Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Palin Still Has No Idea What The VP Does

Not even three months ago, Governor Sarah Palin went on CNBC and proclaimed she had no idea what the Vice-President of the United States does. More than that, she thought it was more important to be govern Alaska, but that is neither here nor there. Yet as of October 20th, she still does not know the duties of the Vice-President. Apparently an NBC-affiliate reporter in Colorado "Couricized" her with a basic question and she fell in the trap yet again.

From ThinkProgress:

Yesterday, Gov. Sarah Palin (R-AK) sat for an interview with KUSA, an NBC affiliate in Colorado. In response to a question sent to the network by a third grader at a local elementary school about what the Vice President does, Palin erroneously argued that the Vice President is “in charge of the United States Senate“:

Q: Brandon Garcia wants to know, “What does the Vice President do?”

PALIN: That’s something that Piper would ask me! … [T]hey’re in charge of the U.S. 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.

Indeed, while Palin suggests that questions about what the Vice President does is something only her daughter Piper would ask, Palin herself asked this very question on national television in July. Apparently, she still hasn’t learned the correct answer.

Article I of the Constitution establishes an exceptionally limited role for the Vice President — giving the office holder a vote only when the Senate is “equally divided”:

The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no vote, unless they be equally divided.

Damn, so it was actually a third-grader that stumped her. Even if McCain brought in Dick Cheney to give her a run-down on some of his activities, she should recognize that he himself doesn't know that the the VP is in the Executive branch. Perhaps she should pick up a copy of the Constitution, before Bush shreds the rest of it.