Posted by
Crispian on Saturday, August 30, 2008 2:58:31 PM
"What is it exactly that the Vice President does every day?" asked Sarah Palin in an interview awhile back, before she was chosen by John McCain to be his VP. She insisted that if she were VP, she would want to be active so that the position is "fruitful." Much has been made of this quote by the media as revealing either naivety or ignorance.
"The vice presidency isn't worth a pitcher of warm [urine]," said FDR's Vice President John Nance Garner. That has been the prevailing view through most of our history. What the VP does is largely defined by the president. The media is aware of this fact and has taken note of it through the years. So the real question is why the media is presuming Palin to be ignorant rather than figuring that she was advocating for a more active role as VP?