question Is Complex, Palin is Likely In Error
By VIKRAM DAVID AMAR
Thursday, October. 09, 2008
One flashpoint in the Palin/Biden debate last week concerned Governor Palin's cryptic reference to the "flexibility" of the Vice Presidency, and the possibility that the Vice President could assume a larger role within the Legislative Branch. That remark prompted Senator Biden to respond that the Vice President is an Executive officer whose legislative role is to break tie votes in the Senate and nothing else.
http://writ.news.findlaw.com/amar/20081009.html
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