Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

5 Myths About the Vice Presidency
Washington Post ^ | 1 June 2008 | David Greenberg

Posted on 06/02/2008 4:48:34 PM PDT by shrinkermd

1. A vice presidential candidate should win his or her home state for the party.

It probably hasn't made much difference to the outcome since 1960, when Lyndon B. Johnson helped put Texas in John F. Kennedy's column

2. Ideological and regional balance are vital to a ticket.

This assumption, too, was once valid but no longer holds. In the 19th century, the heyday of political machines, voters felt a strong allegiance to one party or the other, and a race's outcome was determined by how well the

3. Reaching across the aisle to form a bipartisan ticket would be smart politics.

Well, maybe, but it's not going to happen. Every four years, we hear titillating talk that one of the nominees will make a paradigm-shifting move by choosing an understudy from the opposite party.

4. Candidates should think "outside the box."

For candidates, as for housecats, the box is there for a reason.

5. All of this is beside the point: The choice of a running mate doesn't matter.

Ever since Nixon held the office under Dwight Eisenhower, the office has been growing in power, reaching unprecedented influence under Dick Cheney

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: 2008veep; myths; vicepresident

1 posted on 06/02/2008 4:48:35 PM PDT by shrinkermd
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd
Every four years, we hear titillating talk that one of the nominees will make a paradigm-shifting move by choosing an understudy from the opposite party.

Partly why things have changed so much in how a VP is chosen, including the Constitutional change as well as political party changes.

2 posted on 06/02/2008 4:54:19 PM PDT by Gondring (I'll give up my right to die when hell freezes over my dead body!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd

Nothing beats VP Cheney during a SOTU:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0O0wl_UaU8


3 posted on 06/02/2008 4:58:19 PM PDT by Disturbin (Liberals: buying votes with your tax dollars)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd

Most importantly, at some point in a future campaign, VPs are frontrunners. VPs have a better than average shot at being POTUS some day.


4 posted on 06/02/2008 5:02:07 PM PDT by xzins (Retired Army Chaplain -- Those denying the War was Necessary Do NOT Support the Troops!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd
For candidates, as for house cats, the box is there for a reason.

Exactamente!

5 posted on 06/02/2008 5:04:14 PM PDT by Don Corleone (Leave the gun..take the cannoli)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd

Is the post saying McCain needs hillary for the NE area?


6 posted on 06/02/2008 5:04:30 PM PDT by edcoil
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: edcoil
They sixth myth should be:

6. McCain will choose a conservative running mate.

7 posted on 06/02/2008 5:10:00 PM PDT by chaos_5
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd

Well, I dunno, but if McCain does choose Hillary for a Veep, Dick Cheney is gonna end up looking like a pussycat. “Hilly For Veep - When She Shoots Somebody, He Stays Down!”


8 posted on 06/02/2008 5:18:15 PM PDT by Billthedrill
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Disturbin

Is she the one he shot in the face ?


9 posted on 06/02/2008 5:20:05 PM PDT by kbennkc (For those who have fought for it , freedom has a flavor the protected will never know)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: Disturbin

LOL! Gosh I’m gonna miss Big Time.


10 posted on 06/02/2008 5:29:35 PM PDT by lonevoice (John McCain was a Kinoki foot pad in the Reagan Revolution)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 3 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd
Lyndon Johnson's presence on ticket did not put the Lone Star state in the Democratic column in 1960. LBJ's stuffing the ballot boxes did swing the state to Kennedy.
11 posted on 06/02/2008 5:30:00 PM PDT by quadrant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd
Ever since Nixon held the office under Dwight Eisenhower, the office has been growing in power, reaching unprecedented influence under Dick Cheney

John I do whatever the hell I want McCain is not George Bush.
12 posted on 06/02/2008 5:33:32 PM PDT by cripplecreek (I miss the days when only the politicians were unethical.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd

Greenberg forgot to say:

1) that VP’s sometimes become P’s;

2) If a moderate, like McCain, picks a conservative VP, it tells conservatives that he MIGHT be reaching out to conservatives and might pick originalist judges. If he doesn’t pick a conservative, I, and many other conservatives won’t vote for him.


13 posted on 06/02/2008 5:57:32 PM PDT by Sun (Pray that God sends us good leaders. Please say a prayer now.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: shrinkermd

American Vice Presidents are drones UNLESS that drone is a murderous sociopath.. The Queen of the Hive.. the main bee in the phalanx of worker bees..


14 posted on 06/02/2008 6:24:42 PM PDT by hosepipe (This propaganda has been edited to include some fully orbed hyperbole....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: lonevoice
Me too


15 posted on 06/02/2008 6:27:50 PM PDT by snugs ((An English Cheney Chick - Big Time))
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson