The Vice President Is Always The President Of The Senate

During the the Veep debate, Joe Biden (who has been in the Senate for a hundred years or so) claimed that the relationship between the Vice President and the Senate is describe in Article I of the Constitution, and since that Article is about the Executive branch of government it proves that the Veep is not really a part of the Legislative branch. Of course, the major problem with Joe's observation is that Article I is actually about the Legislative branch, destroying the premise of his argument. It seems Republicans have "Joe the Plumber" and Democrats have "Joe the Dumber."

Biden went on to claim that the Vice President's role is to preside over the Senate (yes, that same body where ole Joe has been for a hundred years or so) but "only in a time when in fact there's a tie vote. The Constitution is explicit." Yes, Joe, the Constitution is explicit, but perhaps you should give it another read . . . or even a first read. The constitution actually says that the Veep is ALWAYS the President of the Senate, but only votes in the case of a tie.

The question is, What does it mean that the Vice President is the "President of the Senate"? Ah, there is the area of dispute. You see, the Constitution never fully defines it . . . though is does provide a definition of the term "President" (that would be found in Article II, Joe).

But while "scholars" may dispute what the term "President" means in Article I, it is clear that breaking a tie vote is not the only role the Vice President has played in the Senate. The Vice President can address the Senate with the Senate's permission, and the Veep can function to interpret senate rules, and his (or her) interpretation can only be overruled by a majority vote of the senate. For Democrats with a lust for history who may be reading this, head to the local library and check out the active role that Thomas Jefferson took as a Vice President.

So then why is the left incensed about Sarah Palin response when an 3rd grader asked what the Vice President does? Part of Palin's response (the part that sparked the latest wave of Palinphobia from folk like Matt Demon . . . I mean, Damon) was,

“But also, they're [the VP] in charge of the United States 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."

The fact is, through their titled role as "President of the Senate" and ability to interpret Senate rules, they are "in charge" of the Senate (as much as anybody else can be said to be in charge of that nest of vipers). And through their ability to cast tie breaking votes and address the senate, they can "really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes."

But left-wing constitutional scholars like, say, Mitch Albom, continue to spend time when they're not writing bogus stories about events that they never actually attended bashing Sarah Palin for her comments?

Why? Why? Why?

I'd suggest two primary reasons:

1) Given their take on the first and 2nd Amendments, we can safely say that liberals are not real big fans of the constitution in the first place.

B) Palinphobia (as Newsmax calls it). They are scared to death of the woman who left-leaning feminist, Camille Paglia, described as "an explosion of a brand new style of muscular American feminism."