Is the Vice Presidency an Irrelevant Position?

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Is the Vice Presidency an Irrelevant Position?

"Who am I? Why am I here?" asked Admiral James Stockdale, one-time running mate to Ross Perot, in a famous 1992 vice presidential debate. The admiral's remarks garnered ridicule from the public, but recently acclaimed political journalist and author Jules Witcover has asked the same questions about the vice presidential role itself: Just what does the vice president do and why does it matter?

Witcover's new book, The American Vice Presidency: From Irrelevance to Power, explores how the roles and responsibilities of the vice president have shifted and expanded over the years. No longer expected to just preside over the Senate, modern vice presidents have, according to Witcover, gained more power through political maneuvering and manipulation. 

Witcover recently sat down with Reason TV's Nick Gillespie to discuss his new book, his least favorite vice president, and why John McCain's 2008 choice of Sarah Palin for a running mate was a hail Mary pass. 

Approximately 8 minutes.

Edited by Amanda Winkler. Camera by Joshua Swain and Meredith Bragg. 

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Comments

[Hyperion]

Hey, don't insult our next president!

[Drake]

Why is he eating his gloves? Did he lose a bet?

[Drake]

Why is he eating his gloves? Did he lose a bet?

[Mainer2]

+1 bucket of warm piss

John Nance Garner

[Rebel Scum]

I believe Joe Biden is irrelevant. I do not believe that the position of VP is irrelevant.

[SimonJester]

RS, I disagree. I think Uncle Joe is the greatest hope this country has. He is one of the few folks out there with the political sway, funding, and ceaseless ambition to actually do some damage to HilBil before the monstrosity has to run against a Republican. Let's hope he can swing that giant receding hairline and do some damage to the She-Troll.

[Phil Dennany]

If you enjoy being in second place in favor of by the Zionist, you will be one of their favorite enslaved idiots.

[steve baker]

Vice Presidency is the "missionary" of relevant positions.

[David Lloyd-Jones]

Steve,

lolz.

-dlj.

[David Lloyd-Jones]

Nick and Amanda,

Interestingly you have put the excellent Admiral Stockdale under my nose for the second time in two days: I wrote a note to a friend yesterday saying I thought the power of positive thinking was all very well, but wouldn't it be nice to promote critical analytical thinking, so you know what's "positive" and what's not.

He wrote back that my question has a name. It's called the Stockdale Paradox.

Admiral Stockdale starts from the fact that optimists are not the ones who survive in prison camps. "They think `I'll be rescued by Christmas, I'll be rescued by Easter, I'll be rescued by Thanksgiving...' and when their magic doesn't happen they collapse inside," is more or less his view. They die first.

He advocated not empty satisfying optimism, but rather holding to two lines of thought. One is a positive gratitude or happiness, or general positivity that you're still alive. At least you're still in the game sort of thing. The other is a deadly serious, and when necessary cynical, assessment of just where you are. Who are the bad guys and the partially good guys? What are the threats? How deep is the shit?

Thank you Admiral Stockdale. I think this is a bit of finding Paul appealing and Peale appalling.

Cheers,

-dlj.

[mongoose388]

Admiral Stockdale was a believer in Stoicism. And it irks me that so many flippant writers degrade the Admiral for his VP run without going without researching the details of his VP run. They tarnish the memory of a great man.

[ReadyKilowatt]

The point of a VP is the same as having a UPS on your computer. 99.9% of the time you don't need one, they require testing and maintenance to make sure they won't let you down when you need them, but when the power goes out, you're glad they are there.

[mongoose388]

Of course with a UPS, you always expect the real power to come back on. Your UPS backup will eventually run out.

[Kuwanki]

mongoose you miss the whole point of the UPS. It is not optimism but cynicism. You cynically expect the power to fail EXACTLY when you need it most. The UPS keeps the computer on long enough to save everything and shut down. When will the power come back on? Who gives a fuck! You saved your data. That is all that matters.

[Sanjuro Tsubaki]

I got one question for y'all.

Was Dick Cheney irrelevant or was he eeeeeeeeeevvvill?

[AlgerHiss]

Joe Biden: Dan Quayle ought to be smiling about now.

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[John C. Randolph]

The vice presidency has been irrelevant since the 25th amendment. Back when the president and the veep were usually of opposing parties, the veep could perform a true service to the country by obstructing legislation.

-jcr

[John C. Randolph]

My mistake, that should be the 12th amendment.

-jcr