(no subject)
TIEBREAKER
If you're like me, Sarah Palin's canned 9th-grade-Civics-class answer about the importance of the Vice President in terms of breaking tie votes in the Senate made you wonder, "gee, how often does the Vice President really have to do that, anyway?" I mean, we all learned about it in school. But how often does it really happen? Somehow this wasn't part of my education and I'm betting it wasn't in yours, either.
Turns out the US Senate website provides a handy-dandy list in PDF format of every instance this has happened, ever. And it turns out it's happened 244 times in the 219-year history of the Vice Presidency. Roughly once per year. There are numerous vice presidents - most recently Dan Quayle - who served their entire term in office without doing it even once. There have also been numerous periods of time following the death of the President where the Vice President then ascended to the Presidency when there was no sitting Vice President and, well, the Senate seemed to have gotten along just fine then.
Of course, the insidious nature of Palin's answer was that it underscored Dick Cheney's assertion of the Legislative power of the Vice President, which flies in the face of both good reason and the Constitutional system of checks and balances. One of Biden's best moments was his response putting the VP in his correct, Executive role.
Still, if you were wondering, there you go. About once per year. And probably far less likely in the case of the Senate being largely controlled by one party as will probably be the case as of the 111th Congress. One wonders what Palin presumes the VP does the other 364 days a year.
If you're like me, Sarah Palin's canned 9th-grade-Civics-class answer about the importance of the Vice President in terms of breaking tie votes in the Senate made you wonder, "gee, how often does the Vice President really have to do that, anyway?" I mean, we all learned about it in school. But how often does it really happen? Somehow this wasn't part of my education and I'm betting it wasn't in yours, either.
Turns out the US Senate website provides a handy-dandy list in PDF format of every instance this has happened, ever. And it turns out it's happened 244 times in the 219-year history of the Vice Presidency. Roughly once per year. There are numerous vice presidents - most recently Dan Quayle - who served their entire term in office without doing it even once. There have also been numerous periods of time following the death of the President where the Vice President then ascended to the Presidency when there was no sitting Vice President and, well, the Senate seemed to have gotten along just fine then.
Of course, the insidious nature of Palin's answer was that it underscored Dick Cheney's assertion of the Legislative power of the Vice President, which flies in the face of both good reason and the Constitutional system of checks and balances. One of Biden's best moments was his response putting the VP in his correct, Executive role.
Still, if you were wondering, there you go. About once per year. And probably far less likely in the case of the Senate being largely controlled by one party as will probably be the case as of the 111th Congress. One wonders what Palin presumes the VP does the other 364 days a year.