Cheney Biographer: Palin Views Cheney’s Vice Presidency As A Role Model
Cheney Biographer: Palin Views Cheney’s Vice Presidency As A Role Model
In Thursday’s vice presidential debate, Gov. Sarah Palin said she “agrees” with Dick Cheney’s expansive view of the power of the executive branch and the vice presidency:
PALIN: I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, that we’ll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.
Interviewed on CNN today, the Washington Post’s Barton Gellman, author of a new biography of Cheney’s vice presidency, said that the idea of “flexibility” for the VP is a signature Cheney idea:
GELLMAN: Well, it sounded like Dick Cheney could have written that description. The idea of “flexibility” on the one hand and “do what we have to do,” those are two of the watch words of a man who believes in executive supremacy and believes that other branches of government and the public actually cannot restrict the executive.
Gellman added that Cheney could very well be a role model for a Palin vice presidency:
BLITZER: What I hear you saying, if she were vice president she would, you see Dick Cheney as a role model, is that what you are saying?
GELLMAN: Yeah. Well, what you aspire to do and what you can do are two different things. It came from a relationship with the very specific president and came from his own enormous experience and skill.
Watch it:
Cheney has taken the powers of the office of the vice presidency to dangerous levels. He has taken the lead in shaping both domestic and foreign policy, and he has shown he “does not care about trampling on the Constitution.” And yet, during her interview with Katie Couric, the only negative thing Palin could say of Cheney was that he accidentally shot his friend in the face.
Furthermore, Palin has a record of Cheney-like secrecy and has refused to say whether her office will legally be part of the executive branch.
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It’s a moot point, since she will never inhabit the office.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:34 pmLike I really needed one more reason to despise her and McShame.
Who can she possibly be catering to? Even most of the right hates this guy…
October 5th, 2008 at 1:35 pm#2 She’s catering to the base. Every time one of them opens its mouth its to assauge the base and keep it fired up. It makes no difference if what is said is right or wrong – its designed to keep the base fired up.
Luckily on November 5 most of the base will likely have drunk some of Jim Jones’ kool-aid, but until then we have to continue putting up with it.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:39 pmThat must be why mcinsane has been so snarky and angry lately. He just found out that the eye-candy he thought would defer to him actually is being set-up to run the administration.
And he is not likely to live to the end of his first-term anyhow. Poor little johnny, he is just being used and now he knows it.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:43 pmAs scary as her words are, its perfectly fine by me if she continues to praise Dick Cheney
October 5th, 2008 at 1:44 pmNo one really believes that she makes these types of decisions do they? That she actually understands the role cheney has had.
Folks, these are just the public faces for a criminal cabal that knows they have to be very quiet when they steal.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:45 pmLike the Rude Pundit said the other day, she is a “dipsh¡t with lipstick”.
I wouldn’t worry too much about her plans for the VP chair; I think she’ll be back ‘Off To Alaska’ come Nov.5.
¶ AIO
October 5th, 2008 at 1:47 pmPalin doesn’t know what she’s talking about. She was taught to be bold and never give up and that’s how she, amazingly, ended up where she is. Only in America.
October 5th, 2008 at 1:49 pmAnother Joe Says:
That must be why mcinsane has been so snarky and angry lately. He just found out that the eye-candy he thought would defer to him actually is being set-up to run the administration.
Or, he’s realized that he’s the 72 year-old glue-foot she’s decided to ride onto the national stage…
Sarah: “I can see 2012 from my house!”
October 5th, 2008 at 1:50 pmAnd I bet she has a loaded shotgun and a woman-sized safe in her office, too!
October 5th, 2008 at 1:53 pmScary. I don’t think she can fully comprehend the gravity of her position. She just blindly believes that she is the best. There’s no self improvement, she’s playing the entitled card.
Checkout my piece on Youth Voter Registration. For every 100 registered voters aged 18-24, the democrats accrue a 9 vote advantage.
Obama 355, McCain 183
October 5th, 2008 at 1:54 pmvoteforamerica – none of the morons that stand in front of the cameras for the criminal cabal behind the theft of 2 federal elections, 9/11, the lies that took this nation into Iraq, and the wholesale looting of the federal treasury.
It isn’t really about personalities – its about having the power to get away with treason, war-crimes, and crimes against humanity.
The folks behind this laugh all the way to the bank while we blog about the idiots in front of the camera.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:06 pmOT, but maybe not:
The Nazi Pope just said
“nations once rich in faith and vocations are losing their own identity under the harmful and destructive influence of a certain modern culture.”
Wonder what he thinks of the charlatans that loudly proclaim their faith in US politics.
Yup, God himself told chimpy to kill more than one million innocent women and children in Iraq. Palin’s “faith” is even scarier.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:11 pmDing! Ding! Ding!
Automatic Disqualification (as if she needed any more disses).
Does the Impalin know his approval ratings are like single digit?
October 5th, 2008 at 2:16 pmOK, well, I just looked it up, and he’s at a stunning 32%.
But ImPalin is hitching her wagon to the BushitCo brand.
Not a smart move.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:17 pmYet she said she doesnt know what the vice presidents job is.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:34 pmRepugs are desperate to change the topic from the economy. When Dark Cheney inspires more favorable public reactions, America is in trouble.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:40 pmIf you and I or a journalist ignored a subpoena they would IMMEDIATELY lock us away to die
They don’t want you to die – there is far too much money to be made in the prison-industrial complex if you LIVE.
October 5th, 2008 at 2:46 pmAnything to distract from this:
In the heartland, anger that borders on rage
By RHONDA CHRISS LOKEMAN
Ward Cleaver turns to his wife and says, “Gosh, June, how are we goin’ to explain to Wally and the Beave that I just got laid off from my job of 25 years, our 401(k) tanked in the ’08 market crash, and we can’t get loans to send them to community college, much less Harvard, Yale or Princeton?”
To which June turns off the Hoover, knocks back a gin shot and replies, “Betcha didn’t see that coming.”
October 5th, 2008 at 2:53 pmThat seems reasonable enough. I can’t imagine she has really thought deeply about the issue and why not associate with the only thing you are familiar with
October 5th, 2008 at 2:54 pmJournalists (if they ever get the chance) should ask Palin about her views on Bush and Cheneys use of executive privilege and signing statements.
In fact they should put these questions to all candidates
October 5th, 2008 at 2:59 pmAnd on Novemb’r 5th, lil Sarah Pailin will be skedaddlin’ on back to A-lask-cur.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:02 pmSpeaking highly of indefensible policies of the most hated vice president since Aaron Burr may be one of the reasons why the undecideds found her to be an amiable dunce but thought Biden won the debate.
October 5th, 2008 at 3:37 pmThat should prove more powerful than Ex-Lax!
October 5th, 2008 at 3:46 pmI cannot imagine where she or Cheney get the idea that the Vice President’s powers can be “expanded” in any way, shape or form. The Vice President’s constitutional powers are clearly listed as being President of the Senate, and casting the tie-breaking vote there if necessary. Nothing else. The Tenth Amendment clearly states:
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
This means quite the opposite of what Cheney and Palin believe regarding that office’s “expansiveness.” It means he cannot do more than it already says, not whatever he can think of doing (like creating his own illegal security classification system to keep his own documents – also known as “Dickuments”(tm) – out of the public eye, which is a federal crime.)
October 5th, 2008 at 3:56 pmPalin regaled the cheering crowd with a story about how she was reading her Starbucks mocha cup yesterday, which featured a quotation from former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. “She said, ‘There’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t support other women.’”
The crowd roared its approval, but according to several sources, Albright actually said, “there’s a place in Hell reserved for women who don’t help other women.”
Madeleine Albright wasn’t amused. She wants Palin to know just how wrong she got it:
October 5th, 2008 at 4:04 pm“Though I am flattered that Governor Palin has chosen to cite me as a source of wisdom, what I said had nothing to do with politics. This is yet another example of McCain and Palin distorting the truth, and all the more reason to remember that this campaign is not about gender, it is about which candidate has an agenda that will improve the lives of all Americans, including women. The truth is, if you care about the status of women in our society and in our troubled economy, the best choice by far is Obama-Biden.”
Chenney is a fat pig. I mean a WAR CRIMINAL who should be facing a death squad for his WAR CRIMES. Chenney should be hanging from a tight noose!
October 5th, 2008 at 4:35 pmNo one in the msm is talking about her support of the AIP and its goal of seceding from the United States. Isn’t that enough to disqualify her from the office of VP?
October 5th, 2008 at 4:58 pmwasn’t it jon stewart, the other night, who said something like,
October 5th, 2008 at 5:22 pmyea, but sarah, cheney was only grabbing the power to cover up his criminal activity…
McCain’s brother says N. Virginia. ‘Communist country’
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081005/ap_on_el_pr/mccain_brother_s_joke;_ylt=Ar5RUqI6mi_b6n5ODAdvHP9h24cA
October 5th, 2008 at 6:06 pmI once heard that Cheney trailed cholera in the polls.
What’s with this “flexibility”? Someone needs to nail that weasel word down. The Constitution is broad and open to interpretation in some ways, but “flexible” is more akin to “malleable”, which is not the intent. It’s an instrument to LIMIT power, not to make it easier for any jack-ass VP to run a shadow government.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:09 pmI agree Wiley – flexibility?
They’re acting like the role of the VP is so vague that they can pretty much do whatever they want.
Or, to put it their way, do what they “have to do”.
I couldn’t believe the way Palin stook there, theoretically interviewing for the job during the ‘debate’, and admitted that she would want more power as VP. I thought to myself, “Thanks for warning us!”.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:18 pmMy blood runs cold whenever I see the phrase, “interpret the Constitution”. Hello! It’s written in English. A bit old fashioned and formal but, it’s not beyond the comprehension of anyone with a legitimate public high school diploma.
No! It’s not the job of any court to “interpret” the document. They’re job is to apply and enforce it.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:04 pmIt’s not enough that Palin won’t be vice president; Cheney’s already created a precedent for executive branch dictatorship, with the other two branches either coconspirators or supine in terror. The system’s demolished; until we fix it, the danger of dictatorship will always be immediate.
October 5th, 2008 at 8:46 pmYes, Mary, it is scary. That was a warning. Anyone who, didn’t hear alarms is an easy mark, and she’s lookin’ for ‘em, by golly! That’s the audience the Palin product is targeting.
October 6th, 2008 at 3:37 am“the only negative thing Palin could say of Cheney was that he accidentally shot his friend in the face.”…
…without gutting and field dressing him. You never leave wounded prey!
October 6th, 2008 at 9:34 amPalin may have Cheney as a role model but she looks like Tom Delay in skirts. He may be the “Bug” man but on the extermination circuit she seems to be the wolf-woman.
October 6th, 2008 at 10:52 amIt often looks an though each Republican has a speciality in killing off something or someone if they get the chance.
She needs to be sent back “up there in Alaska” full speed and I’ll “betcha” they won’t say thanks.