Vice-Precedence: Being Number Two in the White House

We're Back! More Hubert Humphrey from Vice-Precedence.

2011-06-14T20:34:00.000-07:00

Its been a long time since I've posted a blog, so forgive me for neglecting this and if this post is a little rusty. I admit, the blog hasn't been updated in quite awhile...to say the least.

At the same time, I encourage you to check out the Vice-Precedence Facebook page, where we always post the latest breaking VP news in politics and culture and the links to check them out. Also, we've "Liked" every VP that's on Facebook (thanks to Wikipedia) so you can see for yourself who the heck Garrett Hobart is when we mention him. We're trying to get up to 300 Members/Fans there, so if you haven't joined yet, please do and encourage others to do so as well. We really appreciate your support.

I want to take this time to thank our newest fans on Facebook. Its thanks to one of them, Deanie Mills, that I am writing this blog.

On May 27th it was what would have been the 100th birthday for former VP Hubert Humphrey. There were articles in the local paper here in MN, but for the most part, as Deanie pointed out in a post on her Facebook page, it was ignored. Of course I was the first to reply to her and point out that we here at Vice-Precedence had not forgotten the centennial of the birth of "The Happy Warrior", and provided links to our FB page, my post on Humphreys 99th birthday the year before, and some of Humphreys most famous quotes. The response was amazing. People told stories about Humphrey and posted all sorts of quotes such as the following:

"I worked for Hubert Humphrey in Washington during his last term as the junior senator from Minnesota. He was a complex, engaging, thoughtful man. I knew him when he was the physically hale and hearty Humphrey most people remember (if they remember him at all), and I knew him in the last months of his life, after chemotherapy had reduced his body to a shell of its former self. His kindness and his concern for others never wavered."-Nancy Arvay

"I can think of three occasions where the electorate chose the wrong guy, and before that Presidents term was up it was clear to everyone but the biggest of fools that they'd screwed up: Bush v Gore, Bush v Kerry, and Humphrey v Nixon."-Ronald E. Carson

"What a great post!"-Dana Mahoutchian

"Very nice Matthew!"-Ronald E. Carson

At the same time over on HuffingtonPost, this was posted by Professor Joel K. Goldstein the Vincent C. Immel Professor of Law at the Saint Louis University School of Law. Titled "The Legacy of a Liberal" it too got quite a bit of attention for a post about a former VP who had passed away over 30 years before. My replies to people here defending Humphreys legacy and at the same time calling out 60's liberals led to some spirited comments and debate by both conservatives and liberals of all ages. When I first posted my comment there I had just recently joined HuffPo and hadn't posted much, so I didn't have any Fans there. But with these comments in just one day I had 24 Fans, one posting enthusiastically:

"Right on, mrmattrs!...Fanned."

So thats pretty cool. All this encouraged me to post a blog here and to watch something I have saved on my Tivo for awhile, the documentary "Hubert H. Humphrey: The Art of the Possible". Its a very good documentary with some prominent talking heads (President Carter, Bill Moyers, etc.) amazing archival footage-(see LBJ in nothing but shorts and sunglasses talking with Humphrey in a shirt and tie), and Humphrey commenting on his life growing up in rural South Dakota, to his meteoric rise in Minnesota politics from teacher to Mayor of Minneapolis (at age 33!) and Senator (at 37!) and his long career in public service in his own words as well.

The doc does a great job of showing how difficult and complicated it was for Humphrey to get the Civil Rights Act thru the Senate against massive filibuster and blocking techniques of the racists of the South in his own party and "you can't legislate morality" anti-government Republicans. It was the longest filibuster in American history, lasting over 3 months and taking up 4 million words. Newly elevated President LBJ put passing this landmark bill fully on Humphrey. He was attacked on the right by conservatives and racist Southerners and on the left by civil rights activists and liberals who thought he was moving too slowly. However, thru compromise, negotiation, toughness, and tenacity, he did it. One of the greatest accomplishments in American legislative history. It also shows how heartbroken he was by the events of the infamous 1968 Democratic Convention and losing the Presidency--a Presidency he should have earned twice. This is a doc well worth checking out.

Its time for America to remember these things about Hubert Humphrey. And that's part of what Vice-Precedence aims to do. We're working on all sorts of things here and we'll honestly try to do some more blogs. VP Biden is working on all sorts of important policy, both foreign and domestic for the current administration, former VP Cheneys book is coming this summer, and who knows what our other former VP's may be up to? Plus with all the Republican Presidential candidates fighting it out for the top spot as their party's Presidential nominee, one of them may end up being the VP candidate--or it could be someone who's a relative unknown! Remember Sarah Palin? I'm sure you do. Rest assured, we'll report it all here. Don't forget to watch our trailer and other videos on YouTube and post your comments there and on Facebook and here! Thanks and Happy VP'ing!

Matt Saxe

The Ultimate "Vice-Precedence" Vice-Presidents List!

2010-12-19T10:31:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Fans!

Sorry its been so long since I have posted a blog. Been very busy working on things for "Vice-Precedence" as well as other things. Life happens you know.

The following is a list I complied in the early days of pitching "Vice-Precedence" to production companies. I recently had the opportunity to go over it again and decided to enhance it a little. Its a list of ALL the veeps who never became President with a few intriguing and/or bizarre facts and even quotes from and about the VP's. Its a great way to familiarize yourself with all the VP's and is also good for a laugh.

The Vice Presidents Themselves:

1.Spiro Agnew - Sued the creator of the "Spiro Agnew Watch."

2.Alben Barkley - While VP at age 71 he married his 38 year old sweetheart - The only VP to marry in office.

3.Joseph Biden- “The one thing I want my kids to remember about me is that I was an athlete. The hell with the rest of this stuff.” Vice-President Joseph Biden on his 40 year political career.

4.John Breckinridge - Indicted for treason when he joined the Confederate Army; he wasn't pardoned until 1958.

5.Aaron Burr – Besides killing Alexander Hamilton in America’s most famous duel while serving as VP, he was also put on trial for treason. Died on his 80th birthday, on the same day that his divorce from his 2nd wife became final, on grounds of HIS adultery.

6.John Calhoun - President Andrew Jackson said he would "hang Calhoun as high as Haman" for his part in the South Carolina revolt of 1832.

7.Dick Cheney - Shot a guy in the face and also has lesbian daughter.

8.George Clinton - Wanted New York to be its own country, and because he was the richest man in the state, he would be king.

9.Schuyler Colfax - Nicknamed "Smiler", he was almost impeached for taking bribes.

10.Charles Curtis - Was 1/8 Native American Indian; his great-grandmother was a Kaw. "1/8 Kaw Indian and 7/8 incompetent," says one historian.

11.George Dallas - Nominated by his brother-in-law. The city is NOT named after him.

12.Charles Dawes - Won the Nobel Peace Prize for the Dawes Plan to rebuild Europe after WWI, but it put such a huge strain on the German economy that it allowed Hitler to seize power in Germany, causing WWII.

13.Charles Fairbanks – Fairbanks, Alaska is named after him. “No public speaker can more quickly drive an audience to despair.” The Nation magazine on VP Fairbanks speaking skills.

14.John Nance Garner - "The Vice-presidency isn't worth a bucket of warm piss." - Vice President Garner

15.Elbridge Gerry -The dirty political trick "gerrymandering" is named after him. At the Constitutional Convention argued that the vice-presidency was pointless and refused to sign.

16.Al Gore - The lead in one of the biggest grossing documentaries of all time. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Grammy, Oscar, and the 2000 popular vote, but not the Presidency.

17.Hannibal Hamlin - While VP served as a cook in Maine Coast Guard for 60 days, peeling potatoes, never rising above the rank of private.

18.Thomas Hendricks - Racist who voted against 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, the amendments that freed the slaves and gave them citizenship and civil rights.

19.Garret Hobart - Cast deciding vote on Philippine independence, he voted to make them an American colony.

20.Hubert Humphrey - President Johnson dressed him up as a cowboy and in an oversize 10-gallon hat and paraded him in front of the press, laughing at Humphrey the whole time.

21.Richard Johnson - Never married, but had 3 common-law wives, all his former slaves. Sold one after she ran away.

22.William King – Most likely a homosexual. Nicknamed "Aunt Fancy" and "Miss Nancy," he took the oath of office in Cuba. Died 46 days later.

23.Thomas Marshall - "Once there were two brothers. One ran away to sea: the other was elected vice-president of the United States. And nothing was heard of either of them again." - Vice President Thomas Marshall. Should have been made President after Woodrow Wilsons stroke. The First Lady and presidents doctor conspired to make sure Wilson stayed President even though he was incapacitated.

24.Walter Mondale - As the Democratic Presidential candidate in 1984, Mondale won 1 state-his home state. Has been mentioned 3 times on “The Simpsons” and once on "Futurama", most memorably for having the U.S. Navy’s laundry ship named for him.

25.Levi Parsons Morton - Turned down offer to be Vice-President under Garfield, if he had accepted, would have become President within a year, due to Garfield’s assassination. Drove the first rivet into the Statue of Liberty. Died on his 96th birthday.

26.Dan Quayle - Misspelled "potato" at grade school spelling bee,was burned in the most famous VP debate in history with “You’re no Jack Kennedy.”, and argued with fictional TV character Murphy Brown.

27.Nelson Rockefeller – Was so rich he donated his VP salary to charity. Refused to live in official VP residence because his own mansion was nicer. Funded "Citizen Kane" but never had any interest in seeing it. Died of a heart attack while having sex with his 27 year old mistress.

28.James Schoolcraft Sherman – Native Americans gave him a name in their language meaning “Four-Eyes”. Nicknamed "Sunny Jim" he received 3,500,000 votes for Vice-president... after he died.

29.Adlai Stevenson - Not the one you may have heard of, but his grandfather. Nicknamed “The Headhunter”.

30.Daniel Tompkins – Signed the bill banning slavery in New York. Became an alcoholic while VP and a year after he left office died broke and drunk at 51. It turned out the state of New York owed him $100K.

31.Henry Wallace - Invented new strands of corn, strawberries and chickens. Ran as Communist and Progressive Presidential candidate in 1948.

32.William Wheeler - After he received V-P nomination, Presidential candidate Rutherford B. Hayes asked his wife, "Who is Wheeler?"

33.Henry Wilson - Birth name Jeremiah Jones Colbath, changed it at age 27. He was an indentured servant for 11 years. Started his own shoe factory, educated himself by reading 1,000 books, then devoted his life to ending slavery and for workers rights.

Hope you enjoyed this. Happy Holidays from "Vice-Precedence"!

The Good Fight

2010-10-16T21:26:00.000-07:00

Yes, dear reader, that is your author, Jason C. Klamm, with an almost brand-new copy of Walter Mondale's recently-released "The Good Fight," his political autobiography. Yes, that's me standing in Barnes & Noble with said book. But it's not exactly what it seems. It's actually the end of a very long story.

Let me preface the tale I'm about to tell with a sincere statement. Those of you who have read my blogs know that I have a passion for this office and - though I like to have fun with the quirkier elements - I have a deep respect for the office's place in American history. If I didn't, I wouldn't be writing a blog, book and documentary about that office, nor would I use them to make the argument that this is a highly integral office. So I can be sincere, as I will be now: Walter Mondale is one of the most important Vice Presidents we've ever had, and he changed the office massively, all for the better.

For nearly the last two years, Matt and I have been endeavoring to get Vice President Mondale to agree to an interview for the documentary. Originally, his office was concerned, perhaps understandably, about the comedic bent of Vice-Precedence. Maybe he was worried about being cornered, afraid it would turn unexpectedly into a to-be comic interview a la The Daily Show. Nevertheless, we explained to Mr. Mondale that we respect the office and have been using humor simply to tell the story. At one point, almost two years ago, he was ready to go, but his availability changed when a trip to Japan got in the way. After years of serving under President Clinton as Ambassador to Japan, it's not hard to see why he might want to get away from the cold Minneapolis winter to enjoy the comfort and respect Japan (rightfully) bestows upon him during his visits.

So we waited, hoping to approach again when we thought Mondale might be available. After all, if we could make a strong argument for our film and raise the capital for me to fly out to Minneapolis (Matt's HQ for the last two years, hence the fortuitous proximity to Mondale) to co-direct and co-interview, this would be a major accomplishment. Since 2006, we've been struggling to get a sitting or former VP who never became President (of which only four are still living) to sit down for an interview to help get an insider's perspective on the office - the ultimate perspective, really. Needless to say, we saw no harm in checking back in with Walter Mondale.

So we did. And on June 21, 2010 - two years after Matt's move to Minneapolis - we got an unexpected, but welcome, surprise:

Subject: RE: Request for Interview with Vice-President Mondale.
Date: Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:58:22 -0500

Matt,

Mr. Mondale would be happy to meet with you. However, he can't do it this summer. Any chance, sometime in the fall would work?

Matt's response spoke for both of us:

Wanted you to see this for yourself. Major accomplishment. So happy I can barely contain myself!

WOOOHOO!

Well, his response as directed to me. I'm sure he was more professional in his direct reply to Mondale's secretary. Later that week, things started to get solid.

Subject: RE: REPLY-Request for Interview with Vice-President Mondale.
Date: Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:07:07 -0500

Matt,

September 11-21 does not work.
October 5-7 does not work
October 26 - November 9 does not work

How about if we schedule it sometime the week of October 18 in the morning here in Mpls.?

So we did, and Mondale's secretary penciled us in. Matt and I were ecstatic, to say the least. We had a date set. Though things were rough here in LA and in Minneapolis (Matt and I don't make a living blogging about the Vice Presidency), the plan was for me to fly out as soon as I could afford it. We started immediately putting out the feelers for crews, connecting with everyone we knew. Even though it took us awhile, we found ourselves a dedicated local Minneapolis crew, made up of fresh film students and two experienced instructors, all who were set to give us their time, lend us their equipment and expertise, and - for the film students - get their first taste of working on a feature documentary film.

After some further rough patches (my day job laying off 20% of its workers, me included), we quickly recovered, and were lucky enough to have our wonderful followers on Facebook donate $150, which came to exactly half of what we needed to get me out to Minneapolis at the last minute - to be exact, October 5, leaving this landmark interview less than two weeks away, on the 18th. I dug deep into my pockets and pulled out the difference, and received my confirmation happily. It wasn't easy financially, but the decision was an easy one to make - Mondale was a landmark Vice President, and the story of his Vice Presidency needed to come from his mouth.

Which brings me to the photo above. I bought the book the night before I bought my non-refundable airline ticket, at the local Barnes & Noble, a day before it was supposed to be on the shelves. I say local, when I actually had to drive a few miles down the street to find a Barnes & Noble that knew where to find their copies of "The Good Fight." The photo of a bearded yours truly, holding that book, sadly, was taken just last night. And no, I hadn't lost my original copy. This was the very same copy I purchased less than two weeks ago, excited at the prospect of interviewing my first Vice President.

Let me explain.

Yesterday - Friday - as I was prepping for my early Saturday flight to Minneapolis, I received a call from Matt. "Jason, I have horrible news," Matt said, not one to ease a person into bad news. "I just got off the phone with Vice President Mondale, and he's not happy with the comedy aspect. He's not going to do the interview." My heart sank. From the very beginning, the Vice President was aware that a film entitled "Vice-Precedence: Being Number Two in the White House" had a comedic edge to it. Now, after all of this effort, volunteered time, and donated money, he decided to change his mind - and all because of the word "comedy." Matt explained to him, on the phone, that we take the office seriously - that, in fact, we've been working on this film for almost five years, out of our own pocket the entire time, because we respect this office. It didn't change his mind.

Why? We can't be certain. Mondale recently appeared in Al Franken's film "God Spoke," which was filled with humor - but Franken respected Mondale, as we do. On November 22, Mondale will interview with A Prairie Home Companion's Garrison Keillor, who, as his audience will attest, does a humorous show, and can still show respect. He laughed with Today Show host Amy Robach, who (all due respect) knows what I can almost guarantee is next to nothing about the Vice Presidency, which Matt and I have been studying for the last five years, becoming two of the country's few Vice Presidential experts.

Whatever his reasoning, this turn of events sent me packing - or unpacking, as it were. Two non-refundable tickets, to and from Minneapolis, and one brand-new hardcover copy of a memoir that I absolutely had to read in preparation for the trip were enough to leave me wondering why I ever began this journey in the first place. Four years ago, when Matt proposed the idea to me, I was skeptical, but when the stories were revealed to me and we realized these stories had never been told on film, we knew we had something - something really good.

We're going to move forward, if much slower now, due to the resources that were lost in the shuffle, but the momentum is there. The story can still be told. Even if it takes us another five years - which it well could - we will finish this project, hopefully one day having the honor to ask Vice President Mondale personally about his life's work helping those people who "are hurtin'" (to quote Mondale from The Today Show), and how he changed the office we are so passionate about for the better. Maybe he'll even sign my deck of cards from Mondale's Air Force Two. We can only hope.

As always, thank you for your support (and in this case, your financial support as well), and good Vice-Presidenting.

- Jason C. Klamm

Gerrymandering-The Movie!

2010-09-23T14:39:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Fans. I've talked here before about other documentary films that have been made as we keep on trying to make VICE-PRECEDENCE. However, a new documentary coming out in wider release and has been seen at festivals around the country has a major connection to VICE-PRECEDENCE.

Its GERRYMANDERING by director/writer Jeff Reichert. The films synopsis on IMDb describes the film this way:

A wake-up-call documentary that exposes the hidden history of our country's redistricting wars, mapping battles that take place out of public scrutiny but that shape the electoral landscape of American politics for decades at time, posing a threat not just to democrats and republicans, but democracy as a whole.

The film examines the history of the practice of Gerrymandering, named after Vice-President Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts whose picture is here on the blog. Its funny, because his name is pronounced with the hard "G" so technically its been mispronounced for over 200 years. The film interviews all sorts of politicians, from Howard Dean to Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Gerrymandering has been a bipartisan dirty political trick for 200 years, as the film shows with the story of how President Obama used it to put upper-class whites into his mostly black Chicago South Side area to get elected to the Senate. Along with Tom DeLays attempts to gerrymander Texas in 2005, driving state Democrats to hide in a motel in Oklahoma to prevent it happening, leading Samuel Issacharoff, a professor at NYU School of Law, to quote his daughter about the absurdity of the affair:

"While there are a lot of reasons middle aged men might be sneaking off to a motel, until now redistricting has not been one of them."

Gerrymandering is basically, a political maneuver used by incumbents to retain power by designing districts to create an advantage for the ruling party-no matter how impractical they may be or ridiculous they may look.

In 1812 near the end of Gerrys second term as Governor of Massachusetts, at a time of partisanship that makes today's political struggles look like a meeting of Lutheran housewives in a church basement for coffee and cake. Gerrys party-the Democratic-Republicans, passed a devious redistricting measure, to make sure they would retain their iron-fist grip on the State senate. Governor Gerry signed the bill, and in response, the opposition party of Federalists ripped Gerry to shreds. Famous painter Gilbert Stuart drew a political cartoon for a newspaper, turning the district into a dragon surrounding the state, and likened it to a salamander. The papers editor Benjamin Russell chortled, "Better say a gerrymander.", and the name was picked up by the opposition Federalists to mock the squiggly, salamander-like shape of Essex County and Gerrys political corruption. The term has been used ever since.

Not only is it a good sign that a documentary like this can be made, sure the guy who made it is a former publicity manager for Magnolia Pictures, so he has lots of Hollywood connections, but, still, it shows the American public is interested in docs about American history and politics. So I will be making an effort to see GERRYMANDERING with the hopes that it will make some film investors interested in VICE-PRECDENCE as well.

Click Here to see the IMDB page for the film.

Don't forget! Our on-camera interview with former Vice-President WALTER MONDALE is in less than a month, and we still really need your financial support to fly Jason to Fritz and to hire a crew. You can donate here:

Thanks VICE-PRECEDENCE fans!

Matt Saxe

A Question Of Legacies and Quayles.

2010-08-26T00:23:00.000-07:00

In America we have no official aristocracy. The Founders didn't want any American lords or dukes or even knights popping up in American society after they were gone. On this, both Republicans and Democrats can completely agree on as it says clearly in the Constitution: "No Title of Nobility shall be granted by the United States." The country had just fought a war against a King and many of his generals had been lords and such. They didn't want Americans setting themselves up with titles and literally "lording" it up over other Americans. Americans have always been wary of titles -- Washington had been called "His Excellency" while serving as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army -- but its hard to say if he liked the title or not. When Lincoln was addressed with this same title by General McClellan at their meetings he hated it. Congressmen mocked Vice-President Adams when he presented them with a list of titles to address the President with because he found "Mr. President" too informal for the position -- leading him to be called "His Rotundity" and a reputation for being a would be monarchist -- this against the most fiery of Revolutionaries!

Sometimes I wonder if it would have been better if the Founders had just created some kind of honorific title that could be given to any American for services rendered in some way -- like knighthoods and damehoods are still in England-- for everything ranging from work in government to the arts to science and even livestock raising as the British Crown does -- that were just titles themselves, and didn't have any privileges so that Americans would stop looking for dynasties and people to give titles to. I don't see what harm it could do, but the American in me does find it a tiny bit elitist, but at the same time, it would also be kind of fun--imagine Sir and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. or Lady Helen Keller. They both have a nice ring to them. Even if it was just a title with nothing else attached to it. For some reason Americans are always looking for legacies and dynasties. In sports, Hollywood, and of course in politics and I think part of the reason for it is because we have no honorifics.

In sports fans love when their teams are called dynasties. Because it usually means they've won a lot of championships. The New York Yankees are of course a great example of this. Other teams have dynasties as well-and naturally they are sometimes given titles, such as the Cincinnati Reds-"Big Red Machine" or the Pittsburgh Steelers-"Steel Curtain" teams. Every sport has them -- from the Lakers and Celtics in basketball to Bear Bryants teams at Alabama (my personal favorite) and lists can go on and on. Sports reporters are always eager to find a new dynasty--as evidenced just this year when Alabama after not winning a title in 18 years after winning the National Championship in college football found themselves a week later on the cover of Sports Illustrated with the cover screaming-DYNASTY. And thats just with one title!

In Hollywood, indeed, in acting throughout the ages, people love to see the children and grandchildren go on to great heights as well, all the way back to the Booths to today with the Barrymores with a legacy that goes back generations. Its the same in businesses-as in family businesses, the Hiltons, the Buschs', the Rockefellers are all dynasties in business, politics, and philanthropy, the list goes on and on.

In politics though, its especially interesting and attractive to Americans to look for dynasties. Why its hard to say, perhaps its simply because we have no official American nobility, but from almost the beginning of the American system of government people were interested and fascinated with dynasties that were in politics and public service -- even before the Revolution the Lees of Virginia were already a powerful and rich family and dynasty that was practically American nobility with all of them becoming successful in government and the military-serving in Virginia's House of Burgesses and as governors, the Continental Congress, in the American Army, and as ambassadors overseas, their legacy would go all the way thru the Civil War and they would be married to and connected to all of the great and powerful families of Virgina and the South. John Adams our second President was the father of our sixth President John Quincy Adams. William Henry Harrison was the 9th President of the United States, his grandfather had signed the Declaration of Independence, and he in turn was the grandfather of our 23rd President-Benjamin Harrison. Theodore Roosevelt was practically a father to his niece Eleanor who of course married her distant cousin Franklin. Together the Roosevelts were President for over 20 years thanks to FDR's 4 terms. The Kennedys are of course, practically Americas Royal Family. The Bush family has produced two Presidents. For a country with no official nobility, its interesting to see that in the history of our country, 4 families have held the title of our nations highest office multiple times. Not that different from a country with an official aristocracy is it?

So now a new family is trying to establish a dynasty -- the Quayles. As you may have seen in the news, just this week Ben Quayle, the son of J. Danforth "Dan" Quayle, former Vice-President of the United States under George H.W. Bush -- and a national joke for practically all four of those years -- won the Republican nomination for an open seat in Congress in Arizona where he lives. He defeated 9 other opponents, some who were seasoned political professionals. This was after he had been exposed for writing for a blog that was basically about nightlife and sex in the area in Arizona he lived in under a pseudonym from "Boogie Nights" where he wrote:

“My moral compass is so broken I can barely find the parking lot.”

and after he had called President Obama in one of his TV ads that he managed to pay for with the $1.3 million he raised from his dads connections:

"the worst President in history"

We reported both of these stories on the Vice-Precedence Facebook page that you can go and see for yourself. You can see the campaign ad where he says that about President Obama. And I mean-Really? Worse than Nixon who was forced to resign for being part of a criminal conspiracy? Worse than Harding who had a Cabinet full of criminals? Worse than James Buchanan who let the country fall apart into chaos and civil war? In only two years? Please.

Part of the reason he won has to be attributed to his name. He has practically no experience in government unless you count being a Congressional page experience. Its easy to remember, his dad was Vice-President of the United States. He's practically a lock to win in this heavily Republican area in Arizona. One things for sure, he knows he's in for a fight because of his name and its connection to tons of jokes-as evidenced in this quote:

“You build thick skin being a Quayle,”

He better have, because I'm sure his opponent will bring up that picture he had taken of himself with two kids who weren't his own, since he doesn't have any kids.

Is this the beginning of a new American dynasty? We'll see. Thanks for reading.

Matt Saxe

Scapegoating: The Hallmark of Public Policy

2010-08-20T12:07:00.000-07:00

Hello, Vice-Presidenters. It's been awhile since the last regular post, what with our co-producing a show in the Minnesota Fringe Festival and the screenwriting opportunity I was recently thrown, but fear not - we are still here and loving every juicy VP tidbit, as you'll likely notice on our Facebook page, which we try to update as frequently as is possible.

Joe Biden (whose office is now considering a request for an interview, given VP Mondale's agreeing to interview) was the subject of much speculation in a recent Wall Street Journal article that asks the baseless question (that has been raised since Biden began his reign as VP) "Will Obama replace Biden in 2012?"

They name his being "gaffe-prone" as the primary reason for their own speculation, as well as the expertise as such notables as Chris Matthews and "long time Hillary watcher" Howard Fineman at Newsweek, who suggest that Biden and Clinton essentially swap spots. Really? Newsweek?

I am not an expert political scientist, or an expert historian. I'm an expert on the Vice Presidency and its role in history and amongst other political powers. What I can tell you is this - no President, especially to change his tarnishing public image and popularity - would change VPs mid-stream to half-use an existing metaphor. At least not today. It's been done before (Lincoln and FDR both had VP changes for a number of reasons) but these were the days when public scrutiny was different. Changing VP meant a change in direction. Today, with rapid-fire, thoughtless analysis (see the Wall Street Journal), any such change - though it might please those who think they are political analysts because they can also use the word "gaffe" in a sentence - would be seen as weakness. Joe Biden is the very symbol of Obama's dedication to his choices - he lets Biden speak his mind. He could easily shut the man up, reign him in - Biden is the "tell it like it is" guy and Obama - well, frankly, he's resorted to it lately, too. He has little choice. He just uses fewer F-bombs.

Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Game Changing

2010-07-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

In researching the Vice Presidency, one thing becomes increasingly evident - that research is, at points, impossible. Even as an office so separated from power that analyzing the social & political environment of the era in which a VP served is occasionally unnecessary, finding some piece of evidence of the office changing is one of those things you dream of.

This is exactly why the office has been the subject of so many comedic books. When they aren't comedic, there's usually some biting criticism of the office and it's uselessness. This is why our book is aimed at using the comedic bent as a tool to see if we can discover something new about the office that this perspective allows us. Rather than looking for something funny to write about, we're treating all history as inherently comedic, to see what then stands out.

Admitting our bias - embracing it, even - aside, our perspectives are pretty clear. In general, we want to see the office become more useful, by law. At any time, no matter how much a Cheney or Biden might change the day-to-day function of the office, that function might just as easily go extinct with whomever holds the office next. Solidifying it by law - even by adding one or two functions beyond the existing one - would add some legitimacy to the office, and hold the Veep accountable for something, so that we could be certain our second-in-command was ready to lead.

What do you think the VP should be required to do, by law? Right now, he breaks tie votes in the Senate. Cheney and Biden have both taken roles of power, in their own way - but we wonder if any of those powers are worth putting in stone. Let us know on Blogger and Facebook - we'll cover your suggestions in a later blog.

On a quick side note, thanks to those who continue to support Fly Me to Fritz, to allow us to complete our Walter Mondale interview in October.

Thanks once again, and good Vice-Presidenting, as always.

-Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Fly Me to Fritz

2010-07-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

Dear Vice-Presidenters,

We here at Vice-Precedence have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity coming up on October 18th. As Matt previously reported, we will be interviewing former VP Walter "Fritz" Mondale - our first Vice Presidential interview. This is an amazing opportunity for the film, the book and the blog.

As many of you know, this is a project of passion, any expenses being out-of-pocket for the last 4 years. For instance, our sizzle reel for the documentary, which almost sold Vice-Precedence to The History Channel, was produced on less than a shoestring - perhaps the plastic caps at the end - for around $200, which was mostly for a wig and a gun. Needless to say, we do good work on very little money (if we do say so ourselves), but there are some things we can't do entirely on our own.

This is why we're asking you, the Vice-Precedence Fans loyal, to consider a donation to get me out to Minneapolis and to help us pay our minimal crew and to GET THIS DONE RIGHT. When we shot the sizzle reel, for instance, it was all shot on a 24p camera. Gorgeous though that was (and still is), we have to shoot on HD. Our sit-down with our oldest living VP would be wasted if we shot it on anything else.

If you can, please consider donating whatever you can to Fly Me to Fritz. The link is to a secure Paypal page that will prompt you to use whichever payment method you prefer.

As a way of thanking those who can donate, we're offering a number of incentives:
1. A thank you in the book and documentary.
2. A feature article about you and other donors on the blog.
3. We will take your questions for President Mondale and choose the best of the bunch.
4. A free copy of the book, on publication.

We want to thank all of our loyal readers and fans for all of your support, and hope you can see your way to donating just a little bit to helping the first documentary on the Vice Presidency get that much closer to completion.

Thanks again, and good Vice-Presidenting,

Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Vice-Precedence to Interview VP Walter Mondale!

2010-06-30T23:06:00.000-07:00

Vice-Precedence Fans we have BIG news.

We have been working on Vice-Precedence for a long time. We have had some great successes. Like our interview with Gore Vidal, the amazing praise from fans like you and especially from Mr. Paul Zaloom, and my meeting with Sarah Palin and the subsequent blog that got a lot of attention.

We have also had a lot of frustration and setbacks. There is no denying it. I have talked about it before. I don't want to repeat myself, except to say, along with the refusals from people for interviews, there has been the idiotic remarks from TV executives -- specifically the History Channel saying in early March of 08:

"It doesn't matter who McCain picks as his running mate, no one will care, everyone will be bored by the election by September. Plus our president hates comedy."

3 months later they're showing "The History of Comedy" hosted by Lewis Black and later in the year--everyone is talking about and is obsessed with Sarah Palin.

So you can probably guess how I feel about the History Channel.

After my divorce I made plans to see my daughter in Minnesota. On my first visit here I looked up former Vice-President Walter Mondales contact information. It actually wasn't that hard, just did a Google search as I recall. I spoke with his secretary right away. An interview was a possibility but not that year since the former VP would be spending most of that year in Japan, where he had been our Ambassador. They love him there. I was just happy to have established a link to his office and secretary, Lynda Pedersen.

After I moved here to be closer to my daughter after missing her so much, I wanted to try to schedule an official interview with VP Mondale. After some more polite conversations with Ms. Pedersen, and explaining what we want to do, I sent a formal request to his office:

Dear Mr. Vice-President,

My name is Matt Saxe, I live here in Minneapolis, and I am the creator/executive producer of the comic-documentary film "Vice-Precedence". After speaking with your assistant Mrs. Lynda Pedersen, I am formally asking if I could have the opportunity to interview you for our film.

I have been producing award-winning theatre and films for over 8 years. For the last four years my company has been working on a documentary film devoted to the Vice-Presidents who were never President, focusing on the unique and strange history of the office. As you know, there have been documentaries made on individual VP's, but never one devoted to the office as a whole.

We have already filmed a two-hour interview with Gore Vidal for the film, who called us "Better interviewers than Ken Burns." You would be the first Vice-President we have interviewed. Your own experiences as Vice-President and with Vice-President Humphrey would be invaluable to our film.

We are happy to fit our interview around whatever fits your schedule best. We would want to wait at least until next month so we can make the proper arrangements. We want you to be comfortable and completely at ease for the interview. Thank you very much for your consideration. I sincerely hope for the opportunity to meet and interview you. Please pass my thanks on to Mrs. Pederson for taking the time to talk with me, I truly appreciate it.

Best to you,
Matt Saxe
Banded Artists

Within a couple days I received the following reply:

Dear Matt:

I have talked to Mr. Mondale about your request for an interview for the comic-documentary film "Vice- Precedence." Unfortunately, Mr. Mondale is extremely busy this summer and has several trips out of the country and he just doesn't feel he would have the time to be interviewed by you. I will keep your request in mind and if things quiet down, I will be sure to give you a call. He wishes you all the best with your project.

Lynda

Lynda L. Pedersen
Executive Secretary to Walter F. Mondale

It was disappointing, but I understood, and it was so polite. I decided I need to let time go by and had so many other things to do for work, Vice-Precedence, plays, life, and Caitlin. So time passed.

Then on May 27th of this year after writing the Hubert Humphrey Birthday blog, I decided enough time had passed to send another request to his office. Also, in case you didn't know, Mr. Mondale was Humphreys Chief of Staff and successor as Senator of Minnesota and then to the Vice-Presidency and Democratic Presidential Nomination. Humphrey was his mentor and his career followed Humphreys almost exactly. So I decided the date seemed serendipitous to send another request.

So here it is:

Dear Ms. Pedersen,

This is Matt Saxe, of Banded Artist Productions. Last year I asked if it would be possible to schedule an interview with former Vice-President Mondale for my documentary film. At the time you informed me that Mr. Mondale was too busy to schedule something. I am hoping that this year we will be able to schedule it and decided that since today would be the 99th birthday of Mr. Mondales mentor and friend, the late Vice-President Humphrey, its an appropriate day to resend my request. Please pass this on to the Vice-President with my highest regards.

Thank you and Best to you,
Matt Saxe

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Banded Artists

Dear Mr. Vice-President,

My name is Matt Saxe and I am the creator/executive producer of the comic-documentary film "Vice-Precedence", and after speaking with your assistant Mrs. Lynda Pedersen last year, I am on this day, what would have been the 99th birthday of your mentor and friend, the late Vice-President Humphrey, again formally asking if I could have the opportunity to interview you for our film.

I have been producing award-winning theatre and films for over 8 years. For the last four years my company has been working on a documentary film devoted to the Vice-Presidents who were never President, focusing on the unique history of the office. As you know, there have been documentaries made on individual VP's, but never one devoted to the office as a whole.

We have already filmed a two-hour interview with Gore Vidal for the film, who called us "Better interviewers than Ken Burns." You would be the first Vice-President we have interviewed. Your own experiences as Vice-President and with Vice-President Humphrey would be invaluable to our film.

We are happy to fit our interview around whatever fits your schedule best. Thank you for your consideration. I sincerely hope for the opportunity to meet and interview you. Please pass my thanks on to Mrs. Pederson for taking the time to talk with me, I truly appreciate it.

Best to you,

Matt Saxe
Banded Artists
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A week later I received this:

Matt,

Mr. Mondale would be happy to meet with you. However, he can't do it this summer. Any chance, sometime in the fall would work?

Lynda

As the kids say: OMG!

After dancing around the room for about 15 minutes I called Jason to let him know the good news. It was one of the happiest phone calls I have ever made. We were both ecstatic.

After a flurry of emails dealing with the scheduling and all, we finally decided that the interview will take place in a conference room at Mr. Mondales law office on October 18th at 10AM. It will be our first interview with an actual VP. Not just any VP, but our oldest living VP and former Presidential candidate! Truly an American living legend. When Norm Coleman was forced to run against Mondale after the tragic death of Senator Paul Wellstone in a plane crash he said it was like

"...running against Mount Rushmore."

Well, now we're interviewing Mt. Rushmore. After all the refusals, it feels so amazing to have a true success. Its truly the biggest thing to happen for our film. Now we need your help. We are going to establish a fund thru PayPal to get Jason a ticket to come here to Minneapolis for the interview. We also need to find great HD equipment since we want this interview to be perfect. If all of you who LIKE us on Facebook give us just $5 to $8 or more...wow! We'd easily have enough to get Jason here and some for the equipment we want. We've never really asked for your help before, just to join our Facebook page. Which we still also want you to encourage people to do.

This interview can truly help make our film, because if VP Mondale has agreed to do it, then his fellow Democrats Al Gore and Joe Biden may agree to do it. And the Republicans won't want to be left out (and we don't want to leave them out -- we want to give people the WHOLE story) so VP's Quayle and Cheney might agree too. Please help us out. When we post the fund-raising page, please help us out and make whatever donations you can.

October 18th can't come soon enough for us.

Thanks Everyone.

Matt

1-Year Anniversary of Vice-Precedence Blog

2010-06-15T12:48:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers!

Last night Jason informed me that its the one-year anniversary of the start of the blog for Vice-Precedence. I knew it must be around the time we had started it since I had been laid off on June 4 2009, and we started it a week later. So what have we done this year?

Well, in looking over our posts I'd have to say, we have done a hell of a job informing the public about the Vice-Presidency, whats going on with Dick Cheney and our current VP Joe Biden, and the men who have held this office in our nations history. Not to mention the fact that we were one of the first websites to break the stories of Sarah Palins resignation and the Gores divorce.

I hope that this doesn't come off as arrogant, but I am truly proud of the writing both Jason and myself have done here on the blog. People tell me that when they read it they always learn something and are entertained by it. I just wish more people would read it and that that stupid Japanese psuedo-porn site would stop trying to post their messages as responses to our posts. It drives me crazy.

At the same time, while I am proud of the blog and am truly grateful to you readers when you tell me how much you liked it, I can't help but feel frustrated about some things. Not here on the blog, but with Vice-Precedence as a production altogether. Something I haven't talked about here on the blog is that we wanted to shoot at the Vice-Presidential Museum in Indiana run by the Dan Quayle Foundation. I joined the Museum simply because I wanted to be a member. I had visited the website and admired what the museum did to preserve the memory and history of the Vice-Presidents and to educate children. After I joined I contacted the Museum director and talked with him about shooting at the museum. We discussed the film and our goals with Vice-Precedence. He had watched our trailer and other videos and understood what we were doing and found them entertaining and historically accurate. He told me to make a formal request to the Museums board of directors and he felt sure we would get permission to shoot at the museum. So I wrote a formal letter:

To President Darlene Stanley, The Quayle Commemorative Foundation, and
Whom It May Concern at the United States Vice Presidential Museum:

My name is Matt Saxe and I am a Sustaining Member of the Museum and a
professional filmmaker. Currently my company, Banded Artists
Productions, is working on a film entitled "Vice-Precedence," a comedic
documentary on the history of the Vice-Presidents who never served as
President, and the unique history of the office. We would very much
like to shoot in and use the resources of the Museum for our film.
After speaking with Director Johns, he told me that we needed to write
you for permission and explain what we want to do. That is the purpose
of this letter.

Our goal with this film is to both educate and entertain people with
the amazing history of the vice-presidency and tell the sometimes
funny, sometimes tragic, and sometimes bizarre stories of the forgotten
men who have held our nation's second highest office. We want to be
both completely historically accurate, and at the same time, give the
audience an incredibly entertaining experience. Studies have shown that
people retain information better when it is presented to them in a
comedic and entertaining way. We have accomplished this goal with other
films and we know we can accomplish it with this one.

Specifically in the museum, we are interested in highlighting unique
artifacts and displays that are there and on the Vice-Presidents from
Indiana. The museum shows that there are people in this country that
truly respect the office of the vice-presidency and believe it is
important that Americans learn about the office. We hope that by
filming at the museum and featuring it in our film, we can attract more
people to visit the museum and learn of all the great work it is doing.
While our film will emphasize the humorous stories and quotes about the
Vice-Presidency, we do not intend to mock the office or people who are
interested in it in any way. As I have said to Director Johns, we do
not want to have people laugh at the Museum or the people who work
there, we want them to laugh with us and be interested in the Museum
and the history of the office of the Vice-Presidency.

We are happy to schedule our shoot at the Museum to fit whatever is
best for the museum. The shoot would probably be 2 to 4 days at the
most. Our film does not have a large crew, probably 3 to 4 people or
so. So there would not be a big crew in the museum. We're also
interested in doing on-camera interviews with Director Johns and other
experts who work at the museum for possible inclusion in the film.
Perhaps even interviewing guests of the Museum as well.

We have already interviewed Professor Steven Tally of Purdue
University, the author of "Bland Ambition," and the legendary Gore
Vidal for our film. Mr. Vidal said we were "better interviewers than
Ken Burns". We interviewed Mr. Vidal in his home and it went perfectly,
so I can assure you, President Stanley and the Museum that we would
show the same respect towards the Museum. As a member of the Museum I
promise you the highest level of professionalism in regards to our film
and our crew. We believe shooting in the museum is one of the keys to
making this a truly great documentary. This is the first ever
documentary made about the Vice-Presidency, and we very much want the
museum to be a part of it.

Thank you and Best to you,

Matt Saxe
Sustaining Member United States Vice-Presidential Museum
Member-Minnesota Historical Society
Screen Actors Guild.

So we sent the letter in mid October of 2009, and waited. And waited. Months went by. I was assured by the director that our letter had been received and had been discussed at the Boards meeting. But we were told no decision either way.

Finally on April 5th 2010 I received the following letter.

Dear Mr. Saxe:

I want to apologize for the delay in response to your request. This has been a difficult and busy year. I should have been more prompt to reply.

Your request was presented to and discussed by the board of directors for the Center. In the end the decision was made that, although they appreciate that your project is intended to educate adults about the vice-presidency and appreciate your focus on historical accuracy, they do not believe it matches our mission of educational programming for young school children. Therefore, the board has declined your request to utilize the Center and staff for your production.

I wish your good luck on your project. As an apology for your troubles, I will be issuing a refund for your membership of $100.00. The check will be issued during the month of April.

Sincerely,
Daniel Johns
Executive Director.
The Quayle Vice-Presidential Learning Center.

Can you believe that? Not only did they deny our request to shoot at the Museum, but they don't even want my tax-deductible donation for my membership! Wow! Sure enough within a week I had another envelope from the Museum with a check for $100 in it.

This sort of thing is what is making this production a story in and of itself. Does any other documentary ever have issues like this? Michael Moore and Sacha Baron Cohen have made it almost impossible to get interviews for a documentary. Everyone is afraid they are going be made to look like fools. I bet that in the case of the Vice-Presidential Museum this is especially a worry. Still, this has to be one of the weirdest things we've experienced in our trek to make this film.

In the end, we can only make another request and hope they will let us shoot at the museum. We have always planned on making the film appropriate for a wide audience. So that families can watch it together and learn from it. Like my father and I did when we watched Ken Burns CIVIL WAR. We also plan on making a childrens book to go with the film. Maybe these things will help to change the boards mind.

Still, the museum isn't the only one to deny us an interview. Walter Mondale, Al Gore, Sarah Vowell, all have (thru their agents or staff) denied our requests for interviews. We still haven't heard from Sarah Palins people who I contacted the day after meeting her at her book signing back in November of 2009. Even with all these refusals and obstacles, Jason and I stand firm in making Vice-Precedence the film and completing our other projects that are associated with it. Your can help us accomplish our dream.

Tell your friends and family about our production. Join our Facebook page and post comments on it about blogs, links, and pictures we put up. Anything you can do that you think will be helpful to us, we would be grateful for. You can see on the blog that people love and are interested in this production. Whenever I feel a little depressed about how things are going, I read the endorsement given to us by Paul Zaloom (Beakman of the legendary kids science show BEAKMANS WORLD, and nationally recognized political theatre performer) that Jason received and posted here on the blog:

"The trailer for "Vice-Precedence" knocked my socks off. The film deftly mixes the genuine history of the VPs, much of it astounding and weird as hell, with witty commentary, the best combination for a film on a serious and absurd and seriously absurd subject. I laughed out loud a bunch of times; that doesn't happen often enough in documentaries. I cannot wait to see the finished project."

That always makes me feel good.

I just want to finish this blog by saying "Thank You".

Thank You to Mr. Zaloom for this amazing endorsement and to the legendary Gore Vidal for actually letting us come to his home and interview him for our film and for his incredible endorsement and continued support.

Thank you to YOU-all our Family and Friends and Fans (Likers?) on Facebook and who have and continue to support our production.

Thank you to my production partner and friend Jason Klamm for all his hard work on the blog, Facebook page, and website.

Some great stuff is coming folks, and I think you'll be just as excited as we are about it. Thank You Vice-Precedence Supporters!

Matt Saxe

Happy Birthday!

2010-06-15T08:51:00.000-07:00

As the Vice-Precedence blog celebrates it's first birthday/anniversary, I'd like to take a few moments to acknowledge how much has been accomplished in this year.

First, we're moving forward on a graphic novel based on a particular VP, with some amazing artists on board. It promises to be exciting, since we've chosen one of the most bad-ass VPs there has ever been.

Secondly, Matt got to meet Sarah Palin herself. Whether or not you (or we) agree with her politics, she's a part of Vice-Presidential history, and Matt had an insane time just waiting in line to get her to sign his book. He was part of a sideline to an historical footnote.

Thirdly, we're ever-closer to getting Vice-Precedence to the next step - as a book/movie. The book is always moving forward, as we discover new tidbits, but we're ever-closer to finding the right grant/funding to make the road trip/documentary a reality.

Fourth...ly? Not everyone is on the same page as I am, but the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz very recently wrote an article that finally acknowledged, as we have been doing for quite awhile, that Joe Biden is a powerful force in the Obama Administration. The mainstream media is finally picking up on the same stuff that we at Vice-Precedence have been reporting on and analyzing, through the filter of historical vice-presidential perspective, for a year now.

It's been an amazing year for the blog, the book, the movie, and for us. A quick thank you to all of our supporters and our fans (Or "Likers," as Facebook has forced them to become), not to mention the likes of the amazing Paul Zaloom, who was kind enough to endorse our humor, and to Gore Vidal, who has remained supportive ever since our initial interview.

As always, tell your friends (you may have to leave out the whole politics & government angle at first) and send us your feedback. Here's to a fantastic year.

Sincerely,

Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Happy Birthday Hubert Humphrey!

2010-05-27T09:31:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Fans!

Today is the birthday of a man who truly was a champion of human and civil rights and who helped to create the modern Democratic Party, but because of his service as VP and the controversy and his subsequent loss in the Presidential Election of 1968 has been consigned to the "loser" bin in history. A place he certainly does not belong.

Today would be the 99th birthday of the original Triple H -- Hubert H. Humphrey. 38th Vice-President of the United States. I currently live in Minnesota in a suburb of Minneapolis, and with the older generations here, Humphrey is still widely respected and admired. Younger generations know of him mostly because of all the buildings named after him, most notably, the infamous Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, where the Minnesota Vikings, the U. of Minnesota Golden Gophers football team (until last year), and (until just a month ago) the Minnesota Twins played all their home games. The Metrodome is considered one of the worst stadiums in baseball history due to its lighting, the placement of its speakers, hard bouncy surface, bad sight lines, low ceiling and other odd features, primarily because it was built for football not baseball. With the moving of the Twins and Gophers to brand-new outdoor stadiums, and the Vikings demands for a new stadium -- the 29 year-old Metrodome would seem to be on its last legs and headed for destruction. A sort of fitting tribute to what the Vice-Presidency did to the the career and aspirations of Humphrey himself.

Before becoming VP, Humphrey had made a name for himself across the country as the champion of civil rights at the 1948 Democratic Convention. It was here that Humphrey demonstrated the zeal and characteristics that would lead to his nickname-"The Happy Warrior". Humphrey who at the time was the most popular mayor in Minneapolis history, and the DFL(Democratic-Farm-Labor) candidate for the Senate, gave a deeply passionate speech coming out strongly for civil rights and to leave the history of racism and segregation in the party behind. The Democratic Party-since its establishment, had always been the party of the South, and after the Civil War, it became even more so. It was believed that the party needed "The Solid South" -- all the electoral votes of the Southern states -- if it had any hope of winning the Presidency, and Democratic party leaders across the country always simply gave in to Southern segregationists in order to keep the party together. Humphrey believed that the time had come to end segregation not just in the party, but across the country. As Mayor of Minneapolis he had inherited a city that had been called "the antisemitism capital of the country" with a racist and corrupt police department and had worked tirelessly to end these circumstances. Now he wanted to do it for his party and the rest of the country. The Truman Administration and President Truman were for aggressive federal action on the issue of civil rights, but had agreed to adhere to a weaker platform at the convention to "keep the peace". Humphrey became the de-facto leader of the anti-communist, pro-civil rights liberals who wanted to break with this weak platform. Truman had already issued a 10-point civil rights program, but his aides worried that pushing the agenda too far would anger the Southern wing of the party. Aides to Truman warned Humphrey not to bring the issue to the floor of the Convention. Humphrey however, could not hold his tongue any longer on this issue he felt so strongly about, and gave an impassioned speech in favor of civil rights ending with:

"To those who say, my friends, to those who say, that we are rushing this issue of civil rights, I say to them we are 172 years too late! To those who say, this civil rights program is an infringement on states' rights, I say this: the time has arrived in America for the Democratic Party to get out of the shadow of states' rights and walk forthrightly into the bright sunshine of human rights!"

After the speech one furious Southern politician wondered:

"Can you imagine the people of Minnesota sending that damn fool down here to represent them?"

However, as much as the Southern racist wing of the party hated the speech and Humphrey, it was surpassed by the passion the rest of the party felt for it and the man himself. Humphreys speech electrified the pro-civil rights members of the party and helped them push through their pro-civil rights plank into the platform of the party. This infuriated the Southern Democrats who stormed out of the convention and formed their own "Dixiecrat" party with South Carolina governor J. Strom Thurmond as their presidential candidate. They knew Thurmond was unlikely to win -- he was one of four candidates in that very unique election -- but their hope was to prove to the Democratic Party as a whole that it needed the South if it had any hope of winning the presidency and that it had to get rid of its strong civil-rights platform. But Humphrey had not just blindly gone into his speech without considering the political ramifications. He knew the adoption of the pro-civil rights platform would lose the South, but he believed it would gain enough support from blacks in big Northern cities like Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Detroit to make up for that. He had talked about it with those cities mayors and other Northern politicians, and they had agreed. Humphrey was determined to show it could work, and campaigned incredibly hard for President Truman. He was proven right. Truman scored the biggest upset in American political history, winning the 1948 election and demonstrated that the Democratic Party could win the Presidency without the "Solid South", and this weakened Southern Democrats and helped to trigger the shift of these Southern Democrats to the more conservative Republican Party. David McCullough in his Pulitzer Prize winner "Truman" wrote that besides Truman himself, the person who did the most to help him win in 48 was Humphrey.

Besides campaigning for Truman, Humphrey got himself elected to the Senate, where he would serve for 15 years, and in the process become the greatest Senator in Minnesota history. His colleagues selected him as majority whip in 1961, a position he held until he left the Senate on December 29, 1964 to assume the vice presidency. Humphrey knew he wanted to continue his work on civil rights, but he also knew he had angered the Southern wing of his party. He knew he had to work with Southerners if he wanted to accomplish his political and personal goals, so he attached himself to a southerner and Washington "insider" -- Lyndon B. Johnson of Texas. Johnson showed Humphrey the ropes and how to get things done in the halls of the Senate and the two men became friends and the most powerful Democratic team in the Senate for over a decade. Humphrey began to win his fellow Senators over with his strong sense of personal honor, his deeply felt passion, his integrity, and his eloquence in his clever, if a bit too long, speeches. His behavior led TIME Magazine to say that his critics thought he was:

"Too cocky, too slick, too shallow, too ambitious."

Humphrey became known for his advocacy of liberal causes; of course, civil rights, but also arms control, a nuclear test ban, food stamps, and humanitarian foreign aid. In 1957 he introduced the first bill to create the Peace Corps -- 3 years before JFK, and in 1961 with President Kennedy's backing -- it became a reality. In 1964 as Democratic Whip he experienced his greatest moment in the Senate with the passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act.

By 1964 Humphrey had become a prominent national political figure and had run for the Democratic nomination for President twice. He had lost to John F. Kennedy in 1960 after losing the controversial primary in West Virginia. JFK's billionaire father Joe had poured millions into this poor, heavily Protestant state in an effort to prove his rich Catholic son could win a national election. It worked. Humphrey couldn't match the Kennedy fortune and lost a state most thought he had to win if he was going to get the nomination, so he dropped out of the race despite winning other primaries. But in 1964 President Johnson needed a VP candidate (after Kennedys assassination he had become President and had not appointed a VP) and Humphrey wanted the job badly. After the 1960 primaries he had reached the conclusion that since he didn't have the money to win a national election, he would have to serve as VP if he wanted to ever become President. Which he wanted very much. Johnson knew he wanted Humphrey as his VP, but he also knew he had the national press in the palm of his hand while they waited for him to make his announcement of his choice. It was all too tempting for Johnson who, it must be said, had something of a cruel sense of humor. Johnson had little patience for Humphrey's windy speeches, saying:

"If only I could breed him to Calvin Coolidge." (For those of you who don't get this reference-Coolidge was nicknamed "Silent Cal" and known for not talking much)

Johnson knew most of Washington and political experts around the country expected him to tap his old Senate colleague as his VP, and he knew Humphrey expected it as well. However, he just wasn't going to let it all happen that easy. First, at a State dinner where Humphrey was present, he asked him in front of the entire dinner what he thought of Senate President Mike Mansfield as a choice for VP, embarrassing Humphrey in front of the entire dinner. Then when he finally summoned Humphrey to the White House to tell him officially he was his choice he made him wait in the limo in the driveway for almost two hours. Humphrey fell asleep waiting, and was rudely awakened by the President who derisively told him:

"If you didn't know you were going to be Vice-President a month ago, you're too damn dumb to have the office."

At the 1964 Democratic Convention, Johnson sort of made up for this treatment by announcing Humphrey as his choice for VP with much fanfare, taking his time as he praised Humphrey's many qualifications before announcing his name to thunderous applause. The next day at his acceptance speech, Humphrey made his own mark and surpassed the President with his speech, immediately taking on the role of the VP candidate as the attack dog on the other party's candidate. As reported by TIME Magazine:

Hubert warmed up with a long tribute to the President, then hit his stride as he began a rhythmic jabbing and chopping at Barry Goldwater. "Most Democrats and Republicans in the Senate voted for an $11.5 billion tax cut for American citizens and American business," he cried, "but not Senator Goldwater. Most Democrats and Republicans in the Senate — in fact four-fifths of the members of his own party — voted for the Civil Rights Act, but not Senator Goldwater." Time after time, he capped his indictments with the drumbeat cry: "But not Senator Goldwater!" The delegates caught the cadence and took up the chant. A quizzical smile spread across Humphrey's face, then turned to a laugh of triumph. Hubert was in fine form. He knew it. The delegates knew it. And no one could deny that Hubert Humphrey would be a formidable political antagonist in the weeks ahead.

Johnson and Humphrey won in a landslide, but over the next four years the two mens friendship would be strained and destroyed by the offices they held. Johnson wanted Humphrey as his VP because he wanted a "Yes Man" and he made it clear to Humphrey that was what he expected of him. Humphrey from the start was against the Presidents handling of the growing military crisis in Vietnam, but Johnson threatened that if Humphrey ever spoke to the press or public against his policies there, he would destroy Humphrey's chances to become President by opposing his nomination at the next Democratic Convention. So Humphrey kept his mouth shut, angering his liberal friends and supporters across the country. They wondered what had happened to the "Happy Warrior" and began to abandon and criticize him, weakening his support across the country. Songwriter Tom Lehrer was so distressed by Humphreys lack of support against Vietnam he wrote the song "Whatever Became of Hubert?" where inquired:

"Whatever became of Hubert? Has anyone heard a thing? Once he shone on his own, now he sits home alone and waits for the phone to ring. Once a fiery liberal spirit, ah, but now when he speaks he must clear it. ..."

Humphrey was unhappy as VP and furious at Johnson for making him not only hold his tongue, but also for his constant use of him as a court jester for his amusement. Johnson liked to think of himself as a Texas ultra-male. He rode horses, hunted, had affairs and nicknamed his penis "Jumbo" and would ask it as he got out of the shower in the morning:

"Who are we going to f**k today?"

Johnson forced Humphrey to come with him to his ranch in Texas where he took the gentle VP hunting and ordered him to shoot at two deer. Humphrey did as he was told, but first he protested. Johnson, who had pulled the same stunt on a visiting Bobby Kennedy, informed his VP that Bobby Kennedy had done as he had asked and said to him:

"Aren't you as much of a man as a Kennedy?"

Later in that trip Johnson ordered the VP to dress in outlandish and oversized cowboy clothes as if he was the comic relief in a John Wayne film, and included in the outfit an absurdly garish ten-gallon hat and marched his VP in front of a group of reporters and forced him to get on an extremely nervous horse, laughing the whole time.

All the humiliation and threats led to a dissolving of the strong friendship the two men had once had for each other. In 1968 after he announced he would not seek re-election for the Presidency, LBJ refused to endorse Humphrey. Humphrey as VP was the strongest candidate, but threats from his fellow Minnesotan Eugene McCarthy-who was the most anti-Vietnam of the Democrats and Robert Kennedy put pressure on him. With Kennedys tragic assassination, Humphrey again became the front-runner and it was expected that he would win the nomination at the Convention. The liberal, anti-Vietnam wing of the Democratic party would make Humphrey their punching bag in place of Johnson as what was wrong with the party. The 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago was a nightmare. Outside the Convention Hall the Chicago Police Department had violent clashes with anti-war protesters that were broadcast on national television. Mike Wallace and Dan Rather were physically attacked on the Convention floor, and dozens of other ugly incidents took place. The convention damaged Humphreys chances at winning the Presidency, as did the candidacy of George Wallace of Alabama who took millions of blue-collar Midwestern votes that probably would have gone to Humphrey.

Liberals in the party started to rip on Humphrey as if he were the enemy. Hunter S. Thompson called him a:

"treacherous, gutless old ward-heeler....there is no way to grasp what a shallow, contemptible and hopelessly dishonest old hack Hubert Humphrey is until you've followed him around for awhile."

Because of all this, Humphrey lost to Richard Nixon. That's right hippies, when America could have elected the pro-civil rights, truly anti-war Hubert H. Humphrey president, you helped to make Richard Nixon president and Spiro Agnew VP, and all that came with them. Nice work! You have only yourselves to blame. When you think about what "might-have-been" with a Humphrey presidency as compared to the corrupt and secretive Nixon Administration, its almost enough to make you weep. Many liberals consider it as bad or even worse than George W. Bush defeating Al Gore.

After losing the 68 election, Humphrey returned to Minneapolis where he was an icon. He picked up the work he had done before turning to politics. Teaching. He happily taught students at both the esteemed Macalester College and the University of Minnesota. Then in 1970 he once again was nominated for and won election to the Senate, and would serve there for the rest of his life. At times he was considered a strong candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination, but he could never shake the taint of what had happened at the 1968 convention enough to win the nomination. He was extremely popular in the Senate, and in 1974, Humphrey co-authored the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, the first attempt at full employment legislation. In 1976 the Senate honored Humphrey by creating the post of Deputy President pro tempore of the Senate for him. On August 16, 1977, Humphrey revealed he was suffering from terminal bladder cancer. On October 25, 1977, he addressed the Senate, and on November 3, 1977, Humphrey became the first person other than a member of the House or the President to address the House of Representatives in session. President Carter honored him by giving him command of Air Force One for his final trip to Washington on October 23.

Humphrey spent his last weeks mending political and personal fences and calling old allies and opponents. One call was to Richard Nixon inviting him to his upcoming funeral. Nixon accepted the invitation. Living in the hospital, Humphrey kept himself busy by going room to room, cheering up other patients with a joke and listening to them. Many patients were thrilled that their beloved Senator was there to talk to them and Humphrey did his best to make his fellow patients comfortable and happy despite his own impending death.

He died on January 13, 1978 of bladder cancer at his home in Waverly, Minnesota. His body lay in state in the rotunda of both the United States Capitol and the Minnesota State Capitol, and was interred in Lakewood Cemetery in Minneapolis. Old friends and old enemies of Humphrey, from Gerald Ford and Richard Nixon to President Carter and his former aide, successor in the Senate and the current Vice-President Walter Mondale payed their final respects. Mondale famously eulogized:

"He taught us how to live, and finally he taught us how to die",

In one of his last speeches before his hospitalization, Humphrey gave voice to what has since been called-"The Liberals Mantra", and while if you're a dyed in the wool conservative Republican or Libertarian, you may disagree with these words, millions of Americans find inspiration in them:

"It was once said that the moral test of Government is how that Government treats those who are in the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the elderly; and those who are in the shadows of life, the sick, the needy and the handicapped,"

For Hubert Humphrey, the Vice-Presidency was the thing that tainted his rich legacy of fighting for what he believed in, for championing civil rights, and helping his fellow Americans improve their quality of life. Humphreys legacy lives on in the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program, which fosters an exchange of knowledge and mutual understanding throughout the world. Here in Minnesota, Humphrey is everywhere, besides the Metrodome, there is the Humphrey Terminal at the Minneapolis/St. Paul International Airport, the Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center in St. Paul, MN. The Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota and its building, the Hubert H. Humphrey Center, and the Hubert H. Humphrey Cancer Center in Robbinsdale, MN. I have seen his picture hanging in a friends house, when her husband-as a member of the Peace Corps, went with his fellow Peace Corps workers to visit the man who helped create their organization in his office when he was VP. Many consider him still to be the greatest mayor in Minneapolis history and the greatest Senator the state has ever had as well. Humphrey helped to put the state on the national map as a stronghold for Democratic senators with national influence. His legacy lives on in former VP Mondale, and inspired the late Paul Wellstone, and current Senator Al Franken. There can be no doubt that Humphrey truly made an impact on this nations history -- particularly in civil rights and the Peace Corps.

Along with job centers, schools, health centers, and other public buildings across the country named after him. Humphrey helped to create the modern Democratic Party, separating it from its racist past and bringing it into the modern world. His championing of civil rights led Alpha Phi Alpha, the first intercollegiate Greek-letter fraternity established for African American males to make him an Honorary Life Member.

Its a shame the Vice-Presidency and the events at the 1968 convention have tainted his legacy. Instead of thinking of Humphrey as a weak "dough-faced" liberal wimp, I prefer to think of him as the man who stood up for what he believed in at the 1948 Democratic Convention and most of his life. The Vice-Presidency was just a bump on the road. As it seems to be for many. Maybe next year on what would have been his 100th birthday, my current state of residence will do something to honor the "Happy Warrior". If so, I will be sure to be there. For now, I ask you to join me in saying:

"Happy Birthday Hubert H. Humphrey!"

Thanks for reading!

Vice-Precedence Reviews the AL GORE Comic.

2010-05-14T11:16:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers.

Sorry for the long delay in posts, but if you are frequenting the Facebook page for "Vice-Precedence" as you should be of course, you can see that Jason and I are putting up some great links to keep you updated about everything going on VP wise.

As you probably remember Bluewater Comics is the creator and publisher of comics about everyone from Barack Obama to Bo Obama, with Sarah Palin, Michelle Obama, John McCain, J.K. Rowling and more in between. They published a Joe Biden comic that Jason and I reviewed here on the blog. Now this week their comic book biography of former VP Al Gore came out. So here's my review of it.

As I have come to expect with Bluewater, the cover art is good, but inside, the art is not only disappointing, but clearly mistakes have been made. On page 24 in an illustration that is supposed to show VP Gore and then Gov. George W. Bush making accusations against one another in the 2000 election, the illustrator made an error and has Bush angrily pointing and yelling at himself, as if into a mirror. Something I am sure Democrats around the country would like to imagine, but isn't really possible. Its supposed to be Gore yelling at him, but instead its a sloppy mistake.

On another page that is supposed to illustrate Gores centrist voting record and views, its simply a wide panel with ugly illustrations of bald people with no distinguishing facial features voting and one kneeling in prayer with the Statue of Liberty blindfolded for some reason. It's a terrible illustration. On the last page in the top panel, a jacket-less Gore has collapsed into the arms of an African-American man with another man looking down on Gore as if he is telling him to relax or calm down, while on the other side a woman seems to be holding back Tipper Gore (who is illustrated so generically throughout the comic its hard to tell if it IS her) who looks upset and perhaps furious. I must confess I don't have any idea what this scene is supposed to be about or if it is referencing some event in the life of the Gores that I don't know about. Its a strange, out of place panel that doesn't seem to really make sense. Throughout the book the art is just not very good and again, Bluewater uses pale colors that don't really leap off the page.

As for the writing, the story of Gore's life as told by Scott Davis who puts himself in as the narrator on the first page sitting on a lawn chair next to a penguin in the South Pole before the iceberg he's sitting on is hit by a ship, is done with Bluewaters usual simple style and admirable effort to be non-partisan and just state the facts. It points out Gore's successes, his failures, his redeeming qualities and flaws (such as his wooden manner and speaking style, know-it-all behavior, and penchant for hyperbole), in a fair way. It clearly states that some people think of Gore as an:

"arrogant, scripted liberal hypocrite...the embodiment of big invasive government."

while others see him as:

"...the idealistic conscience of his country"

It does a good job of distinguishing facts from opinions. Something I wish more writers, bloggers, and so-called reporters would do.

The story is told chronologically beginning with Gores background and upbringing between the privileged halls of Washington power and private schools and rural Tennessee where he could cut loose performing crazy stunts off the back of speed boats when his father--Senator Gore--wasn't working him harder than the hired help cleaning hog pens and clearing over 20 acres of hill land of timber with nothing more than a regular ax. As a child Gore was apparently a "perfect little gentleman" for the most part, but also something of a "tattletale" who also enjoyed dropping water balloons on passing limos from the roof of the ritzy Fairfax Hotel his family lived in when his father was serving in the Senate. He was called "A Wooden Apollo" by one of his high-school instructors, and the book illustrates well the Gore who while in Washington worked hard to be "The Senators Son" but who was more "relaxed, fun-loving, daring, impetuous, even a bit reckless" down in Tennessee. It does a fine job showing how Gore came by his philosophy of "Choosing the Hard Right over the Easy Wrong" and how he is an interesting combination of Washington elitism and Southern gentleman tinged with the ability to be self-deprecating.

The comic does an excellent job about covering Gore's service in Vietnam. It points out, as I did on my blog for Gores' birthday, that Gore could have used his fathers political connections in the Senate and his family wealth to stay out of Vietnam (like George W. Bush and Quayle did) or just done things to avoid service (like Bill Clinton and Dick Cheney did) but instead volunteered. So even though he may have embellished a little about his service to gain votes (a time honored American political tradition) he did at least serve in combat -- something that those other guys I listed couldn't say. Gore volunteered partly because he felt it was wrong that rich privileged young men like himself could avoid service while poor kids went in his place, and partly because the Nixon Administration had targeted his father's Senate seat and him avoiding military service would have been used against his father in the campaign. The comic points out that it was later revealed that the Nixon Administration did, in fact, delay his deployment to Vietnam because they didn't want Senator Gore to get any "sympathy votes" due to his son serving in combat and being possibly wounded or killed.

The comic also does a good job tracing his career from a reporter into the House, then the Senate and the Vice-Presidency. It doesn't go into Tippers crusade against dirty lyrics on albums and only touches on the car accident his son was in. On one page it clearly and accurately covers all the controversy in Florida in the 2000 Election. This is one of the strongest aspects of the book. Something I especially appreciated is how it describes how Gore changed the Vice-Presidency. Starting with John Adams famous quote about the insignificant nature of being the Veep, it shows how Gore became a powerful and influential VP, saying:

"Gore changed the very model of the Vice-Presidency from the guy who goes to state funerals to an Executive Branch advisor and policy partner."

Finally, Davis sums up Gores post 2000 triumphs with "An Inconvenient Truth" and the Nobel Peace Prize in a concise style with his final statement ringing true:

"...no matter what side of the political fence you reside, you must admit that Al Gore is one of the more important, accomplished, influential, and relevant politicians of the 21st century."

All this is well and good, but the book suffers from the middling at best art, and again as we pointed out in the Biden comic, errors of syntax that were probably typos that should have been caught before publication. For example, on the FIRST PAGE, in describing what might have happened if Gore had won the 2000 Election it says:

"President Gore responds the 9-11 attacks."

That's just sloppy proofreading. Other examples include:

"...He grew up in the amongst"

and

"Others point to his populist campaign did not distance itself from the disgraced Clinton presidency".

Still, by simply showing Gores successes and flaws and telling the story in a clear way, I have to say, its much better than the Biden comic and I recommend picking it up if you can.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

Matt Saxe

Happy Birthday William Rufus Devane King!

2010-04-07T09:45:00.000-07:00

"One of those eminences whose strong impression on their own times has suffered a
gradual erasure upon the tablets of history."
John Updike on VP William Rufus Devane King.

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

Today is the birthday of one of our most obscure VP's. This VP is surrounded by speculation. He was so obscure, and his life leading up to and including the Vice-Presidency so bizarre that he was the VP we decided to make our "taster" -- a short video depicting what we want to do with "Vice-Precedence" -- about.

Yes, its the birthday of William Rufus Devane King. Born on April 7th 1786 in North Carolina. Vice-President under Franklin Pierce. Without a doubt, this is one of our most forgotten and obscure President-VP combos. And with good reason. Pierce is considered one of our least effective Presidents; by then the country was bitterly divided over the slavery issue with "Bleeding Kansas" going on in the West with acts of horrible violence that would be a pre-cursor to the Civil War. Pierce was probably an alcoholic, his son had died in a train crash involving the entire Pierce family days before his father took the oath of office, and his wife believed politics and Washington were evil and had prayed her husband would lose the election -- her beliefs she felt were confirmed by that train accident. So it was a rough four years for Mr. Pierce. Not so much for Vice-President King however. He was long gone by then.

King had had a distinguished career in American politics leading up to his election as VP. He had been a Representative from North Carolina, had co-founded the city of Selma, AL, and became one of that states Founders -- helping to write the Constitution for Alabama and help it attain statehood and became one of her first Senators in 1819. He was very popular there, getting re-elected in 1822, 1828, 1834, and 1841. He served as President pro tempore of the United States Senate during the 24th through 27th Congresses.

He was Minister to France from 1844 to 1846. He was appointed and subsequently elected as a Democrat to the Senate to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of Arthur P. Bagby and began serving on July 1, 1848. King was a strong moderate in the Senate -- he believed slavery was Constitutional and should go into the territories but was against secession. This balance would be key during the major conflicts in the Senate -- particularly during the Great Compromise of 1850, as he was the President Pro Tempore of the Senate. President Zachary Taylor had died in office and VP Millard Fillmore had become President, but didn't appoint a VP -- so according to the rules of ascension at the time, King was the next in line to be President -- even before he was elected VP.

King was not a talented speaker or a genius, but was known for his even-temper and kind and generous ways and was seen as perhaps the finest moderator in the Senate who kept the Senate in line for decades. This was the "Golden Age" of the Senate with Daniel Webster, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, Thomas Hart Benton, Stephen Douglas, Charles Sumner, Sam Houston, and Jefferson Davis among others--and it was King who they looked to, even before his election as President Pro Tempore to keep things in order and to moderate their great debates that would shape the future of the country:

"He possessed, in an eminent degree, that quickness of perception, that promptness of decision, that familiarity with the now complicated rules of congressional proceedings, and that urbanity of manner, which are required in a presiding officer."
Edward Everett

By the time he was elected VP with Pierce in 1852 he was so weak and frail with tuberculosis that he had gone to Cuba in hopes that its tropical climate could aid his health. It didn't. King took the oath of office there in Cuba, making him the only member of the Executive Branch in U.S. history not to take the Oath in the United States. King came back to the U.S. for two days after taking the oath in Cuba, but never made it to D.C., dying at his plantation of Kings Bend in Alabama on April 18, 1853. He had been VP for only 45 days.

All of these things are established. However, what has fascinated some historians are the events involving Kings personal life. King never married, and even though they were decades out of style he was fond of wearing wigs, jewelry and silk scarves -- looking something like a dandy. His style of dress and behavior led President Andrew Jackson to call him such names as "Miss Nancy" and "Aunt Fancy".

Even more intriguing is the fact that for 15 or so years he was roommates with future President James Buchanan. Buchanan had his own troubled past. He had been engaged to be married to an Anne Coleman. Before they were married he paid a call on her and shortly after, Coleman committed suicide. The Coleman family forbade Buchanan from attending the funeral and he never had a relationship with a woman again. It was after that that Buchanan and King met in Washington D.C.

They became very close very fast and moved into together. Sharing living quarters with other politicians was very common at this time--Washington was still not that big a city, and Congressmen and Senators had to keep their cost of living expenses down. All of them had homes and expenses back in their home states, so it was simpler to simply live together as roommates in boarding houses and hotels or homes for rent. So many did. However King and Buchanan seemed a little too close to some. Senator Aaron Brown of Tennessee in a letter to the wife of former President James Polk wrote that he had seen King:

"Aunt Fancy...rigged out in her best clothes."

and he referred to Buchanan and King as: "Buchanan and his wife."

Some of Buchanan and Kings letters to each other are still in existence, including this one from Buchanan to King when he left to be Minister of France in 1844:

"I am now solitary and alone, having no companion in the house with me. I have gone a wooing to several gentlemen, but have not succeeded with any one of them. I feel that it is not good for man to be alone; and should not be astonished to find myself married to some old maid who can nurse me when I am sick, provide good dinners for me when I am well, and not expect from me any very ardent or romantic affection."

King who was lonely and sad in Paris despite all the fashion and extravagance surrounding him wrote back:

"I am selfish enough to hope you will not be able to procure an associate who will cause you to feel no regret at our separation."

All this has led many historians to believe that King and Buchanan were our first homosexual VP and President. Its interesting to note that they often discussed running together for those offices as well. While there is no genuine proof of the sexuality of King and Buchanan, the circumstantial evidence seems pretty solid. When Buchanan died his estate executors retrieved papers kept in a bank in New York that Buchanan claimed would explain the truth about his break-up with Anne Coleman and the real reasons for her suicide. However, when they got the papers they also found a hand-written note from the late President instructing them to not open or read the papers and to burn them immediately. So the truth was tossed in the flames--a mystery forever. One wonders however why more homosexual groups don't make a bigger deal out of King...perhaps because he fits too many stereotypes and because he was a slaveholder?

Anyway, all this made King the perfect person for us to make our "taster" about, and I am very proud of the short we made. I hope you will enjoy it as well. It can be seen on YouTube here.

We also have buttons available with Kings picture reading: "I Fancy Miss Nancy!" that I know you'll want to get. They, along with other Vice-Precedence merchandise can be purchased through our website for the film: www.viceprecedence.com

Be sure to become a FAN on Facebook of Vice-Precedence and to take part in our "Join The Race For Second Place!" Contest to get us more Fans. The person who gets us the most Fans on Facebook wins a Vice-Precedence button AND gets to ask a question of Vice-President Joseph Biden when we interview him! If we get to interview him. So write him and tell him to give us an interview!

Thanks for your support and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AUNT FANCY!

Matt Saxe

Happy Birthday Al Gore!

2010-03-31T09:37:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

Well, today is the birthday of one of the most beloved VP's of all time. Many Americans think that this VP should have rightly been President. Not even winning an Oscar, an Emmy, a Grammy and even the Nobel Peace Prize would make up for his loss in the Presidential Election of 2000.

Yes its the birthday of Al Gore, and yes he has won all of those awards. For ever since his controversial defeat in the infamous election of 2000 where he won the popular vote by around half a million votes over George W. Bush, but lost the electoral vote by losing the recount in Florida that was supported by the Supreme Court by a 5–4 margin in favor of Bush—the only time in history the Court may have determined the outcome of a presidential election, Gore has been one of the worlds best know environmentalists.

All his work on exposing his beliefs on global warming culminated in the film "An Inconvenient Truth" which won the Oscar for Best Feature Length Documentary. The audio-book would win the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album.

Gores father was a member of the House for 13 years, and the Senate for 18 years representing Tennessee. Al Jr. was raised in both Tennessee and Washington D.C., at his senior prom he met his future wife Tipper. Gore attended Harvard, where he was roommates with fellow future Oscar winner Tommy Lee Jones. He started out as an English major, but the Martin Luther King assassination, the war in Vietnam and other issues of the late 60's and early 70's led him to become politically active (without becoming a raging hippie) and switch to government as his major and graduated cum laude. He also first became aware of climate change from Roger Revelles lectures there.

When it came to Vietnam, Al Jr. was against the war, but knew that if he tried going to Canada (his mother had already agreed to join him there if he made that choice) or avoiding service in Vietnam by joining the National Guard (like some other Presidents and VP candidates I can think of...) he would damage his fathers already very tough campaign for re-election in the Senate,especially considering the fact that his father had voted for the Gulf of Tonkin resolution initially, but as the war had progressed and escalated, had changed his mind on the issue. The Nixon Administration and Republicans had targeted Senator Gore as a Senate seat they could take, and if his son somehow avoided service they all knew it would be used against him. Added to that fact, Gore Jr. did not feel it was right for someone with fewer advantages than himself to go in his place. So he became a true "Tennessee Volunteer" and enlisted in the regular Army. Before shipping out for Vietnam he married Tipper.

His orders to be sent to Vietnam were "held up" for some time and he suspected that this was due to a fear by the Nixon administration that if something happened to him, his father would gain sympathy votes. Considering the way Nixon and his administration worked, thats probably a good theory. He was finally shipped to Vietnam on January 2, 1971, after his father had lost his seat in the Senate during the 1970 Senate election, one "of only about a dozen of the 1,115 Harvard graduates in the Class of '69 who went to Vietnam." Gore was stationed with the 20th Engineer Brigade in Bien Hoa and was a journalist with The Castle Courier. He received an honorable discharge from the Army in May 1971.

After Vietnam Gore studied at Vanderbilt, worked as an investigative reporter, and studied law. In 1976 at the age of 28 he was elected to Congress and was re-elected in 1978, 1980, and 1982--each time winning by a landslide. On March 19, 1979 he became the first member of Congress to appear on C-SPAN. In 1985 he was elected to the Senate. In 1990, Senator Gore presided over a three-day conference with legislators from over 42 countries which sought to create a Global Marshall Plan, "under which industrial nations would help less developed countries grow economically while still protecting the environment."

In 1988 Gore initially denied an interest in running for President. Instead he was the subject of speculation prior to his announcement a reporter stated:

"National analysts make Sen. Gore a long-shot for the Presidential nomination, but many believe he could provide a natural complement for any of the other candidates: a young, attractive, moderate Vice Presidential nominee from the South. He currently denies any interest, but he carefully does not reject the idea out of hand."

At the time, he was 39 years old, making him the youngest serious Presidential candidate since John F. Kennedy. Finally he came out and decided to run. He ran his campaign as:

"a Southern centrist, [who] opposed federal funding for abortion. He favored a moment of silence for prayer in the schools and voted against banning the interstate sale of handguns."

Gore carried seven states in the primary, finishing 3rd, but eventually dropped out. In April 3, 1989, the Gores and their six-year-old son Albert were crossing a street after a baseball game when Albert ran across the street to see his friend and was hit by a car. He was thrown 30 feet and then traveled along the pavement for another 20 feet Gore later recalled:

"I ran to his side and held him and called his name, but he was motionless, limp and still, without breath or pulse. His eyes were open with the nothingness stare of death, and we prayed, the two of us, there in the gutter, with only my voice."

Albert was tended to by two nurses who happened to be present during the accident. The Gores spent the next month in the hospital with Albert. Gore also commented:
"Our lives were consumed with the struggle to restore his body and spirit." This event was "a trauma so shattering that [Gore] views it as a moment of personal rebirth" and a "key moment in his life" which "changed everything."

In August 1991, Gore announced that his son's accident had "left a deep impression on our family" and that it was a factor in his decision not to run for president during the 1992 presidential election. Gore stated:

"I would like to be President [...] But I am also a father, and I feel deeply about my responsibility to my children [...] I didn't feel right about tearing myself away from my family to the extent that is necessary in a Presidential campaign."

During this time, Gore wrote Earth in the Balance, which became the first book written by a sitting U.S. Senator to make the New York Times bestseller list since John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. He also actually wrote his book, something that a lot of people say JFK didn't.

However, Gore did accept Bill Clintons offer to be his VP candidate, due to his clashes with the 1st Bush Administrations lack of action on global warming. Clinton stated that he chose Gore due to his foreign policy experience, work with the environment, and commitment to his family. It was a sort of unconventional VP pick, since Gore was also a young Southerner who didn't add any age or geographical balance to the ticket. They were the youngest Presidential ticket in history.

Washington Bureau Chief for The Baltimore Sun, Paul West, later suggested that:

"Al Gore revolutionized the way vice presidents are made. When he joined Bill Clinton's ticket, it violated the old rules. Regional diversity? Not with two Southerners from neighboring states. Ideological balance? A couple of left-of-center moderates. [...] And yet, Gore has come to be regarded by strategists in both parties as the best vice presidential pick in at least 20 years."

Gore crushed Quayle and Admiral James Stockdale in the VP Debate and he and Clinton went on to win the election. Gore became a very powerful and influential VP, working on issues such as the environment (of course), government corruption, and technology.

At the beginning of the first term in 1992, Clinton and Gore developed a "two-page agreement outlining their relationship." Clinton committed himself to regular lunch meetings, recognized Gore as a principal adviser on nominations, and appointed some of Gore's chief advisers to key White House staff positions. Clinton involved Gore in decision-making to an unprecedented degree for a vice president. Through their weekly lunches and daily conversations, Gore became the president's "indisputable chief adviser."

There were bumps in the road though. Gore was criticized for attending an event at a Buddhist temple that turned out to be a fund-raiser. In March 1997, Gore had to explain phone calls which he made to solicit funds for the Democratic Party for the 1996 election.[91] In a news conference, Gore stated that:

"all calls that I made were charged to the Democratic National Committee. I was advised there was nothing wrong with that. My counsel tells me there is no controlling legal authority that says that is any violation of any law."

But the biggest divide between Clinton and Gore was the Monica Lewinsky scandal. We all know the sordid details about that. Gore defended Clinton at the beginning, whom he believed to be innocent, stating:

"He is the President of the country! He is my friend. I want to ask you now, every single one of you, to join me in supporting him."

The truth was though, that Clinton had cheated on his wife in the Oval Office with Lewinsky. Its still something that just really blows (no pun intended) my mind.

After Clinton was impeached Gore continued to defend him stating:
"I've defined my job in exactly the same way for six years now [...] to do everything I can to help him be the best president possible."

But privately he was extremely disappointed in Clinton and worried about how it would effect his own run for the Presidency in 2000. Around this time Gore gave an interview with Wolf Blitzer where he said:

"During my service in the United States Congress, I took the initiative in creating the Internet. I took the initiative in moving forward a whole range of initiatives that have proven to be important to our country's economic growth and environmental protection, improvements in our educational system."

Gores opponents used this quote against him, claiming he said he "invented the Internet". This urban legend exploded and was fodder for comedians and Republicans across the country. It didn't matter that computer professionals and congressional colleagues argued in his defense. Internet pioneers Vint Cerf and Bob Kahn stated that:

"We don't think, as some people have argued, that Gore intended to claim he 'invented' the Internet. Moreover, there is no question in our minds that while serving as Senator, Gore's initiatives had a significant and beneficial effect on the still-evolving Internet."

Even his old Congressional colleague and leader of the "Republican Revolution" Newt Gingrich defended him saying:

"In all fairness, it's something Gore had worked on a long time. Gore is not the Father of the Internet, but in all fairness, Gore is the person who, in the Congress, most systematically worked to make sure that we got to an Internet, and the truth is -- and I worked with him starting in 1978 when I got [to Congress], we were both part of a "futures group" -- the fact is, in the Clinton administration, the world we had talked about in the '80s began to actually happen."

So if we can all please stop with the "He invented the internet" jokes, I for one would really appreciate it. Enoughs enough with that old joke. Its not funny and its not accurate. Even Newt Gingrich says so Republicans. Get some new material everyone.

Gore announced his candidacy for President, and won the Democratic primaries against Senator Bill Bradley of New Jersey. Gore made some VP history by choosing Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut as his vice presidential running mate-the first Jewish American on a Presidential ticket. The election was extremely tight, polls showed different numbers every day.

Finally it all came down to Florida on election day and night, and we all know what happened then. Weeks later the results of the decision led to Gore winning the popular vote by approximately 500,000 votes nationwide, but receiving 266 electoral votes to Bush's 271 (one District of Columbia elector abstained). On December 13, 2000, Gore conceded the election. Gore strongly disagreed with the Court's decision, but in his concession speech stated that:

"for the sake of our unity as a people and the strength of our democracy, I offer my concession."

In 2006 with the release of "An Inconvenient Truth", and his appearances across the country and in the media like Saturday Night Live and the creation of his network CURRENT TV, plus the fury over the Bush Administrations policies, Gore was probably the most popular ex-VP in history.

The director of the film, Davis Guggenheim, stated that after the release of the film:

"Everywhere I go with him, they treat him like a rock star."

At the Oscar ceremony, he pulled a fantastic prank, making it seem like he was about to announce his candidacy for President, but just as he was about to do so, was "played off" by the orchestra. Even though Gore was polling as high as second and third even without campaigning in Democratic and popular polls, he firmly refused to run again. Gore has continued to work on behalf of the environment and other issues he is passionate about. All while still helping to run his TV network.

Gore is definitely a historic VP in many ways. He followed the lead of Walter Mondale and was a VP with power and influence, but also like Mondale, he lost his bid for the White House and it seems that he will never be President. One can only wonder what a Gore Presidency during the years of the "War on Terror" would have been like. How would he have responded to 9/11? Would we have invaded Iraq? Would Saddam Hussein still be alive? Will revisionist historical novels come out about this, in the same vein of the "What if the Confederacy had won the Civil War?" fantasy history novels? We'll never really know.

However, we can say this: if any of you readers have an "In", we'd love to interview Vice-President Gore for our film! Just his presence in it for a few minutes would probably guarantee us funding and a release. We really want to interview him. I personally think it'd be a fascinating interview, and Gore seems to have a good sense of humor about himself: witness his appearance on SNL-especially the filmed segment on the set of "The West Wing" which is one of the funniest bits I have seen in a long time. So why not write to him at Current and tell him to grant us an interview? Here's his website:

www.algore.com

Join us in saying: HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICE-PRESIDENT GORE!

Thanks for reading.

Matt Saxe.

Joe Drops Some Real

2010-03-25T08:40:00.000-07:00

In case you haven't heard, on Monday, Joe Biden, right after introducing President Obama and lauding the passage of health care reform bill, turned to the President and said the following, perhaps historic, phrase:

"This is a big fucking deal."

Okay, this might not be the kind of folksiness we're used to, but Joe put a point on it, and Obama was none the worse for it. Let's try and take a step back from what happened and get around all of the small-minded mentions of this, calling the VP things like vulgar and stupid, and look at what it means to us as a nation.

Nothing.

We all swear. If you don't swear, fine, but you need to accept that most of us do. That said, most of us don't - and can't - do it on the job. That said, Biden is always on the job, and he was whispering to Obama like he would a good pal. That's right, the Vice President and President seem to be pals. What does that mean?

A lot.

Presidents, historically, either come from the Vice Presidency - at which point they pity the VP from experience or because they know what an arbitrary choice he was - or downright hate the VP, as he's normally not their choice. Go back to Rutherford B. Hayes who said, after William Wheeler was chosen as VP:

"Who is Wheeler?"

That statement gives me less faith in the system. Biden dropping the big one, though, doesn't, and is just a further indication that the VP is part of the system, rather than just a talking head. Sure, Obama looked a little put off by the remark, but that didn't sway him. I have a feeling he's used to this kind of talk, and that Biden is probably something of a cheerleader behind the scenes, as well. Call that what you will, but Biden's too-loud utterance of an "obscenity" is nothing more than a little too much volume.

I just hope this didn't run on any major networks like that. Then the FCC would have to fine him a year's pay.

Also, in case you weren't paying attention to... well, the news, in the last couple of weeks, Joe took a trip to Israel... Okay, that's an understatement. Joe made actual history this month.

Biden, who has a long-standing friendship with Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu, came to Israel to announce support for Israel against Iran's nuclear ambitions on the condition that Israel start negotiating the placements of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Then, not long after Biden's arrival, came the news that Israeli officials were planning to build in East Jerusalem, one of the most hotly fought-over pieces of land in the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Biden made history simply by making an example of this attempt to "embarrass" Biden, as Newsweek put it.

“Yesterday the decision by the Israeli government to advance planning for new housing units in east Jerusalem undermined that very trust, the trust that we need right now in order to begin as well as have profitable negotiations. That is why I immediately condemned the action.”

And he said this all while standing next to Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian Authority. He used the word "condemn," and against Israel. This is not only a show of American power by a VP, as it was intended to be, but it was also a warning shot, diplomacy-wise. Whoever's choice it was to use the words that Biden spoke, the fact that he spoke them was truly powerful for a VP, just as much as it was for an American Administration in danger of looking weak. While they were there to, essentially, threaten Iran, they took Israel to task for breaking a deal.

America has a long history of supporting Israel, regardless of their position in the Israel-Palestine conflict. Israeli offense often equals or exceeds that of Palestine, and perhaps a shake-up like this can cause a necessary re-assessment of priorities when it comes to intervention in foreign policy and conflict. As many perhapses as that might be, what is clear is that Biden is becoming a VP with power.

- Jason C. Klamm

Happy Birthday Schuyler Colfax!

2010-03-24T11:36:00.000-07:00

"A friendly rascal...a little intriguer -- plausible, aspiring beyond his capacity, and not trustworthy."
Abraham Lincoln giving his opinion of then Speaker of the House and future VP Schuyler Colfax.

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers!

Yesterday was the birthday of a VP who left office under a cloud of scandal and disgrace.

On March 23, 1823 Schuyler Colfax was born in New York, NY.

Colfax came from a family with a strong tradition of service to the country, even before it was a country. His grandfather was the commander of George Washingtons Life Guards--Washingtons personal bodyguards charged with protecting him and important papers of the Continental Army.

Colfax made a steady rise from 19 year old newspaper editor, to member of the Whig Party, to member of Congress, switched to the new Republican Party, to election as Speaker of the House where he announced the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment-officially abolishing slavery, to Vice-President under Ulysses S. Grant. He was very popular among his fellow politicians and was always ready with a laugh and a joke-leading to his nickname: "Smiler".

Besides jokes, Colfax had a penchant for intrigue, scandal, and greed. He was tapped to be VP under Grant because he was popular with his fellow Republicans and experienced in politics-unlike the former failed shopkeeper turned national hero Grant.

He was forced out of the Vice-Presidency when he exposed as having taken part in the Credit Mobilier Scandal and was nearly impeached. He was replaced by Henry Wilson in the second Grant Administration, who was completely free of any scandal.

Colfax made his living after the Vice-Presidency as a lecturer, speaking across the country. On January 13, 1885, at the age of 63 he walked almost a mile in negative 30˚F weather from the Front Street depot to the Omaha depot in Mankato, Minnesota. He had to change trains in Mankato to reach Rock Rapids, Iowa, for a speaking engagement. Five minutes after arriving at the depot, Colfax dropped dead of a heart attack brought on by the extreme cold and exhaustion.

The city of Mankato (a couple hours from where I live in Minneapolis now) set up a marker where the former VP died in its Washington Park on the site of the former depot. Its probably the most historic thing to ever happen in the small town. There are also 7 cities in 7 different states across the country named for the former VP. Why? I mean, he was forced to resign in disgrace but 7 towns named their cities after him? We're all in favor of recognizing our VP's here at Vice-Precedence, but even we'll admit that Schuyler Colfax is a weird one to choose.

Most strangely of all, Colfax died trying to catch a train, so naturally the town of Colfax, CA. had a bronze statue of Colfax placed next to their AMTRAK station. You can see it here on the blog.

I'm sure he would be pleased.

In any case-HAPPY BIRTHDAY SCHUYLER COLFAX!

Happy Birthday John C. Calhoun

2010-03-18T14:44:00.000-07:00

"He is the much the ablest man in the Senate. He could have demolished Newton, Calvin, or even John Locke as a logician."
Daniel Webster on John C. Calhoun

"Posterity will condemn me more because I was persuaded not to hang John C. Calhoun as a traitor than for any other act in my life."
President Andrew Jackson lamenting about not having his own VP executed. I guess he wasn't thinking about all the horrible things he did to Native Americans..or else he didn't care.

Today is the birthday of a man listed as one of the "Five Greatest Senators in U.S. History" as named by a Senate committee in 1957 presided over by John F. Kennedy. John C. Calhoun was described by a contemporary as:
"The cast-iron man. Who looks as if he had never been born, and never could be extinguished."

In "Profiles in Courage" JFK described him as a man with a mind that was:
"cold, narrow, concentrated, and powerful...Strangely enough, although he had the appearance, especially in his later days, of a fanatic, he was a man of infinite charm and personality. He was reputed to be the best conversationalist in South Carolina, and he won to him through their emotions men who failed to comprehend his closely reasoned arguments."

Being VP was just another little thing on the list of accomplishments of this extraordinary figure in American history.

He was a graduate of Yale, as a state representative wrote legislation making South Carolina the first state to adopt universal suffrage (for white men anyway), elected a member of the House of Representatives from his beloved South Carolina when he was just 29, served as both Secretary of State and Secretary of War, and was the most prominent Senator of the south for almost 20 years. And of course, he was VP. In fact, he happened to be a VP surrounded by interesting and ridiculous events, and a historic VP in many ways.

He was Vice-President under John Quincy Adams, and again elected VP in the next election under the new President, Andrew Jackson. Only VP George Clinton shares that distinction.

While VP under Jackson, his wife (and first-cousin once removed) Floride was the ringleader in the ridiculous "Petticoat Affair" where she organized the wives of Cabinet members to shun and ostracize "Pothouse" Peggy Eaton a former bar-maid who married Secretary of War John Eaton. They alleged that John and Peggy Eaton had engaged in an adulterous affair while Mrs. Eaton was still legally married to her first husband John B. Timberlake. The scandal resulted in the resignation of all but two of Jackson's Cabinet members. Talk about Girl Power. Calhoun told Jackson it was pointless to try to argue with his wife about an issue like this (she was very sensitive, conservative and genteel) but President Jackson was desperate to settle this affair and stop the laughs of many around the country over the whole affair. So he decided to pay Floride a formal visit. When President Jackson went to visit Floride and tried convince her to ease up on this and accept Mrs. Eaton, Floride listened to him politely and then turned to her butler and said:

"Show this gentleman to the door."

Ouch.

Finally, in 1830 when South Carolina threatened to secede from the Union over issues of high tariffs during the "Nullification Crisis" the issues between Jackson and Calhoun came to a head. During the crisis at the 1830 Jefferson Day dinner at Jesse Brown's Indian Queen Hotel, Calhoun proposed in front of many prominent Southerners that the President give a toast to which President Jackson raised his glass and while staring daggers at his VP said:

"Our federal Union, it must be preserved."

Calhoun kept his glass raised and cooly replied:
"The Union, next to our liberty, the most dear."

When Jackson found out that while Secretary of War Calhoun had wanted President Monroe to censure him for his invasion of Florida, the President was furious. All of these issues led Calhoun to be the first person to ever resign the Vice-Presidency.

He followed up his service as VP as a Senator from South Carolina, taking part in all the huge debates of the day over expansion and slavery. It is during this time that he cemented his legend as an incredible Senator. Calhouns legacy of support for states rights, slavery and agrarian republicanism lived long after his death in 1850, inspiring many men to later resign their House and Senate seats and help their states secede from the Union and join the Confederacy.

A legendary and amazing figure in American history, join us here at Vice-Precedence as we say:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOHN C. CALHOUN!

Thanks for reading!

Matt Saxe

The Curse of Burr? & Liz Cheney VS. "The Daily Show"

2010-03-09T11:12:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

Well, last week on Monday night, PBS aired the new American Experience special, "DOLLEY MADISON" about the woman who basically created the role of the First Lady. She was the first Presidents wife to have a charity she worked for, and was the premiere hostess in our brand new Nations Capital. Her amazing parties not only introduced ice-cream to the American public (Thank you so much for that Dolley!) but truly helped to ease partisan violence in an era where men would fight duels or engage in brawls on the Congressional floor over issues. It made todays partisan bickering look like a fight between pre-schoolers. At her parties members from opposing political parties could (and were sometimes practically forced) to be civil to one another and discuss things rationally over fine food and wine with Dolley making sure everything stayed friendly.

Born before the Revolution, she met Presidents Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and other heroes of the Revolution and lived into the era of the railroads and photography. Of course, what she is most famous for is saving the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and Gilbert Stuarts now legendary painting of George Washington from the British Army when they captured Washington D.C. during the War of 1812 and destroyed the White House.

However, another famous story about Dolley Madison is how she was introduced to James Madison. At the time, Dolley was considered one of the most eligible women in Philadelphia--she was a young, attractive widow who turned heads everywhere she went. One day, Congressman James Madison--"The Father of the Constitution"--saw her as he was out walking and found her amazingly attractive. He asked a friend of his, who happened to be staying at the boarding house Dolley worked at and knew her well, to introduce him to her. That friend was Aaron Burr. Yes, the Aaron Burr who if you read this blog you should know by now. Burr was more than happy to introduce Congressman Madison to Dolley and the rest as they say is history. Even after Burr killed Hamilton in their famous duel and was basically shunned and discarded by President Jefferson (Madisons other best friend and key political ally) Dolley always was grateful to Burr for helping to get her together with Madison. However, in the special on American Experience, while Burr was mentioned--he was not shown onscreen at all. Also, in the multiple Emmy and SAG Award winning HBO series "JOHN ADAMS" starring Paul Giammatti and Laura Linney, Burr is mentioned twice but like in "DOLLEY MADISON" he is not shown at all.

Despite the exclusion of Burr I will say that the special starring Tony Award nominee Eve Best and Tony Award winner Jefferson Mays (who had played Madison before for a PBS series) was excellent. I really enjoyed it and if you're someone like us here at Vice-Precedence, I think you will enjoy it as well. Its great to get a different view of history -- in this case-- an extraordinary womans point of view. I highly recommend both it and JOHN ADAMS as well.

At the same time that Monday night on NBC "Law and Order" was on guest starring Debra Winger as a high school principal who was a little too close to her students at what is called "one of the worst schools in the city". Throughout the episode characters talk about how horrible this school is, how violent, how bad the students are, how dangerous it is, how it should and probably will be torn down and its students dispersed to other schools. The students there are suspects in the murder of a student at another school who they not only beat up, but light on fire while he's still alive. Nice kids huh? The name of this school? Why Aaron Burr High of course! Whats up with that?! I just thought it was interesting that Burr was mentioned on two completely different shows airing at the same time. How often does something like that happen?

It all made me think of a sort of theory that Jason came up with that he called "The Curse of Burr". "The Curse of Burr" is that since Burr was the first VP never to become President and was forced out of the office by his President, and his tie with Jefferson in the election of 1800 led to the creation of the 12th Amendment, that he changed the office of the Vice-President by being the odd man out and damned many of his followers in the Vice-Presidency to lives of obscurity.

In adding to this theory, its interesting to note that after Burr, practically all the VP's who became President only ascended to the office because of a national tragedy -- i.e. the death of the President. A few VP's got elected President on their own -- like Martin Van Buren and George H.W. Bush, but most didn't become President at all or lost in their elections for President, like Hubert Humphrey, Walter Mondale, and Al Gore.

It seemed with Burr's exclusion on "DOLLEY MADISON" and the fact that the high school named after him on "LAW & ORDER" is a gangsters paradise ghetto dump that "The Curse of Burr" lives on in a different way. When one thinks of Aaron Burr, all most people think is "killer" and so using his name is a good way to make a place sort of dangerous sounding -- like they did on "L&O", meanwhile, if his name has to be brought up like in "DOLLEY MADISON" or "JOHN ADAMS", its better to just say it really quickly and move on. Aside from specials on Hamilton or Burr himself he's practically ignored. The "Curse" in action? Perhaps.

Also, apparently on tonights "Daily Show" on Comedy Central, there will be some discussion about Liz Cheney. Comedy Central is advertising the show as having earned the "Dick Cheney Scowl of Approval". Could be some interesting viewing.

Thanks for reading everyone.

Cheney-Five and Still Alive!

2010-03-02T10:07:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers.

Well, it was definitely a heart attack that former VP Richard "Dick" Cheney had last week. Making it number five for those of you who are counting. This fifth one was a mild one and he was released from George Washington University Hospital last week.

Both President Obama and VP Biden called Cheney while he was in the hospital to wish him a speedy recovery. On "FOX News Sunday" his daughter Liz Cheney said that her fathers five heart attacks over the last 32 years show that a person with coronary disease can live a fulfilling and even stressful life despite it. She said it's important to be on the look out for any signs of the disease.

The former VP is expected to get back to his regular schedule soon.

Whenever news breaks on the VP front, be sure to come here first and post comments or questions you'd like us to address here or on the Facebook page. We'll see comments on the Facebook page faster than ones here. Be sure to spread the word about Vice-Precedence to your friends and family. Thanks for your support!

Matt Saxe

VP Story on... CNN?

2010-02-26T12:31:00.000-08:00

That's right. Oddly enough, CNN today published an article
by producer/writer Kristi Keck on our fifth Vice President, Elbridge Gerry... without mentioning the fact that he was Vice President even once in the article. (To be fair, there are two side bars that mention it, but the main article itself is wanting of such a mention).

Gerry, as the article mentions, is best known for having inspired the term "gerrymandering" - the complex and overt redistricting practices that became big news with Gerry's pre-VP usage of it. There are a lot of great, interesting tidbits about the former VP's life in the piece.

Which begs the question "why?" or, to be more specific "why didn't you mention Elbridge Gerry's highest office?" While we endeavor to find out more about this astounding(ly understandable) omission, we recommend you read the piece and get to know Gerry a little better. It's actually quite a good basic primer on the man. You might also enjoy the video.

More to come...

- Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Cheney Hospitalized

2010-02-23T11:35:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post here Vice-Precedence Blog Fans.

Yesterday former VP Cheney was checked into George Washington Hospital after having some chest pains. The 69 year old former VP has had numerous health scares over the years as is well known. He's had four heart attacks. The first one occurring when he was just 37. He's also had quadruple-bypass surgery and two artery-clearing angioplasties. According to reports the former VP is resting in bed while doctors go over his condition and decide if anything else needs to be done. We'll let you know of any developments.

Thanks for checking in -- and if you're a new subscriber to the blog or FAN on Facebook, please go read some of our older posts, whether its a birthday for a VP you've never heard of, a posting from The Onion, a review of the Joe Biden comic from both Jason and myself, my meeting with Sarah Palin, developments in the Valerie Plame case regarding former VP Cheney, or any of our other blogs, we think you'll find something that will make you laugh out loud, shake your head in wonder, or simply blow your mind. Post comments here and on Facebook, let us know what you'd like to see us address and what you think of the blog and trailer for "Vice-Precedence". Thanks for your support.

Matt Saxe.

Cheney Wows CPAC. DraftCheney2012.com?

2010-02-19T11:38:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog readers.

CPAC-The Conservative Political Action Conference is going on as I write this. This "Conservative Convention" is a chance for conservatives and Republicans around the country to get together and reaffirm their conservative values and listen to some of the most prominent members of their party tell them how wonderful they are and whip them into a frenzy. This year the speakers are really hammering President Obama and the Democrats on issues like; the Health Care Plan, the stimulus, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and even personal issues.

All this criticism and joking (some of it being in the form of personal insults) had Bill O'Reilly on his show on FOX News "The O'Reilly Factor" broadcasting this week from L.A., saying that while its fine to criticize and question the President, he thinks that some of the speakers at CPAC, particularly former House Majority Leader and current head of the controversial group FreedomWorks -- Dick Armey (one of the funniest names in American political history), had gotten too personal and gone too far. Particularly with these comments:

"You're intellectually shallow. You're romantic. You're self-indulgent. You have no ability, perhaps the most proven yourself already to be the most incompetent president perhaps in our lifetime."

When Bill O'Reilly is saying that about Republicans -- you know it must be pretty bad.

However, the big story yesterday at CPAC was a surprise appearance from former VP Cheney. Cheney's daughter Liz was a scheduled speaker, and had gotten the crowd fired up with comments such as:

"And while we're sending messages to President Obama today, here is one more. Stop apologizing for this great nation and start defending her."

"There's no polite way to put this, but that kind of incompetence gets people killed," in regards to the White House missing warnings about a possible attack out of Yemen from the intelligence communities.

She went on to accuse the Obama Administration of "incompetence, misjudgment and presidential neglect." and then said:

"There is no doubt that the daily intelligence briefings that the president receives contained much more information on the threat from Yemen,"

After concluding her remarks she mentioned her father the former VP and said:

“Often before I give big speeches, I ask him for advice. Today I brought him with me.”

Suddenly and dramatically the former Vice-President appeared and walked on the stage, rousing the surprised and delighted audience out of their seats into a standing ovation with thunderous applause, cheers and chants of "Cheney, Cheney, Cheney!", “Four more years!”, "Run Cheney, Run!" and "Cheney 2012!"

Cheney was clearly pleased by the warm reception and after getting some laughs by saying he was just Liz's "arm-candy" he wryly said:

"Knock it off. A welcome like that almost makes me want to run for office -- but I am not going to do it."

Cheney went on to follow up his daughters speech with the same sort of comments he has been saying for awhile now -- how he believes the Obama Administrations policies are not keeping Americans safe, etc.

The headline-grabbing statement he made however was the following:

"I think the year of 2010 is going to be a great year in congressional races, and I think President Obama is going to be a one-term president."

You got it straight from the horse's mouth right there folks. Obama is a one-term President. Basically a replay of Carter according to Mr. Cheney, and the audience loved it.

He also said it was time for the younger generation of Republicans to take the lead in their struggle against President Obama and the Left:

"There comes a time when those of us in our generation need to move on and make certain that the younger generation has an opportunity to step up,"

As for the idea of the former VP running for President in 2012, he sort of nipped that in the bud with his opening comments, however, as we all know, all politicians reserve the right to change their minds whenever they choose to do so -- especially if it becomes politically expedient. So Mr. Cheney might be keeping an eye on the website created by a Chris Barron titled "DraftCheney2012.com"

The sites sole purpose is to make Cheney the Republican Presidential Nominee in 2012. You can make donations, buy t-shirts and bumper stickers, and follow the latest Cheney news there. Today they have launched a "Write-In Dick Cheney" campaign for the straw poll being held at CPAC for the 2012 nominee. You can see it all for yourself at:

http://www.draftcheney2012.com

Don't be frightened. It's just a website.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Cheney VS. Biden & Happy Presidents Day!

2010-02-15T13:06:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Fans!

Well, yesterday was a very interesting day for VP's in the media. Current VP Joe Biden was on NBC's "Meet the Press" and former VP Richard "Dick" Cheney was on ABC's "This Week".

Cheney made many interesting comments in his interview with Jonathan Karl, once again sharply criticizing the Obama/Biden Administration over the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and national security issues. He claimed that any success that the current administration has had on these major issues was only due to the efforts of Bush and Cheney himself:

"If [the administration is] going to take credit for [Iraq's success], fair enough ... but it ought to come with a healthy dose of 'Thank you, George Bush' up front and a recognition that some of their early recommendations with respect to prosecuting that war were just dead wrong," Cheney said.

He went on to say that he thinks the policies of the Obama/Biden administration are putting the U.S. in danger of more terrorist attacks. He used VP Biden's own words against the current administration to make his point, attacking Bidens claim that another 9/11 level attack is "unlikely":

"I just think that's just dead wrong. I think the biggest threat the United States faces today is the possibility of another 9/11 with a nuclear weapon or a biological agent of some kind. And I think Al-Qaeda is out there -- even as we meet -- trying to do that. You have to consider it as a war. You have to consider it as something we may have to deal with tomorrow. You don't want the vice president of the United States running around saying, 'Oh, it's not likely going to happen.'"

While this is par for the course when it comes to Cheney (as I have reported on this blog) and probably made his fellow conservative Republicans very happy, he then
went on to make comments that probably had their jaws dropping in shock.

Cheney DID say that he agrees with Obama's strategy for Afghanistan, saying he is a "complete supporter" of the idea of sending more soldiers, sailors, and marines to that country and highly praised the Presidents selection of General Stanley McChrystal to lead this attack.

Once again, Cheney showed his open-mindedness when it comes to issues regarding Homosexual Rights. When it comes to "Don't Ask-Don't Tell" Cheney admitted that the time has come to re-examine the issue:

"Twenty years ago, the military were strong advocates of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' when I was Secretary of Defense. I think things have changed significantly since then. I'm reluctant to second-guess the military in this regard. When the Chiefs come forward and say, 'We think we can do it,' then it strikes me that it's time to reconsider the policy."

Keep in mind, this is not only a former VP making this argument, but as he reminds folks-a former Secretary of Defense (1989-1993). Besides that, as you all probably know - he is also the father of an out lesbian and grandfather to her two children produced from artificial insemination, something that has made conservative Christian Republicans in groups like Focus on the Family and The Christian Coalition furious and disgusted. So his point of view on this subject is a unique one that should be respected and taken into account.

He also showed a lack of enthusiasm for Sarah Palin and her ideas. He made it clear that he disagrees with her on the idea that President Obama could help himself politically by declaring war on Iran. On an interview last week for the FOX NEWS
show "FOX News Sunday" Palin stated that if the President: "toughen[ed] up" and "secured our nation," people might change what they think about him.

"Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decide to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel, which I would like him to do. If he decided to toughen up ... I think people would perhaps shift their thinking a little bit and decide, 'Well, maybe he's tougher than we think he's, than he is today.'" Palin said.

Cheney disagreed with her and made it clear he did:

"I don't think a President can make a judgment like that on the basis of politics. The stakes are too high, the consequences too significant to be treating those as simple political calculations. When you begin to talk about war, talk about crossing international borders, you talk about committing American men and women to combat, that takes place on a plane clear above any political consideration."

As for a Palin presidential bid - Cheney showed little enthusiasm for the idea:

"I haven't made a decision yet on who I'm going to support. I think all of the prospective candidates out there have got a lot of work to do if in fact they are going to persuade a majority of Americans that they are ready to take on the world's toughest job," Cheney said.

Cheney also admitted that he was in disagreement with the majority of the Bush Administration when it came to issues of interrogation of detainees in Guantanamo and Abu-Grahib. He talked about a meeting he was in with the Cabinet and other advisers to President Bush held in the Roosevelt Room "where we had a major shootout" over whether to try captured terrorist suspects before military commissions or, as the Justice Department advocated at the time, in civilian courts here in the U.S.

"We never clearly or totally resolved those issues," Cheney said. "These are tough questions, no doubt about it. You want my opinion, my view of what ought to happen, I think we have to treat it as a war."

He was, and still is, in favor of water-boarding and other intense, controversial methods, while many of the cabinet members and military advisers were against it.

He went on to criticize the way the White House is handling terrorist issues and the incident on Christmas with the "Underwear Bomber" prompting Vice-President Biden on "Meet the Press" to say:

“Dick Cheney’s a fine fellow, but he is not entitled to rewrite history without it being challenged. I don’t know where he has been. Where was he the last four years of the last administration?”

"A fine fellow"? Wow. Where the hell did that come from? So as you can see it was a very interesting week for the former VP and the current VP - who you may have seen with his wife representing the U.S. at the Opening Ceremonies at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

As you probably already know - its Presidents Day, which means days off for some people, no school for many, sales at car dealerships, furniture stores, mattress places ("Get Free Delivery with your New Sealy or any New Mattress and Pay Nothing til Next Year!!") department stores, and other places. While I don't begrudge anyone getting a good deal in this day and age with the economy the way it is, I think there needs to be more thought about what today is really about. Maybe, just maybe, we should take the time today to remember the Presidents (and VP's) who worked hard to make our country what it is today.

Remember President Lincoln, who sacrificed his life to make this nation free from the stain of slavery, who pledged "Malice towards none, and charity towards all" and who simply wanted to heal a nation stunned by death and destruction-only to be murdered in cold blood before he could do so. Lincoln rose to the greatest crisis in American history and preserved our Union, eradicated slavery, and made us what we are today.

Remember George Washington - who left his comfortable home to lead a war against the most powerful empire on Earth - who risked being hanged for treason and put himself in the middle of terrible fire from the enemy to rally his men, who somehow managed to attain victory and instead of making himself dictator or king as had all other men in history had in his position, simply retired and went home, until his country called on him again to be its first President, and who has set the standard for every President since.

Also, remember VP's like Daniel Tompkins who in his last act before becoming VP, banned slavery in New York. Remember William Wheeler, who when pressured to go along with machine-politics of New York and accept bribes flatly refused and said; ".."[T]here is nothing in the gift of the State of New York which will compensate me for the forfeiture of my self-respect". Remember the VP's who when tragedy struck the nation and we lost Presidents to murder or illness, took over an office they never thought they'd have to and did the best they could to make sure our system of government continued.

Remember our Presidents and VP's and think about all they had to give up to lead our country. Thats what today is really all about.

Thanks for reading and Happy Presidents Day!

Matt Saxe

Cheney Shooting Anniversary and Happy Birthday Sarah Palin!

2010-02-11T11:17:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

Remember how I pointed out in my last blog for Aaron Burrs birthday that he was the first man to shoot someone while Vice-President, over 202 years before VP Cheney shot someone? Well, today is the 4th Anniversary of the Cheney Shooting.

On Saturday, Feb 11, 2006 Vice-President Cheney and a group of his friends and supporters were in Kenedy County, Texas at a private hunting facility called The Armstrong Ranch where the "hunting" consisted of shooting pheasants born, raised, and kept in cages until the hunters arrive in the area and get out of their vehicles. These odds aren't that great for the birds-about a 17% chance of escaping. This kind of hunting is extremely controversial-the Senior VP of the Humane Society at the time called it "an open-air abattoir".

So, VP Cheney and his friends are out there at around 6PM ready to shoot these pheasants. Cheney was armed with his own 28-gauge shotgun-a Perazzi. The party had already shot some birds, and Cheney's friend, 78 year old attorney Harry Whittington, had gone back about 100 yards from the party to recover a pheasant he had shot earlier. He was approaching Cheney from behind and was about 30 or 40 yards away when a bird or two flew up in between him and Mr. Cheney-who spun around and fired-shooting Whittington in the face, neck and upper chest.

Cheneys Secret Service agents and the medical staff who traveled with Cheney for his protection and in case of another heart attack instead found themselves having to help Whittington. Cheney later told FOX News in a special interview about 5 days after the shooting that he himself ran to Whittington and dropped down to him on the ground saying:

"Harry I had no idea you were there."

Whittington made no reply to Cheney or any one giving him medical attention. An ambulance standing nearby for the Vice President took Whittington to nearby Kingsville before he was flown by helicopter to Corpus Christi Memorial Hospital.

While Cheney and his staff informed the White House about the tragic incident
that night, it wasn't released to the public for another day-and then it wasn't released by the VP's staff but by Karen Armstrong the owner of the ranch and former head of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. All the delays and secrecy around it made the whole incident look like a cover-up. Cheney held no press conference about it-leading Republican Congressman Christopher Shays to tell CNN he believed Cheney "does need to have a full press conference."

"It's like they don't learn," Shays said of the Bush administration.

"It had to have been terrible for him, and obviously the individual he shot and everybody who was there. But the information needs to be made public and made public quickly," Shays said.

Meanwhile, poor Whittington who had been moved from intensive care to a "step-down unit" suffered a mild heart attack due to a shotgun pellet lodged close to his heart and was immediately moved back to intensive care unit and underwent a cardiac catheterization test to detect blocked or leaky arteries. This was in addition to the fact that he had been shot so badly in the face, neck, and upper chest with the tiny 2.5 millimeter (less than a tenth of an inch big) bird shot pellets that Cheney had been using as ammo that day, that the doctors decided the best and safest thing to do was to leave the majority of the pellets in his body. Thats over 200 pieces of birdshot Whittington is walking around with these days. Imagine the conversations with the Security at airports!

"Sir, you set off the metal detector."

"Yeah, uhmm....do you remember when Dick Cheney shot that guy in the face?"

"Oh sure! That was hysterical!"

"Yeah, well...I'm that guy. I have 200 little bullets in my face, neck and chest."

Awkward silence.

Eventually Whittington recovered and even though he told a friend that he thought the whole incident was "much ado about nothing", due to the attention, he held his own press conference where he made a remark that would make every late-night comedy shows writing staff dance around their tables in glee:

"My family and I are deeply sorry for everything Vice President Cheney and his family have had to deal with. We hope that he will continue to come to Texas and seek the relaxation that he deserves."

Whittington had just apologized to one of the most reviled VP's in history for getting shot in the face by him, apologized for ruining his vacation, and invited him back to his state invoking the risk of maybe getting shot in the face again! Cheney was that powerful! It was both creepy and darkly, outrageously absurd-and the late-night comics had a field day.

On his first show after the incident, Stephen Colbert confessed to having been involved in a hunting accident of his own over the weekend, then proceeded to show an edited version of Brit Hume's interview with Dick Cheney, featuring Colbert in place of Cheney with far more humorous responses to Hume's question. Colbert later mentioned the hunting incident in his famous speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner.

David Letterman began his Monday show on February 13 with:
"Good news, ladies and gentlemen, we have finally located weapons of mass destruction.... It's Dick Cheney," and added that:

"We can't get bin Laden, but we nailed a 78-year-old attorney."

His Top 10 list was devoted to "Dick Cheney's Excuses" and included "I thought the guy was trying to go "gay cowboy" on me".

On "The Daily Show" Jon Stewart and his staff headlined the story with the title "Cheney's Got A Gun" and Stewart pointed out how Cheney was so powerful that even though he had shot a man-he had gotten than man to apologize to him. Stewart also drew attention to the fact that back during the Burr/Hamilton Duel, Vice-President Burr had shot a man over issues of personal honor, but VP Cheney had shot a man because he "was mistaken for a bird".

Correspondent Ed Helms, supposedly reporting from Corpus Christi Hospital, TX, said that Whittington's condition had been upgraded from "stable" to "stable, but still shot in the face by Dick Cheney."

The politicians got into the act too: Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont) who Cheney had famously told to "Go f**k himself" on the Senate floor commented:

"In retrospect, it looks like I got off easy."

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan who was upset about how the whole incident was handled was referring to President Bush's meeting with the University of Texas championship football team when he said:

"The orange that they're wearing is not because they're concerned that the vice president may be there." However he pointed to his own orange-striped tie and added that "Although that's why I'm wearing it."

Cheney finally had an interview on FOX News in an attempt to try to straighten out the whole thing. To his credit, he admitted the entire incident was his fault, and his fault alone:

"I am the guy who pulled the trigger and shot my friend. That is something I will never forget....Ultimately, I am the guy who pulled the trigger and fired the round that hit Harry....You can talk about all the other conditions that existed at the time, but that's the bottom line...It's not Harry's fault. You can't blame anybody else."

The image of him falling is something I will never be able to get out of my mind," Cheney said. "I fired, and there's Harry falling. And it was, I'd have to say, one of the worst days of my life, at that moment."

The interview on FOX didn't help much-two weeks after the shooting a poll showed that VP Cheney's approval rating had dropped to 18%. Which makes you wonder-who the hell were those people?

This has now become one of the most famous incidents in VP history-and the fact that it all occurred on Sarah Palins birthday just adds to the humor. Yep, today Feb 11 is the birthday of the first woman to receive the Republican nomination for Vice-President of the United States, the former Governor of Alaska-Sarah Palin!

If you haven't already-be sure to read my blog where I go to Governor Palins book signing here in Minnesota at the Mall of America. I think you'll enjoy it-it was quite a unique experience, and Gov. Palin is (to say the least) a very unique figure in American history.

Join us here at Vice-Precedence in the spirit of bipartisanship and general American friendliness in saying:

Happy Birthday Governor Palin!

Also, we hope Mr. Whittington is feeling better too. Wow.

Thanks for reading!

Matt Saxe

Biden's Memo

2010-02-10T08:29:00.000-08:00

On the day-to-day specifics of any Vice Presidency, there's little in the public record, which makes it an even harder task to try and condense the office's history and evolution. What, exactly are we condensing? To be certain, we have records of Senate sessions and we have newspaper articles, but the latter is a condensed work on its own and the former - true as it might be to the character of a Vice President - gives us only a snapshot of who they were, as much as it might give us the only record of them ever serving a purpose.

This is why saying that Joe Biden's recent public memo to President Obama is surprising to me might, really, be quite ignorant. Maybe its a regular thing for the VP to get on his Smith Corona, throw in some White House letterhead, and just give the president advice. Maybe its the first time a President has cared enough about one of those toiled-over mini-tomes to allow it to be public - like Obama putting Joe's memo on the White House refrigerator underneath a magnet of Abraham Lincoln reading "Four-score and seven years ago, your cheese was still good."

In all likelihood, though, I'm wrong. The only memos written by a VP that you ever hear about, frankly, are the "secret memos" that Dick Cheney wants kept secret, or the "secret memos" Dick Cheney publicly demanded become public. My search for "Dick Cheney" and "memo" turned up almost exclusively references to secret memos or memos in which Dick Cheney was mentioned, with the exception of this memo from Dick Cheney to Gerald Ford, when Cheney was Ford's Chief of Staff, about how to talk about Jimmy Carter without mentioning Jimmy Carter's name, and then to mention Jimmy Carter's name. The most fun thing about the whole memo, though, is the two pages of preparation, including references to Gerry Ford's "briefing book" (which I imagine was the size of a Tijuana Bible, only less sexually graphic, containing choice bits of advice like "left foot first" and "use the railing for balance" - yep, that was a Gerry Ford clumsiness joke. Eat it, 1976.), followed by a third page with only this single line on it.

Obviously, the subject of Vice Presidential memos is now of considerable interest to me. In this case, its Biden as a mouthpiece. Its Obama giving Joe permission to announce a sweeping new piece of administration policy - namely, the transformation of our economy to become less dependent on nonrenewable energy. Though one would hope that the section labeled "Vehicles and Fuels of the Future" would mention a flying car or, at least, a hoverboard, what it lacks in vehicular foresight it gains in that place that counts most to us here at Vice-Precedence: It smacks of Vice Presidential responsibility.

Let me say this: I have no idea how much research, or how much writing was "All Joe," but, frankly, he's doing something. We know the man can write, and we know he's folksy. He's a consummate politician and an art-appreciator. It seems that President Obama believes Biden serves a purpose - otherwise Obama could find plenty of other mouthpieces. Sure, just as First Ladies tend to champion education and children-related causes, the VP is relegated to the "soft cause" (the environment) so the President can (usually) concentrate on the hard causes (the economy and that... ongoing war thing), but any step at all for the VP is a step in the right direction. Biden's public moves have all hinted that he's preparing for the Presidency after what he hopes will be a strong 8 years under Obama's Presidential wing. I'm hoping for 8 strong years of a useful Vice Presidency, but you can't blame the guy for ambition.

- Jason C. Klamm

PS: Blogger still doesn't recognize Biden as a word. Nor hoverboard. Bastards.

Happy BURRthday!

2010-02-05T13:10:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Fans!

Well, yesterday was former VP Dan Quayles birthday as reported by Jason, and tomorrow, Feb. 6th is another VP's birthday-and not just any VP, but the first one who never became President! Thats right-its the birthday of the most infamous man to ever hold the office of VP-Aaron Burr!

Burr was born on Feb. 6, 1756 in Newark, NJ. His grandfather Jonathan Edwards was Colonial America's most famous pastor, the author of the definitive American Puritanical sermon-"Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", and is still considered, almost 300 years later, one of Americas greatest theologians. His father the Rev. Aaron Burr Sr. helped found, and was the president of Princeton University.

Aaron Burr is best known of course, for killing former Secretary of the Treasury, signer of the Constitution, head of the Federalist party, fellow Revolutionary War hero, and Major General/Senior Officer of the United States Army (the equivalent of the Joint Chief Of Staff)-Alexander Hamilton in a duel while he was Vice-President. Thats right-over 200 years before Dick Cheney shot a man while VP-the Vice-President of the United States shot and killed a man.

The duel is without a doubt the most famous in American history-made even more famous by the highly popular "Got Milk?" ad directed by my director on "Pearl Harbor" Michael Bay! Bay's work since then leads many to believe it would be a much better world if he had stuck to commercials. But that's a whole other ball of wax.

Burr is best known for the duel, but the life of this remarkable American is more than just a few seconds on the "Plains of Weehawken". Burr was the first truly prominent American feminist-advocating womens intelligence and equal education and opportunities for women throughout his life, and put his money where his mouth was-educating his daughter like a man.

Burr was a Revolutionary War hero in his own right, fighting bravely at the battles of Quebec and Monmouth, and numerous other smaller battles. He was an accomplished lawyer, congressman, Senator, and Vice-President. Here is a quote about his service as VP in presiding over the Senate:

"Mr. Burr, the Vice-President, presides in the Senate with great ease, dignity & propriety. He preserves good order, silence—& decorum in debate—he confines the speaker to the point. He has excluded all spectators from the area of the Senate chamber, except the members from the other House. A measure which contributes much to good order." Senator William Plumer (F-NH)

In case you're wondering, that "F" stands for "Federalist", and Burr was a Democratic-Republican-meaning this quote praising him is from someone in the opposing party. Pretty impressive eh?

Later in his life Burr was put on trial for treason against the U.S., accused of trying to carve out an empire for himself in parts of the Louisiana Purchase and Mexico. It was "The Trial of the Century" and Burr was acquitted, despite President Jefferson's efforts to make sure Burr was found guilty.

Burr was, without a doubt, an American Original-its hard to find any person in any other country's history like Burr. That's probably why he has so captured the American imagination-particularly in Gore Vidal's first novel in his "American Empire" series: BURR. Its also part of why the Aaron Burr Association was formed (as I talked about in another blog here) and why I joined it.

I called up the President of the Aaron Burr Association-Mr. Stuart Johnson and got this quote from him on the upcoming birthday of this amazing American:

"We here at the ABA want to wish Aaron Burr a happy 254th birthday. We've stood by you and will keep up the good fight promoting your life. Your depth and complexity never cease to amaze us and we will keep protecting your reputation and promoting your life to all Americans."

Thanks for the quote Mr. Johnson.

We here at Vice-Precedence are determined to show people the truth about Aaron Burr, and that's the focus of one of our upcoming projects. So lets all wish this truly distinctive American a "Happy Birthday"!

Thanks for reading.

Happy Birthday, Dan Quayle

2010-02-04T11:56:00.001-08:00

It might sound odd, but I look at the opportunity to wish Dan Quayle a happy birthday as something of a privilege. Right now there are five VPs who never became president alive, so the opportunity to get all of their stories down on paper, in one place, is there, and exciting. So, Happy Birthday, Vice President Quayle. Please give us many of your millions to make a movie (partially) about you.

On the Biden beat, there's actually been a lot to speak about these last few weeks, but I've been busy prepping our pre-VP project that we will be self-publishing. Most recently, Biden served as an honorable mouthpiece, speaking out against a Federal Judge who dismissed charges of the murder of Iraqi civilians against 5 guards from security firm Blackwater (now changed to the considerably more ominous name "Xe"). There are a number of views on the subject, including accusations of Biden politicizing the whole thing, rather than letting it remain a legal matter. Obviously, Good 'Ol Joe has a duty, rhetoric wise, to help draw a clear line between the Obama and W. Bush administrations, especially in the wake of the recent backlash against Obama in the form of approval ratings as citizens begin to demand an admission of responsibility from this new administration. Or does he have such a duty, as intelligent and noble as some of his reasoning was ("The United States is determined to hold accountable anyone who commits crimes against the Iraqi people")?

It hardly seems as though anyone in the Obama administration needs to keep separating themselves from Bush. Sure, they followed in his footsteps and are subsequently cleaning up any of his messes. But what this administration fails to realize - somehow, as this is partly what got the O'Biden team elected - is that they need to be drawing a line between their politics and White House politics. An "Obama Vs. Bush" stance, simply put, looks petty. Republicans are already calling Obama out for this, in some cases rightly. An "Obama Vs. Washington" stance might as well be a "Sarah Palin Vs. Washington" stance - Obama can't afford to go rogue, at least not like that.

But what about an "Obama White House Vs. The Usual White House?" Why don't you ever hear a president solidly commenting against the weaknesses of the executive branch in general? Sure, this leaves you free for the occasional Bush jab, but it also opens you up to more discourse about the way power is handled and perceived in the executive branch. It allows for (if this is what they're after) more "change" rhetoric, and has the potential to legitimize it. Might be a nice change of pace. A change of pace you can believe in.

Also, read The Onion's latest article on Biden.

Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Happy Birthday Charlie Curtis!

2010-01-26T09:40:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers!

I apologize that there were no blogs last week. It was a very busy and hectic week for Jason and myself, but not for former VP Cheney or current VP Biden. As soon as anything breaks on either of them or anything Vice-Presidential-we'll post something here and update it on our Facebook page which is connected to our Twitter account-so you'll know ASAP. Remember to subscribe to us on Facebook and Twitter for the latest in all VP news.

Now, what with Americans short-attention spans, its hard for most Americans these days to think that any VP was as unpopular as Mr. Cheney. Sure, Dan Quayle was ridiculed a lot, but no one took him really seriously enough to truly despise him. However that wasn't the case with our 31st VP. Though you wouldn't know this if you only looked him up on Wikipedia.

Yesterday, Jan 25th is the birthday of that truly despised VP (and one of Jasons favorites) Vice-President Charles Curtis of Kansas. Born Jan 25th in 1860. Almost 80 years before Barack Obama was elected President, Curtis, who had Native American blood from his mother-who was a mix of Kaw, Osage, and Potawattomie ancestry, was the first person with minority blood/Native American heritage to be elected to the Executive Branch back in 1929 when he was elected VP along with Herbert Hoover.

Curtis was raised for a time by his grandmother on a Kaw Reservation where he learned to ride horses in prairie races "Indian-style"-or bareback-for miles and miles. Curtis was very proud of his Native-American heritage and during the 1929 Presidential campaign co-wrote a book on his life with a Republican ghost-writer titled "From Kaw Teepee to Capitol: The Life Story of Charles Curtis, Indian, who has risen to high estate". Every opportunity he got through the campaign he wore head-dresses and other Indian garb to show his pride in his heritage.

Curtis was chosen as VP by the Republican party because they worried that Herbert Hoover was both too inexperienced (he had never held elected office before) and too liberal (Hoover had been in charge of feeding starving Europeans in the destructive wake of World War 1), and if there is anyone Republicans don't trust-its some millionaire who cares about and works to feed poor people. Joking! Joking! Take it easy Republican "Vice-Precedence" Fans. With Curtis, the Republicans felt that they at least had someone with experience whom they knew and trusted in the White House-Curtis had been in Congress since 1893, and was very popular with his fellow Republicans-having been Senate Majority Whip, Senate President Pro Tempore, and was the first Senate Majority Leader to ever become VP.

These are all things you CAN see on Curtis' Wikipedia page. However, what that page WON'T show you is that to many historians and VP scholars-Curtis was a joke. It can basically be summed up with the following quote:

"Charles Curtis of Kansas, one/eighth Kaw and seven/eighths incompetent."
Sol Barzman, VP scholar, author of "Madmen and Geniuses: The Vice-Presidents of the United States"

In his book, Bland Ambition-Vice-Precedence interview subject and friend of the film, Professor Steve Tally ripped Curtis up so badly and made him such a laughing-stock that the Curtis family threatened to sue Tally for disparaging the name of their illustrious ancestor.

But long before that, legendary American composers the Gershwin brothers: George and Ira-had made Curtis a joke by basing the ridiculous, pitiable, and non-entity Vice-President Alexander Throttlebottom in their Pulitzer-Prize winning musical Of Thee I Sing on Curtis. In the musical Vice-President Throttlebottom is recognized by no one, is unable to get a library card because he doesn't have any ID, and can only get into the White House by coming in with the public tour.

Curtis had no one to blame for himself for his portrayal as a buffoon and bully. As soon as he became VP he insisted that everyone-including men whom he had served with in the Senate for decades call him "Mr. Vice-President". He became so arrogant that one reporter wrote:
"His humility turned inside out."

Curtis was a widower and his married sister Dolly Gann became his official escort to state dinners and other official functions-horrifying polite Washington society. Not only was it kind of creepy, (brother and sister acting like husband and wife...eeewww) but Dolly had a perfectly healthy living husband who was basically cut out of the picture. The whole thing became a tempest in a teapot in Washington with people picking sides about who was right and who wasn't. In our interview Gore Vidal talked about how his family was involved in the whole argument.

Dolly, being rich and not all that bright, wasn't exactly in touch with the fact that a Depression was going on and that the stock market had plummeted and people across the country were out of work, starving, and suffering. She thought it was all a big hullabaloo that was being made too big a deal of-then she announced this opinion to the press-leading a newspaper to bitterly publish the headline-"Dolly Calls It Off!"

Curtis further made himself look like a cruel bully by calling out the Marines on the Bonus Army members outside his office building-the WW 1 veterans who marched to Washington and camped all around the city in the hopes that the government would pay them the bonus they had earned through their service in the war earlier than scheduled in light of the economic crisis of the Depression. President Hoover followed Curtis in calling out the U.S. Army to attack their own veterans in what I think is one of the worst actions in U.S. military history. When Curtis was questioned about this during the 1933 Presidential campaign he yelled:

"I've fed more than you have, you dirty cowards! I'm not afraid of any of you!"

as he shook his fists at the crowd and screamed, the crowd responded with boos and by throwing things at him. Is it any wonder FDR and Garner crushed Hoover and Curtis in the election that year?

One has to wonder why none of that is on the Wikipedia page for Curtis? Could it be more meddling by the Curtis family? Any way-it does need to be said, that way back in 1929, a man who proudly displayed his minority background was elected to national office. In this way, Curtis is something of a predecessor to President Obama-hard to believe, but true in a way. So there you have it:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY VICE-PRESIDENT CURTIS!

Thanks for reading!
Matt Saxe

Happy Birthday John C. Breckinridge!

2010-01-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers!

Well, tomorrow is the birthday of the youngest man ever elected to the Vice-Presidency, our 14th Vice-President-John C. Breckinridge of Kentucky!

Breckinridge was only 35 (the youngest age a person can be to be eligible) when elected VP and 36 when he was inaugurated. He was the young golden boy of the Democratic party. Handsome (at least by those days standards-check out the pic and decide for yourself), intelligent, a great speaker, a hero of the Mexican War, and extremely popular in both the North and the South. However, he was on horrible terms with his President, James Buchanan, considered by most historians as one of the 5 Worst Presidents in history for his waffling and weakness in the years leading up to the Civil War.

In the election of 1860 Breckinridge was the incumbent VP and one of the four candidates for President, the other three being John Bell, Stephen Douglas, and of course Abraham Lincoln. Breckinridge came in 3rd in the popular vote, but second in the electoral vote-winning 72 electoral votes and 11 of 15 slave states. He carried the border slave states of Delaware and Maryland, and nine of the eleven states that later formed the Confederacy, missing Virginia and Tennessee.

Had 25,000 New Yorkers voted for Douglas instead of Lincoln, Lincoln would not have won a majority in the Electoral College; without New York's 35 electoral votes, he would have received only 145 votes, seven short of the required 152. The vote would have then gone to the United States House of Representatives, and experts believe that the Southern-controlled House of Representatives led by Congressman William Yancey of Alabama, would have cast their vote for the Southern Democratic nomination, John C. Breckinridge. How different things could have been.

Breckinridge decided to side with the Confederacy, however, he had just been elected to the Senate by his horribly divided home state of Kentucky, which did not officially secede from the Union, making Breckinridge a traitor and a warrant was issued for his arrest on the charge of treason. Breckinridge joined the Confederate Army as a Brigadier General and fought bravely at many battles, before being named Secretary of War for the Confederacy. Unfortunately for him, that was in 1865 and he would be the last Confederate Secretary of War. He was forced to run for his life on a hellish trip through horrible swamps filled with poisonous snakes and mosquitoes, and at one time he and the men with him disguised themselves as pirates to board a boat to get to Cuba-of course, then he was attacked by actual, real-life pirates and forced to fight them as a fake pirate. Irony!

The whole experience was a nightmare out of Dantes Inferno, but eventually he made it to Cuba. He lived for a time in Europe because he was still wanted for treason. He was finally granted amnesty in 1869 and returned to Kentucky, which gave him a hero's welcome home. He returned to his law practice and did his best to fight the Klu Klux Klan in Kentucky before he died in 1875. Even though he had been granted amnesty for his service to the Confederacy, it wasn't until 1958 that the charge of treason against him was officially dismissed by a court in his home state.

A strange, remarkable, and exciting life-which is why we plan to focus on Breckinridge in "Vice-Precedence". So from all of us:

Happy Birthday John C. Breckinridge!

Thanks for reading and keep supporting "Vice-Precedence"!

Cheney and Yemen, Palin on "O'Reilly" & "Game Change", RIP Jean Biden

2010-01-12T12:26:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers.

In Cheney news, with the recent uproar over Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab of Nigeria and his attempt to blow up Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit on Christmas Day, there has been a lot of focus on Yemen and terrorists coming from there under Al-Queda. Many are saying this constitutes a Muslim terrorist attack on American soil, something that hasn't happened since 9/11 and that its a black mark on President Obamas national security record.

Personally the way I see it-this is the equivalent of Richard Reid-the "Shoe Bomber" something that happened during the Bush Presidency-but lots of conservatives-like former VP Cheney-don't see it that way.

However, Mr. Cheney needs to tread carefully about any remarks he makes criticizing the Obama Administration about this incident after what has recently been discovered.

In 2007, then Vice President Cheney personally authorized the release of 11 Saudis from Guantanamo Bay, who then passed through a Saudi halfway house terrorist rehabilitation program to rejoin Al Qaeda. Two of the 11 former prisoners rejoined Al Qaeda in Yemen.

In February, 2009, the New York Times reported that U.S. counterterrorism officials confirmed that one of the prisoners Cheney freed was Said Al-Shihri, who became the deputy leader of Al Qaeda in Yemen, and that he was suspected of being involved in the attack on the U.S. embassy in Yemen in 2007.

A review by the Defense Intelligence Agency showed that 14% of the 530 Gitmo prisoners released through VP Cheney's direct approval, 74 individuals, have either been identified as still participating in terrorism or are suspected of doing so. Now 14% doesn't sound like a lot, but when you think about it, its 14% too much. So many people have strong feelings about Gitmo, and now this report comes out. It all seems overwhelming sometimes.

As Jason reported, former Republican candidate for VP, ex-Governor of Alaska, and best-selling author Sarah Palin will soon be working for FOX News. It all begins on "The O'Reilly Factor" TONIGHT! So you may want to watch that.

If you saw "60 Minutes" on Sunday you know about the recent revelations by John Heilemann of New York magazine and Mark Halperin of Time magazine-the joint authors of "Game Change" about the 2008 Presidential campaign-from the primaries all the way to election night. Steve Schmidt-who headed up the McCain/Palin campaign also was on "60 Minutes" as well. Besides revealing that McCain originally wanted Joe Lieberman on the ticket but couldn't name him for fear of infuriating the far Right wing of the party, Schmidt also revealed that when Gov. Palin was told she had been tapped for the VP nomination she replied that: "It's God's plan." Also, the reason she asked Joe Biden

"Can I call you Joe?"

was that in all her practice for the Vice-Presidential Debate she kept saying "O'Biden". Now that should NOT be some big revelation to people, because on Page 289 of "Going Rogue"-Palins own book which has now been out for over a month-she admits to it happening over and over during the debate practice and that debate prepper Randy Scheunemann had the suggestion that she ask Sen. Biden permission for her to call him Joe when they met in the middle of the stage to shake hands before the debate, and Biden being a gentleman, would be happy to accept. She was nervous about calling him "Joe" because, as she points out:

"Senator Biden was a senior statesman. He'd been sitting in a U.S. Senate seat since I was nine years old."

However, she felt comfortable with doing as Scheunemann suggested, and the rest is history. For those of you who think Palin was a negative on the Republican ticket, Schmidt (who Palin occasionally rips on in her book) admits that if Palin had not been the Veep candidate: "Our margin of defeat would've been greater than it would've been otherwise."

I'd read all about this in her book while waiting to meet Mrs. Palin here in MN (which you can read all about here on the blog) so I wondered who would really be stunned by this-its been out there for over a month! My guess is-people who simply dismissed Palins book because it was written by Palin. News Flash folks-its old news.

Finally, as Jason has reported on Friday Jan 8th, the mother of Vice-President Joe Biden, Jean Biden, passed away. She was 92. Vice-President Biden made the following statement on her passing:

"Together with my father, her husband of 61 years who passed away in 2002, we learned the dignity of hard work and that you are defined by your sense of honor," he said in the statement. "Her strength, which was immeasurable, will live on in all of us."

Biden also had high praise for his mother at the Democratic National Convention in his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for Vice-President. His mother was there to see her son at this-the high point (so far) of his political career:

"My mother's creed is the American creed: No one is better than you," he said. "Everyone is your equal, and everyone is equal to you. My parents taught us to live our faith, and to treasure our families. We learned the dignity of work, and we were told that anyone can make it if they just try hard enough. When I got knocked down by guys bigger than me, and this is the God's truth, she sent me back out the street and told me, 'Bloody their nose so you can walk down the street the next day.' And that's what I did."

As Jason reported her funeral was today. Around 700 people gathered together at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Wilmington, Delaware. Guests included President and Mrs. Obama, former President Clinton, and many Cabinet and Congress members. Vice-President Biden thanked the President for treating his mom "with warmth and personal affection."

In his eulogy Biden said the following:

"She believed in us, so we believe in ourselves. How could we do less?" he said. "... Mom taught us that courage was not defined by the lack of fear, but by the willingness to act in spite of your fears; that bravery lived in each of our hearts. And her expectation was that we would be summoned to reach for it when necessary."

Jean Bidens original name was Catherine Eugenia Finnegan, and she was born in Scranton, PA. on July 7th, 1917. In 1941, she married businessman Joseph Biden Sr., with whom she had four children, Joe being the oldest. The couple moved from Scranton to Claymont, Del., in 1953, when the future VP was 10 years old.

In the Vice-Presidents book-"Promises to Keep" his mother was concerned about him leaving his successful law practice to go into politics-particularly running for the Senate against an extremely tough opponent;

"You're not going to run for Senate and ruin your reputation, are you?" he recalled his mother asking.

"And once Mom was reassured that my future was safe, win or lose, she would do anything," Biden wrote.

He also recalled in the book how when his mother couldn't find a pair of cufflinks for him to wear to an eighth-grade dance, she fashioned a pair from nuts and bolts, which left him stunned and embarrassed.

"Now look, Joey, if anybody says anything to you about these nuts and bolts, you just look them right in the eye and say 'Don't you have a pair of these?'" she told him.

Bidens mother was a great source of strength to her son after the tragic car accident that took the lives of his first wife and daughter just a month after his election to the Senate in 1972.

"After the accident, she told me, 'Joey, God sends no cross that you cannot bear,'" Biden recalled.

Biden continued in his eulogy that his mom was fiercely protective.

"To mom, the greatest virtue was courage," he said. "She taught her children that the thickest of all substances was blood."

Pallbearers included four grandsons and three granddaughters read selections from the Bible.

The Rev. Msgr. Thomas Cini told Jean Biden's children that she was "your strength, your rock." In death, Cini added, Jean Biden has been reunited with her siblings and her husband.

"You can imagine the Irish feast that's going on right now, and she's leading them," Rev. Cini said.

The Vice President concluded his eulogy echoing those remarks.

"Mom is back in dad's embrace, where she belongs, and we're all at peace,"

RIP Jean Biden from Vice-Precedence.

What else will be said about former VP Cheney and all the debate about national security and Yemen? What will Palin say on "The Factor" tonight? Stay tuned for more here Vice-Precedence readers, and thanks for your support.

Joe Biden's Mother Passes - Funeral Today

2010-01-12T00:07:00.001-08:00

Joe Biden's mother, Jean, passed away Friday at 92. Her funeral will be held in Biden's home base of Wilmington, Delaware. President Obama will also attend the service. We send our respects to the Vice President's family.

CNN Article announcing Mrs. Biden's funeral here.

- Jason Klamm

Going Rove

2010-01-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

According to The New York Times, Sarah Palin, following in the steps of former Bush Chief Adviser Karl Rove (and a number of other Republican notables), is going to be a contributor on Fox News. She will, according to the article, host a show that airs "from time to time" on the network. No word on what she's receiving for her irregular series, but the excitement is palpable here in the Vice-Precedence offices (what we call any chair we are currently sitting in, or, as it were, on the edge of).

The contents of the program? Not being revealed. Maybe she will review the daily news, rating them in terms of winks. Perhaps an interview program, where she goes "against the grain" by referring to everyone by their first name, whether appropriate or not.

What is most interesting about this choice is what it says about Fox News' programming choices, specifically their choice of contributors. Sure, Palin is popular among Fox's demographic, but she's also getting torn down by established conservatives - not just moderates, mind you, but people as close to her as McCain's campaign manager Steve Schmidt (who recently revealed that Palin kept referring to then-candidate Joe Biden as "Senator O'Biden" during practice sessions for the VP debate). Is this a move by Fox to cater to a specific demo within right-wing conservatives? Will it prevent people like Schmidt from appearing on Fox? Or is it a simple popular pander? Only time will tell.

(Thanks to the brilliant @JamesUrbaniak for the tip-off.)
Jason C. Klamm,B.A.

Happy New Year from Vice-Precedence!

2010-01-06T08:42:00.000-08:00

As Matt said before the New Year's close, we've come a long way in our six months. 2010 holds a lot for Vice-Precedence as a full project - not the blog alone. We're already hard at work on the first Vice-Precedence publication - more news to come on that - and Vice-Precedence proper is in the throes of an early first draft (without recycling every existing VP book, which is done frequently, we're taking this whole process from the beginning with - don't tell Wikipedia this - original research!). We've got a growing legion of fans on Facebook and the we're in the most interesting period for Vice Presidential news that there has ever been.

To start the new year off right, let's have a little moment with Folksy Joe Biden. As always, his folksiness has a purpose. This time, it's to help Joe's old standby - Amtrak (the preferred stock of which is owned entirely by the US Government).

In a recent essay on The Huffington Post, entitled "Why America Needs Trains," Joe-- I'm sorry, I think I might have to hug Joe right now, gimme a second. There. I hugged the monitor. That's as close as I'm going to get. He's like a kitten, that Joe! In this article, Biden argues that we, simply, ought to take trains more. Good argument for the environment, good argument for those who are presently afraid of planes or, possibly, more afraid of full-body scans - Joe is taking the safe route, but at least it's something he believes in.

He's been taking the Amtrak, famously, for almost 40 years. His entire term in the Senate, he traveled the route from Delaware to DC, 120 miles each way, so that he could be home with his kids. Even the cynics out there have to admit that that's a hell of a stretch for a little positive PR. And if he's willing to sit through 36 years of ass-numbing PR then, well, maybe Joe deserves what "The Joe Biden Problem" has finally given him - the VP seat.

Either way, Joe makes a good argument, and despite criticism that Biden is as secretive as Cheney, he's used his post TO DO THINGS. If he's trying to influence power behind the scenes, we can't be sure. What is obvious is what he's doing for the office - making it seem, if only in brief, that the VP is making an effort. Sadly, that's the most we can ask of a sitting VP. Make the effort.

- Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Dick Cheney-"2009 Conservative of the Year"

2009-12-31T07:13:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers!

Well, here it is-the final blog of 2009. Its been an amazing year here on the blog, breaking the news about the Palin resignation and meeting her at her book signing, keeping track of all the events of the first year of the Biden vice-presidency, marking the VP's birthdays, alerting you to VP Cheneys surgery and the protests at the U. of Wyoming, and updating you-our readers-of every major and minor bit of news in regards to the vice-presidency that occurred throughout the year. Its all been a blast.

So, as a fitting end to the year-former VP Richard Cheney has been named "Conservative of the Year" by influential conservative internet magazine HumanEvents.com

Human Events was one of the late President Ronald Reagan's favorite newspapers when he was President, (back when newspapers and magazines still mattered) and it has now blossomed in our new Internet Age into one of the most influential online conservative magazines out there.

The unique thing about Cheney being the Conservative of the Year over other such prominent conservatives like Senator Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader John Boehner, or even (in an upset in a way) Sarah Palin, is that he did not hold any office in 2009. Unlike other possible candidates like Glenn Beck, Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh, he has no radio show or TV show of his own. He doesn't have the looks or has published a book this year like Ann Coulter.

Cheney is simply a citizen of the U.S. (who happens to be a former VP of the United States)who has taken every opportunity he can at every speaking engagement or media appearance he has made, to defend his and President Bush's record over the majority of this decade and to attack the Obama Administration which he sees as making many mistakes, and being especially weak in "The War on Terror" and on national security issues. By doing so, Cheney has become the gadfly of the Obama White House and opened himself to even more attacks by Democrats and liberals who for years have cursed Cheney as "Darth Cheney" and all. As I have stated on this blog, the one thing you have to admire about Mr.Cheney is that he has no fear of being unpopular, but in this last year with all the Tea-Partiers and Birthers and conservatives gnashing their teeth-his views and statements are finding a bigger audience then when he was VP.

Along with his criticism of the current administration, he made news with another surgery, by simply cutting meat for his family, found himself embroiled in controversies as we reported here on the blog-like the protests about the International Student Center named for him at his alma mater-the University of Wyoming, and the birth of a new grandchild by his lesbian daughter and his defense of gay rights-making him unique among his conservatives, something that is not brought up in article about him being Conservative of the Year incidentally. To go along with all this-his own book should be coming out soon and is highly anticipated by many wondering what went on behind the scenes in the White House during some of the most important years in American history.

In the article where he was named Conservative of the Year written by Bush Administration Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, he cites the similarities and differences between Cheney and current VP Biden, and even former VP Spiro Agnew, Cheneys legacy as a former VP, addresses the reports of strife between Bush and Cheney in their last days in office (as reported in TIME Magazine and here on the blog) and how Cheney is now one of the major voices of conservatism in the U.S. today. Here is some of Boltons article:

To have a former Vice President willing to go on the record once he leaves office is a huge service to us and our nation, helping to illuminate and explain key factors affecting our national security.

Perhaps most galling to Democrats is how closely Joe Biden’s role as Vice President has tracked that of Cheney’s, which these same Democrats criticized so vociferously while Cheney was in office. The main difference, of course, is that Cheney is much quieter than Biden, which objective observers have to score as a plus for Cheney.

Desperate to distinguish themselves from Cheney, Biden’s media flacks say that he and his staff have worked well with Obama’s White House staff, in contrast to the rancor and in-fighting of the Bush-Cheney years. This effort to re-write history, however, simply will not fly. Especially on national-security policy, the Bush and Cheney staffs worked well and closely together. If, at the end of eight years, the staff relationships were not as close as at the beginning, that was hardly Cheney’s fault. Having worked as a White House summer intern for Vice President Spiro Agnew in 1972, I can recount from personal experience what it’s like when the President’s people are at knife’s-edge with the Veep’s. That’s not what it was like in the Bush years, certainly not in the first term. Bush’s second term was different for many reasons, marked notably in foreign affairs by the overwhelming predominance of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. But even then, Cheney’s relations with the NSC staff remained close, in large part because Rice’s successor as National Security Adviser, Steve Hadley, had worked for Cheney at the Pentagon during the Bush 41 Administration.

Perhaps most importantly of all, Cheney knows that the personal attacks on him, as offensive as they are, in reality constitute stark evidence that Obama and his supporters are simply unable to match him in the substantive policy debate. An old lawyers’ cliché says: “If the law is against you, pound on the facts; if the facts are against you, pound on the law; if the law and the facts are against you, pound on the table.” Obama and his supporters are doing the political equivalent of continuous table-pounding, because that’s basically all they have to offer. Cheney’s unwillingness to be deterred by the media assaults on his character, his judgment and his performance in office are therefore his most impressive force multiplier with the general public. Outside-the-Beltway Americans see him for exactly what he is: a very experienced, very dedicated patriot, giving his fellow citizens his best analysis on how to keep them and their country safe.

Cheney’s quiet, inner-directed motivation is simply impervious to the attacks orchestrated against him by the Chicago machine-style politicians at the White House, a fact also plainly visible to his fellow citizens. And it is yet another important reason to have confidence that Cheney’s solid policy analysis will yet prevail in the national political arena. Of course he is the conservative of the year!

So there you have it-well, congratulations to former VP Cheney! Thanks for your support over this year VP readers! In 2010 we expect to have some big developments with Vice-Precedence and we will be sure to keep you-our loyal readers informed. Please, in this upcoming new year of 2010 make sure to keep following us here on the blog, post comments both here and on Facebook (they mean so much to both Jason and myself), and let your friends and family know about Vice-Precedence-keep spreading the word and help us to build an even larger fan base and with your support we will succeed in bringing Vice-Precedence to the big screen.

Join the Race for Second Place in 2010! Here's to a Happy New Year to all of you from us at Vice-Precedence! Thanks for everything.

Matt Saxe

To Save a Health Care Bill

2009-12-22T08:52:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Vice-Presidenters. Meet Joe Biden, the harbinger of all things Christmasy. And healthcare reform.

The debate rages on as a seemingly unrecognizable health care bill blazes up Capital Hill for the sake of passing a healthcare bill before Christmas to make the Administration look passionate. Joe himself, in a NY Times op-ed yesterday, pleaded with Congress to push this thing through, despite the fact that it is nowhere near what was promised. The biggest hit - there is no public option.

That said, in terms of Vice-Presidenting, Biden has brought it up a notch. In that he's giving op-eds, in office, about reforms he deems important. The language of the piece speaks to both sides of this invisible and incredibly useless aisle. Here are some incredibly truncated, but choice, bits from the piece.

...one of the most historic votes of my 36 years in the Senate...
...fundamental, essential change that opponents of reform have resisted for generations...
...Theodore Roosevelt...
...it does not contain every measure President Obama and I wanted...
...it is very good.
...this country’s single largest deficit-reduction measure in a dozen years.

It's easy to pick apart the soft language of politics, so I won't bother with it. What I will point out is that this bill has been doomed to fail from the beginning - perhaps rightly so. Any challenge to an administration that promises not to deal with lobbyists, then makes a back-room/public/back-room deal with Big Pharma is a positive one, even if it starts us at square one. Yes, the Administration would like a magical health care bill under everyone's Christmas tree. But the bill's imperfect nature began when the Administration of Change promised "Universal Healthcare" with no qualifiers and then shook hands with Pharma.

Regardless, Biden is a handy mouthpiece for getting this legislation through. And the Obama Administration has stressed the importance of baby steps, especially in something so sweeping. So, in terms of Vice Presidents, Biden is doing a fair job, and I'm sure they edited out all of his crazy gaffes from the op-ed, so he comes across well-spoken, intelligent and thoughtful. Not to say that other white people aren't well-spoken, it was just an observation. Seriously.

Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Vice-Precedence Brings Attention to Famed VP's TV Show

2009-12-10T17:53:00.000-08:00

On July 11, 2007, I discovered an historical oversight on the Internet Movie Database. Nowhere was there ANY mention of a show from 1953 called "Meet the Veep." Historical for many reasons, including being the only show to ever be hosted by a former Vice President, Alben Barkley, it was frustrating to see that no one had seen this interesting fact and submitted it for IMDB's approval. And then, it was rejected.

How and why, I couldn't be sure. I was frustrated, to say the least, but I've argued with IMDB before, and they bend only mentions in major publications. I recall submitting a Time magazine article - the only online mention I could find (yet another weakness of IMDB's regulations), but to no avail.

Then today, I checked my IMDB account JUST to see how some of my old submitted titles were doing. Old submitted titles usually gather dust, so I expected nothing. Then I saw these words:

In the time since you originally added "Meet the Veep" (1953) via this update, it has been approved by the new title managers and is live on the site.

Finally, a teeny-tiny bit of vindication - web vindication, but hey, this is a medium that prides itself on having all the information you could ever want - for a man who is arguably one of the greatest speakers in Senate history, and one of only a handful of VPs to ever go back to the Senate as a Senator, Alben W. Barkley. You can find the page here.

- Jason C. Klamm

(And a quick congrats to Matt on the kind of dedication only us VP-obsessives can muster. Great article, and great job.)

Vice-Precedence Meets Sarah Palin

2009-12-08T11:28:00.001-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog readers! Here's the story I promised you yesterday. My meeting with former Republican Vice-Presidential candidate Sarah Palin of the great state of Alaska!

It started the night before, when I went and picked up my copy of her new autobiography-"Going Rogue" at the Barnes and Noble at the Mall of America. I had pre-ordered it 3 weeks before while taking my daughter Caitlin to the mall for her birthday-luckily its just across from the Build-A-Bear there, so it was just a quick detour. So on Sunday the 6th I went to the Mall where I was met by friend of the film-Chris Mogel, who took some pictures of me with the book-after we were told that we couldn't take pics in the store-we took them outside. Unlike at certain stores where people camped out overnight to be first in line to get autographs, the Mall of America does NOT allow people to do this. Fans would have to wait until the next morning at 5AM before they could get in line to go into the mall for the signing-that would start at 12noon! So I thanked Chris, who promised me he would send the pics of me with the book that night (which he did) and I would be back the next morning. When I got home-I started reading "Going Rogue". Its pretty easy reading-and I will talk about it more in another blog, and then went to sleep so I could get up early for the next day.

I woke at around 4:35 AM and got dressed, took some vitamins and juice, and went out the door to make the 25 minute drive to the Mall-there was no traffic and it was pitch black-but in my own neighborhood I drove slowly-good thing too-because I saw a big doe to the right of my car-so I turned on my brights and stopped. Good thing too-since another deer ran up to my car-within about 7 feet, and turned around and ran in the opposite direction just as I did. Too close for comfort. I proceeded to drive slowly and carefully looking for deer and other animals on the road to avoid hitting them until I got on the highway-where I turned on the speed.

When I arrived outside the Malls east entrance I could see the line already forming outside in 18 degree cold going around the corner of the mall. So I parked my car, and grabbed my copy of the book and joined the line-the time was 5:15 AM. The cold was simply bone-chilling. I could feel my feet slowly freezing and tried to move my toes as much as I could and press against my ears with my hands to keep them warm. Other people in line also did their best to keep warm and made small talk about how excited they were to be there. I mostly just made jokes about the cold and looked around. I decided I wouldn't ask questions about Gov. Palin and vice-presidents or politics until I'd gotten to know the people around me a little better and more importantly-until we were indoors, warmer, and in a better mood, as the crowd was beginning to get a little antsy about it. Many were outright angry when they saw a young family with a small child-about 1 year old-maybe younger-crying and screaming in the cold.
"Like that kid is going to remember anything about this." I heard one man mutter.

TV crews and reporters were running around-shooting the line and commenting for the early morning news. People waved to the cameras and cheered.

I too was getting impatient about the cold-and my feet by now were numb. When I overheard a guy in a homemade t-shirt with a donkey on it say:

"Its named Don Quixote-you know-for that Mexican philosopher." and no one corrected him-except me to the people around me-I just wanted to do whatever I could to get out of the cold.

Finally, slowly, the line began to move-we all knew from the rules passed out that they wouldn't open the door to let us in until 6AM. So I constantly looked at my watch. Slowly at around 5 after 6AM the line began to move. Finally I and the people around me got near the front. They let people in in groups of 20, and wouldn't you know it...as a group of people were led in-I was told I was #21 and wouldn't get in until the next group. So I had to wait an extra 10-15 minutes outside before being allowed in. Finally at around 6:50 or so, I was allowed in. We were led into the mall-me and the 19 people behind me, led by security all through the mall to the back of the line.

The signing would start at noon-5 hours more to wait.

As this line moved slowly once again to get the bracelets we needed for autographs, I began to warm up and as I got warmer and talked with the people around me, I began to feel comfortable enough to ask questions. I decided that I would ask people the same 4 to 5 questions-letting their answers lead into more if necessary.

1. What brought you out this morning-why do you like Gov. Palin so much?

2. Is there any specific policy stand of hers you truly believe in?

3. Were you going to vote for Senator McCain regardless of who he tapped as his VP candidate? Did Gov. Palin make a difference to you?

4. What vice-presidents who NEVER became President can you name besides our 2 most recent-Cheney and Gore?

5. What do you think of the Vice-Presidency in general?

I asked about a dozen different people these questions-always telling them that I was doing it for my book, blog and movie about the Vice-Presidency. Most people laughed at that-but agreed to answer my questions. I asked young people-college kids, an older couple who had driven all the way from Duluth for the signing, an attractive 20-something blonde and her boyfriend (who smirked during the questions and didn't answer them himself), and a few other people-trying to get as wide a spectrum of people as possible. I looked for any minority people=but to be honest, I saw only one Asian girl in her twenties, and absolutely no African Americans or Hispanics in line. Everyone there was mostly Caucasian-though there was a wide range of ages-from children to their 70's.

For Question 1 most people said that they just found her incredibly charismatic-that they liked her style and straight-talk and found her as one woman put it-"An amazing woman."

For Question 2 most people couldn't cite anything specific. Although one man in his late 20's, who said he considered himself a "conservative with libertarian beliefs in government." said he liked how she modeled her small govt. principles on Ronald Reagan. The 20-something blonde said it was Palins pro-life beliefs that she identified with the most-"She's just an incredible model for pro-life values and a smart, strong, conservative woman." she said.

For Question 3 every single person said they were going to vote for McCain anyway-regardless of who he chose for his VP. Though two people did say that they weren't excited about him, until he chose Gov. Palin as his running mate-and as they learned more about her, the more they liked her and got enthusiastic about the ticket. The blonde became a McCain/Palin volunteer and went out and raised money and actively campaigned. Almost everyone said they couldn't stand President Obama. One said that they thought President Obama-"a disease" who "needs to be destroyed-and no I don't mean that I want him assassinated."

For Question 4, no one could name a VP besides Gore and Cheney who wasn't president at first. One man said-"Hopefully never that idiot Biden."

Another man asked me-"Who was Eisenhower's vice-president? He was never President right?" When I informed him it was Richard Nixon, he paused and said-"Oh yeah, I forgot-well he became President so I guess he doesn't count." Finally the husband of a couple in their late 60's said: "Dan Quayle". I then said to a group of 4 people-

"You know you're all Minnesotans and you're forgetting a couple." I was then told by a different blonde 20-something from the first one that she was from Wisconsin, but then a young man blurted out:

"Oh! Walter Mondale!"

Then a woman in her early 70's said "Oh, and Humphrey, of course." I confirmed these two correct answers and reminded them that both of these former VP's had also been their party's nominee for President. They asked me to name some others, and I immediately responded with Aaron Burr and the story of the election of 1800 with the tie between him and Jefferson and the order of ascension which led into Question 5.

For Question 5, most people said the Vice-Presidency was something that was necessary, but not important at all. No one wanted to do away with it, but almost all agreed that it really didn't matter much at all.

While asking the questions and waiting and waiting, I flipped through the book, made small talk, and observed the surroundings: I saw many different sweatshirts with messages such as:

Palin 2012
Palin/Bachmann 2012
Palin/Pawlenty 2012
Veterans for Palin
Hockey Moms for Palin
PH.d Moms for Palin
Cougar Hunters for Palin.

I don't think anymore needs to be said about that last one.

The hours passed and I showed my book and receipt from Barnes and Noble to the clerks in front of the table at the rotunda in the East Part of the Mall in front of and to the left of the bookstore where a stage had been set up between two huge Christmas trees decorated in white, blue, and silver. It was on this stage that Gov. Palin would do the signing. I then had a blue bracelet placed on my left wrist, and was lead around to the line again. Reporters and others with blue "MEDIA" stickers shot footage of the line, and even interviewed some in line. By this time it was 11:35 or so, and all of a sudden some applause started, and I saw a older couple with a slightly younger woman walk into the area. Buzz started around us. I looked at the couple carefully, and then flipped to one of the two color photo sections of "Going Rogue" and looked for a specific picture. Yes. I was right, not 15 feet away from me, Palins parents-Chuck and Sally Heath, along with a woman who turned out to be "Sarah's Aunt Kate" as she said, were posing for pictures and shaking hands. I had agreed to get an extra book signed for a young man who was in line with me, since you were limited to two, and in exchange he would take some pictures for me with his camera-since I am too poor to have one except my cell phone cam-which, frankly, sucks. So his aunt held my book, and this young man-Bryan Herschbach, and I went over and I waited patiently and then walked up and stuck out my hand and said:

"Hi Mr. Heath. Thanks for coming out here today."

"Hi, its great to be here. Nice to meet you. Whats your name?"

"Matt, sir. Thanks for doing this."

"You're very welcome Matt, thanks for coming out and I hope you have a great day."
and he shook my hand. He couldn't have been friendlier. We got two photos. I was thrilled and after I got back to the line called Jason to let him know the good news.

So, we knew she'd be arriving shortly. We overheard some girls nearer to the front of us began to chant:

"We love Sarah yes we do, we love Sarah how 'bout you?!"

Then there was a quick burst of applause and we knew she had arrived. The line began to move very quickly and orderly-despite a few people cutting-we knew that where we were and the fact that she would be signing from Noon to 4PM, that we would get autographs. We made our way to the main line, and went thru a quick security check. By this time, we could clearly see Gov. Palin and next to her, her husband Todd. She was wearing her classic red outfit, and her hair was up-right out of "SNL"-she was standing up, signing with a flourish, and giving out handshakes and hugs as cameras flashed all around her. The line moved quickly, and all of a sudden I was putting my cell phone in a little basket and getting ready to go on the stage and meet the governor and former VP candidate.

Bryan and his aunt Renee moved ahead of me up the stairs, after handing their books to someone to be passed up to be signed. Meaning that you may not get the book that you bought signed, but you would definitely get a signed book. They hugged Mrs. Palin and moved across the stage and down the stairs. Finally I was given the go-ahead and made my way across the stage to right in front of the first woman to receive the Republican nomination for Vice-President of the United States, one of the most polarizing and popular women in the history of American politics.

"Hey how are ya'?! Whats your name?" I heard in that distinctive voice as she looked and smiled right at me and stuck out her hand. I have to admit; she is a very attractive woman in person. She seemed honestly happy to be there and to be doing this. The woman has charisma in person. No doubt about it. Still, it did feel a little surreal. But there she was in the flesh-and there was no going back now.

"I'm Matt Saxe governor, and its an honor to meet you," and I shook her hand, it was very light and dry with a gentle but firm grip. "and you too Mr. Palin." and here I quickly moved my hand to the left and shook hands with Todd Palin-strong and sure.

"I'm producing a documentary about the vice-presidency called "Vice-Precedence" and I would love to interview you for it."

"Oh wow, thats a great idea! How interesting." she said with a big smile as she signed my book with a red marker. Todd then said-"Wow. That's a very cool idea." The assistant to her left then quickly said to me:

"Put in a request at SarahPac dot com."

"SarahPac dot com?" I quickly asked as I was moving across the stage. More people were of course moving in behind me to take my place.

"Thats right-SarahPac dot com." he said.

"Thank you, and thank you Governor and Todd." I said-slipping up by not calling him Mr. Palin. I regretted that.

"You're very welcome. Thanks for coming out Matt!" they both said almost together with big smiles, and Todd waved goodbye as the governor began to sign another book.

That was it, about 5 seconds or so of face time. I got my cell back and looked at the time-1:15 on the dot. She was moving quickly thru the line. But still, it was all worth it. I had met a VP candidate and told her about our film, and I had an autograph to go with it. Awesome. I met up with Bryan and exchanged email addresses to get the pictures. Then went up to the Disney Store to get a few Chanukah gifts for Caitlin, and then went home and had a brief lunch and went to bed. I had been practically on my feet for over 7 hours and was exhausted. I later sent an email requesting an interview to SarahPac that night. Of course I got an automatic message saying that due to the volume of email, it may take awhile to get a reply, so we will see. Now I have written about the whole thing.

There you have it folks. Pictures from Bryan Herschbach and Chris Mogel are above and I am thankful to them for them. I hope you readers will write some comments about this blog, and continue to support Vice-Precedence as we move forward, slowly yes-but forward still to making our film. Please become Fans on Facebook, go to YouTube and rate our videos and post comments on both pages. We really appreciate it. Thanks.

In response to those of you who find this a little too admiring of Governor Palin-let me state this for the record: Sarah Palin MADE HISTORY. That is undeniable truth.

I was impressed by her charisma=not her policies. I am impressed that she can get that many people to buy her book and support her. Just want to say clearly-I'm NOT a supporter of her for higher office or most of her political beliefs-some of the people there who I overheard said abhorrent things that I very much disagreed with-but I was there to observe and report and tried to stay balanced and not confrontational-though in retrospect-I wish I had asked the guy who called Biden an idiot what he thought of Dan Quayle-he was the same guy-if he thinks Biden is an idiot-I wonder what he thinks of Quayle.

I don't admire all of Gov. Palins political beliefs, but I do admire the fact that she has faced a lot of heavy criticism-some fair, some not, and that she has come out swinging. I went to the signing as research and for the experience-and I can truly say, it was all worth it. Also, she was polite-and in this day and age, I admire that in anyone. Thanks for reading.

Matt Saxe

Courtesy of The Onion - Biden's Latest Gaffe

2009-12-01T11:02:00.000-08:00

Thanks again to The Onion for another great slap to the media's face - this time pointing out the media's obsession with calling every little thing Biden does a "gaffe." Watch this great video here.

By the way, brief blog means "working hard on getting the first Vice-Precedence publication finished." More soon.

- Jason C. K lamm, B.A.

Going Rouge...

2009-11-25T08:23:00.000-08:00

If you're any kind of internet user who enjoys the sadness of other people's lives, you've been to Regretsy.com. The site's author, April Winchell (who goes by the name Helen Killer), and her readers, scour Etsy.com, a site that sells all manner of hand-crafted items, for items that should never have been conceived, let alone put on sale. Well, a couple weeks back she posted this gem.

There's little I can say, so I'll let April's caption do its own magic. The best part is the seller's justification of the spelling by posting a picture of The Nation's parody book, indeed entitled "Going Rouge." That said, I still want The Nation's Book, so thanks to Regretsy for pointing me to it, if indirectly.

On another note, Matt and I are on the first draft of our first VP-related publication. Though it isn't "Vice-Precedence proper," it will be a good taste of what's to come. Also, congratulations to April Winchell, as she's pulled off what our blog is hoping for - she has a book deal with Random House.

- Jason C. Klamm

Happy Birthday, Joe

2009-11-20T07:14:00.000-08:00

As Vice President Joe Biden celebrates his 67th birthday today, we'd like to wish him a happy one of those.

As he celebrates his birth, he's also celebrating art, which will magically whisk you away to... Delaware. The Vice President, according to this light news piece by DelawareOnline.com, populates his residence at 1 Observatory Circle with paintings by a number of artists from his home state. They range from still-lifes of flowers to a portrait of John F. Kennedy and are currently on display on the Veep's walls.

As Biden hangs art, his son, Delaware Attorney General Beau Biden, starts some clean-up work. After a year tour as a military attorney in Iraq, he's returned to his job, apparently to find it mired in accusations of legal misconduct and the ramifications of budget cuts and staff shortages. At least in Delaware he's not getting shot at. During this period of evaluation, though, rumors abound that the younger Biden might be considering taking his father's old senate seat. And it could work out for him, if his folksy approach to making the decision to run or not:

"It's a private decision. Ultimately my wife and I will sit down, probably over the breakfast table, and decide. But we've got time to make that decision.”

Aww. Over the breakfast table. He's so quaint. Daddy taught him well.

Happy Birthday, Joe. Happy Birthday.

- Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Palins Book Tour Continues-Cheney Grandchild Born

2009-11-19T12:20:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Fans!

Yesterday morning former VP Cheney became a grandfather once again as his daughter Mary and her partner of 18 years Heather Poe welcomed their new daughter-Sarah Lynne Cheney was born at 8:17 a.m., weighing 6lbs., 14 oz. at Sibley Hospital in Washington, DC. Mary was the birth mother of this child. So "Congratulations" to Mr. Cheney and his family!

In other news, the Sarah Palin book tour for "Going Rogue" is going strong. People camped out overnight to get her autograph at the Barnes and Noble at the Woodland Mall in Kentwood, Michigan. Thousands of people were there cheering, waving flags, wearing Palin hats and shirts, singing along to her theme songs-"Only in America" (which the McCain-Palin ticket used in the campaign) and "Red High Heels" by Kelly Pickler, where the chorus goes:

"I'll bet you want me back now don't you, don't you? I'm about to show you just how missin' me feels. In my red high heels."

Pretty strong message she's sending there eh?

All of them chanting "Sarah! Sarah!" When they saw the CNN truck pull up with Andrea Mitchell and crew, many people booed furiously-but quickly got back into the spirit of the event cheering for their idol.

Palin briefly addressed the crowd saying: "Thank you so much for showing up so that you can read my words unfiltered by the media,"

People who stood and camped out in line overnight for hours got about 5 seconds of face time with their new patron saint when she signed their books. In interviews with British newspaper The Guardian, fans of Palin had the following comments:

"She's about truth, integrity and working for the people. People just have to let her be who she is. That's what she is about," said Robin Case, 44, who is now caring for her in-laws full-time after losing her job in the auto industry, a similar situation for many people in Michigan which has been hit extremely hard in this economic crisis. People like Mrs. Case are sincerely worried about their futures-they see Palin as one of them

"I am here because Sarah Palin gives me hope," said Michael Cesar.

"I didn't vote for him (Obama). But I don't dislike him. He's got a great family," said Mandi Sutton, 19, who is about to join the military.

As for Gov. Palin? "There is no other person in the world I would rather meet. I just love her," Sutton said.

Today thousands more Americans showed up in Fort Wayne, Indiana and Noblesville, Indiana, and more are expected tomorrow in Cincinnati and Columbus. Here is the latest message from former Gov. Palin on her Facebook page:

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone in every stop on the tour, but I'm especially looking forward to meeting our brave men and women in uniform at Fort Hood. I'm joining the efforts of many others by donating my royalties from the book sales during our stop at Fort Hood to the families of the victims whose lives have been forever changed by the tragic events of November 5th. I am humbled to be able to join the larger effort called "Community Response to 11/5," which was established by the Central Texas-Fort Hood Chapter of the Association of the US Army (AUSA). You can read more about their great efforts here:

http://www.forthoodausa.org/.

As I mentioned last week, I'm going back on Twitter, so you can follow our path on SarahPalinUSA. Below are dates, times, and locations of the venues that I'll be referencing. Some other stops are still to be determined. Please contact each venue for more information. I'll see you soon!

- Sarah Palin

These people who are flocking to see Sarah Palin and read her book don't care that Tina Fey made Palin a laughing-stock to the liberal left, they don't care that Stephen Colbert called her book "a steaming pile of shit" on his show last night-or that he also hollowed it out to store his Eggo waffles in during the current Eggo shortage. They consider her one of them-a "Pro-American" who sees the U.S.A. sliding into socialism under President Obama. A lot of people on the left consider Palin a joke-but to millions of Americans-she represents what Obama did years ago-hope for the future. It would be wrong to dismiss her, as her influence is strong and she will be around for quite awhile. Also, I will say this-I applaud what she said about supporting the people at Ft. Hood-good for her for spreading the word on that.

Stay tuned for more VP Blog readers. Thanks for your support.
Matt Saxe

Quick Post-Biden on "The Daily Show" Tonight!

2009-11-17T14:29:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

Just a quick update Blog Readers. The day after Palins landmark appearance on OPRAH, tonight Vice-President Joseph Biden is on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart"! This will be his sixth appearance on "The Daily Show". Biden will be the first sitting Vice-President to appear on the show in the 10 year history of "The Daily Show." So make sure to tune in. Thanks!

Palin on OPRAH TODAY! Cheney/Palin 2012?

2009-11-16T10:16:00.000-08:00

REMINDER Vice-Precedence Fans: Sarah Palins interview on OPRAH is today! Set your Tivos' or leave work early, you don't want to miss this highly anticipated interview.

Also, Liz Cheney was on FOX NEWS SUNDAY yesterday with Chris Wallace and Bill Kristol, Juan Williams and other pundits-the topic of discussion was the non-story of Obama's bowing to the Emperor of Japan. Apparently conservatives are saying that this is a sign of weakness. Since when is following proper protocol a sign of weakness? Does President Obama bowing to the Emperor mean we retroactively lost World War II? No of course not. I don't want to go off on a jeremiad here-but this is a sign of conservatives nitpicking at any little thing the President does to try and make him look weak-when all he was doing was following proper protocol. Having good manners is a good thing in my opinion folks-not a sign of weakness. Its just making a mountain out of a molehill.

Chris Wallace showed the clip and said that the internet was "abuzz" with chatter about it, he then commented about how when VP Cheney visited Japan, he did not bow to the Emperor. However back then, both liberals and conservatives didn't wonder if Cheney's failure to bow was a breach of protocol that offended the Emperor and the Japanese people and created an international incident effecting policy and diplomacy. No one commented on it at all-though maybe they should have, since bowing is what you are supposed to do as a sign of respect and tradition going back thousands of years, and Cheney didn't follow that tradition. Wallaces observation led to the following exchange:

Liz Cheney: "You could ... look at the comparison and think, Cheney 2012,"

Chris Wallace: "Really? How far do you want to go with that?"

Bill Kristol: "Let Liz make news ... Cheney/Palin,"

Wallace: "Or Palin/Cheney -- don't be sexist."

Liz Cheney: “Whatever Republican takes the mantle of our party in 2012 they’re going to have to be able to address these incredibly grave challenges we’re facing as a nation,”

Hmmm. Anyway, don't forget folks-Sarah Palin today on Oprah, and "Going Rogue" hits bookstores tomorrow! Thanks for your support and let us know what you think!

Matt Saxe

Palin! On Oprah! Levi in Playgirl! Going Rogue is Coming and Vice-Precedence will be there!

2009-11-13T07:48:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence blog readers!

Wow! With Sarah Palins book "Going Rogue" coming out on November 17th and already #1 on both Barnes & Noble and Amazon and her book tour already planned, the publicity blitz is on!

To be honest, I'm kind of impressed that in just 4 months, Palin and her co-author (some would say ghost-writer, but that may not be accurate) Lynn Vincent have written the Number One book in the country.

Palin has already taped her appearance on "Oprah" to air on Monday November 16th-the day before her book hits the shelves. Palin posted this on her Facebook page after the interview:

Willow, Piper, and I are in Chicago and just wanted to let you know that I had a great conversation with Oprah today. We taped the show for Monday, November 16th, and enjoyed it so much that we went way over on time. The rest will air on Oprah.com. Oprah was very hospitable and gracious, and her audience was full of warm, energized and (no doubt) curious viewers.

In her interview with Winfrey, Palin responds to a question about Levi Johnston, the father of her grandchild, who has since the split with Palin's daughter Bristol has said some interesting and harsh things about the Palins (I wrote about his interview with GQ in an earlier blog-check it out), and recently posed nude for Playgirl.

"Will he be invited to Thanksgiving dinner?" Oprah inquired.

"You know, that's a great question," Palin said, adding, "I think he needs to know that he is loved and he has the most beautiful child and this can all work out for good. It really can. We don't have to keep going down this road of controversy and drama all the time. We're not really into the drama. We don't really like that. We're more productive. We have other things to concentrate on."

Which is a very interesting answer considering that back on October 27th Johnston said on CBS's The Early Show that she referred to her infant son Trig, who became a living symbol of the former Alaska governors pro-life beliefs, and has Down syndrome, as "retarded."

He also implied that he has some seriously damaging dirt that could put a nasty scar on the public image of the mother of his former squeeze, and his childs grandmother, saying:
"You know, I mean, if I really wanted to hurt her, I could very easily. But there's – I'm not gonna do it."

At the time, former Gov. Palin responded sharply with the following:

"We have purposefully ignored the mean spirited, malicious and untrue attacks on our family," Palin says in a statement. "We, like many, are appalled at the inflammatory statements being made or implied. Trig is our 'blessed little angel' who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life."

She also was extremely harsh on Johnstons Playgirl pictorial saying his credibility is in question:
"Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies," she says. "Those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention."

Speaking of that pictorial, Johnston worked out and dieted extremely hard for the shoot. According to his trainer Marvin Jones in PEOPLE Magazine, Johnston has a diet secret-moose meat that he hunts himself.

"Moose meat is very good for you, high in protein and very lean, and he's an avid hunter, so he has his own."

Johnston worked out three hours a day in the gym, six days a week, followed by cardio training and then a rest in the sauna, said Jones.

"I'm not trying to give him a body builder's look. He's going to be more toned and more defined," says Jones.

"I'd like to see him with rounder and more muscular shoulders, with a fuller chest. We're going to firm his abs up, [and give him a] smaller waist."

Jones says Johnston was committed to the training sessions, which even caused Johnston get sick during his second week of working out. Still, Johnston was determined to be in great shape for the shoot.

"I know that's something he wants to do and we're having fun training," says Jones, who is training him in Anchorage, Alaska. "We're looking forward to revealing all his hard work!"

So from practically calling Levi a whore to inviting him to Thanksgiving on Oprah-one wonders how Gov. Palin actually feels about Levi.

Oprah also asked former Gov. Palin about the infamous Katie Couric interview that convinced many uncommitted voters and a lot of Americans that Palin was unqualified for the Vice-Presidency.

"Do you think that was a seminal, defining moment for you, that interview?" Winfrey asks.

"I did not," Palin responds. "And neither did the campaign. In fact, that is why Segment 2 and 3 and 4 and maybe 5 were scheduled. The campaign said, right on. Good. You're showing your independence."

Meanwhile it was released in USA TODAY that Palin will be coming here to MN. where I currently live! She will be here on Monday Dec. 7th, at the Barnes and Noble Bookstore in the world-famous Mall of America in Bloomington, MN. I will be in attendance. However, I'm afraid that I won't be able to get a picture of myself with her, or interview her, or anything. The Palin publicity team has released an intense set of rules for the book signings. Here is the official list as shown on The Sarah Palin Blog:

Palin will be signing books at Barnes & Noble in The Mall of America, beginning at noon. You need a wristband to get in line to get your book autographed.

Wristbands will be handed out on a first-come, first-served basis, beginning at 7 a.m. that day. You must be present in order to get a wristband.

You must present your Barnes & Noble or Barnes and Noble.com receipt for “Going Rogue” in order to get a wristband.

Maximum of two copies of “Going Rogue” per person will be signed.

A parent or guardian must accompany all minors.

No posed photos.

No personalization of books.

No large bags will be allowed through the signing line.

Cell phones and cameras will have to be turned off and put away before customers approach the signing table.

Whew! It may be possible to get her to sign my copy of the Sarah Palin comic book. So we will see. I plan on ordering my copy of "Going Rogue" ASAP. I can't believe the things I have to do to for this film. I do it all for you viewers and readers. So your support is appreciated!

As more information comes, we will be here to report it to you! Thanks for your support and keep viewing all the "Vice-Precedence" material on YouTube and here! Rate them, post comments, let us know what you like here on the blog-feel free to read older posts and respond to them. Spread the word to more people! We're grateful to you-our fans! One final note-Happy 6th Birthday to my daughter Caitlin Justine Saxe! Talk to you soon!

Sarah Palin Doesn't Want Me to Buy Her Book

2009-11-05T11:49:00.000-08:00

And sadly, I'd do it. But on her upcoming book tour later this month, according to a CNN blog, she is avoiding most major American cities, like New York and San Francisco (she's probably afraid of catching Bleeding Heart or Gay), not to mention Los Angeles (my homebase, where she could catch Mexican) and, perhaps, the most American of them all (and Matt's HQ) Minneapolis (where she could catch cold).

I say we all stand up and demand that Sarah Palin add some stops to her book tour that include places that WOULDN'T be friendly to her. She would undoubtedly get a healthy turn-out. Maybe she knows that sales on irony and kitsch alone will make up for her lack of personal presence in big liberal meccas like LA and NY.

All I know is, I'm excited to see what her ghost-writer or co-writer helped her say to explain certain things, or if those certain things, like her choice to be so straight-up folksy as to cause cringing fits across the country, won't be explained at all. Will it be her unofficial announcement for 2020 presidential candidacy? Maybe for some other office? Maybe she'll blow all our minds and tell everyone that, after she had so much fun writing "Going Rogue," she'd like to make a career out of writing autobiographies.

- Jason C. Klamm

Cheney and the FBI-The Report and The Numbers.

2009-11-04T09:45:00.000-08:00

Hey Vice-Precedence readers. Well, as I reported here on the blog, VP Cheney has defended his former Chief-of-Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby vigorously about his role in the outing of undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame after her husband, former Ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote critiques of the Administrations reasoning and evidence for the war in Iraq. When Libby was convicted of felony perjury and obstruction of justice, and sentenced to jail, Cheney was relentless in pressing then President Bush to fully pardon his good friend. However, President Bush determined that Libby was guilty, and only commuted his sentence so he wouldn't have to do jail time. Cheney has always maintained Libby's innocence and was reportedly furious that President Bush wouldn't pardon Libby. You can read all about this here on the blog, and I encourage you to do so. Cheney has always maintained that he didn't tell Libby to out Plame or even know about it. However, recent revelations have thrown serious doubt on what the Vice-President knew and did.

Last week the FBI released the transcript of Cheney's May 8th 2004 interview with them, which was released only after a long-fought legal battle waged by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. Patrick Fitzgerald,the special prosecutor investigating the Valerie Plame outing said at the time that "there is a cloud over the vice president." This interview has exposed that cloud.

On questions both big and small regarding his role and what he knew about the Valerie Plame outing, Cheney responded 72 times that he wasn't certain about events or issues. Cheney told the FBI he "did not recall" discussing Plame with Libby prior to her name being published in a column by reporter Robert Novak in July 2003, and said he had no knowledge of Libby's meeting with New York Times reporter Judith Miller before Plame was identified in that paper.

According to the FBI summary, Cheney said there was no discussion of using Plame's employment with the CIA to counter her husband's criticism that the Bush administration had manipulated prewar intelligence to exaggerate the Iraqi threat. There was no discussion, Cheney insisted, of "pushing back" on Joseph Wilson's credibility by raising the issue of nepotism, the fact that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA, the same agency that dispatched him to the African nation of Niger to run down the report of an agreement to supply uranium "yellowcake" to Iraq. Cheney also called Wilsons report "amateur hour at the CIA".

It was one example of Cheney being straight-forward and Libby being unsure.

"In a prior FBI interview, you indicated it was possible that you may have talked to the Vice President on Air Force Two ... about whether you should share the information with the press about Wilson's wife?" Fitzgerald asked Libby in his grand jury testimony.

"It's possible that would have been one of the times I could have talked to him about what I had learned," Libby answered.

"As you sit here today, do you recall whether you had such a conversation with the vice president on Air Force Two?" the prosecutor asked.

"No, sir. My, my best recollection of that conversation was what I had on my note card which we have produced which doesn't reflect anything about that," Libby replied.

Meanwhile, Cheney was with his denials of remembering these discussions-evasive. Cheney said he could not recall whether he discussed Plame with infamous White House political genius Karl Rove, Libby and others, he was certain he did not discuss her with former Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage (the original source of the leak).

Among the most basic questions for Cheney in the Plame probe: How did Libby find out that the wife of Bush administration war critic Joseph Wilson worked at the CIA?

Libby's own handwritten notes suggest Libby found out from Cheney. When Libby discovered Cheney's reference to Plame and the CIA in his notes – notes that Libby knew he would soon have to turn over to the FBI – the chief of staff went to the vice president, probably in late September or early October 2003.

According to Nick Baumann of Mother Jones Magazine-a very liberal magazine-there were 22 things the Vice-President "forgot" about the Valerie Plame outing in the report-and this is backed up by reading the full report.

1. Whether the Wilson trip was discussed during any of the visits he made to the CIA with his Chief of Staff, Scooter Libby.
2. Any reaction he had to Nicholas Kristof's New York Times' article about the Wilson visit at the time the article was published.
3. Whether he discussed the Wilson situation with George Tenet at their meeting on June 10, 2003.
4. Who he spoke to about Joe Wilson's July 6, 2003 editorial (he did remember speaking to someone, but not who it was).
5. What happened to the Joe Wilson op-ed after he wrote on it suggesting that Valerie Plame Wilson had sent Joe Wilson on a "junket," and put it in his outbox.
6. Any specific advice he gave his press people in the May-June 2003 timeframe regarding the Wilson trip to Niger.
7. Whether he discussed the Wilson situation with Eric Edelman, one of his national security advisers.
8. Whether Cathie Martin, his press secretary, entered his office while both he and Scooter Libby were present and advised both of them that Joe Wilson's wife was employed by the CIA.
9. Discussing Joe Wilson or Wilson's wife with his former press secretary Mary Matalin, although he said it was possible.
10. Ever discussing Valerie Plame Wilson with Libby prior to the publication of Novak's column.
11. Whether Scooter Libby knew about Valerie Plame Wilson on July 12, the day before the publication of the Novak column.
12. If Libby ever told Cheney he had independent knowledge of Valerie Plame Wilson's covert identity
13. Dictating notes to Libby on July 12, 2003 that Cheney said looked and sounded like something he might have dictated to Libby.
14. Discussing the Novak column or any of its contents with anyone at the time it was published.
15. Whether he discussed the Wilson trip with Libby as a sort of "boondoggle" or "junket," although he believed it possible that he had such a conversation.
16. If Libby told him that Libby was not Novak's source.
17. Libby telling him how he first learned that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative.
18. Whether he told Libby that Valerie Plame Wilson was a covert CIA operative.
19. Waving off Libby when Libby offered to tell him everything he knew about the Wilson matter.
20. Anyone on his staff, including Libby, ever meeting with Judith Miller during the week of July 7, 2003.
21. Having a conversation with Libby during which Libby said he wanted to share the judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate with Judith Miller.
22. Whether Libby told him that certain material in the NIE had to be declassified before it could be shared.

"For years the American people have wondered what role Vice President Cheney played in outing former CIA officer Valerie Plame Wilson," said Melanie Sloan, executive director of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics the organization that got the interview released under the Freedom of Information Act. Now, she said, "we're one step closer" to finding out.

Lots of gaps, lots of forgotten things, lots of questions. So far, no response from the former VP. It would seem from this report that there is a lot the public was unaware of. I myself am wondering what all this will lead to? What will happen next? Will anything happen at all? Has the American public already moved on? Stay tuned here for more on this breaking story. Don't forget to be sure to go to our Facebook page and become a fan and Rate our videos on YouTube.

Thanks!

Watch Joe Biden Slam Sarah Palin

2009-11-03T11:17:00.000-08:00

As you might guess, today's blog is about word choice. At least partially. In the middle of an article discussing the face-slapping Biden and Palin have done lately over a congressional election on my home turf of New York State, the title of this blog appears. And it's obviously a link to a video. Anyone with my sensibilities - and I know you're out there - thought something else entirely. Just saying - think before you write. At least they didn't say "pound."

Anyhow, apparently Palin is still trying to keep herself visible, and people are still accepting her endorsements. Somehow. Most of the party, including her former running-mate, have at least somewhat trashed her, but there's some force - not just her - trying to keep her in the public eye. The fear, of course, is that that force also has enough money to help her run her own campaign.

In other, more interesting news (and, oddly, the only part of this blog relating to the main image), there is a man out there who has sculpted a tiny Joe Biden. And an Aaron Burr, among a few other VPs. He's been recreating the famed Marx figurines from the 50s and 60s hat portrayed political figures of the past and (then) present for a while now, and they are wonderful. Oh, and did I mention he's a writer on Futurama? Patric Verrone's work can be found here, and you can check out a few choice VPs here and here. He'll also do custom figurines - I may be the first and only person to pay a man to sculpt Charles Curtis, but its my God-given right and I won't let anyone take that away from me.

Jason C. Klamm

Sweet Treats from the Cheneys

2009-10-30T07:00:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers! I hope you are all having a great Friday and have fun plans for Halloween this weekend. Also, don't forget to turn your clocks back an hour on Sat. Night for an extra hour of Halloween debauchery.

Well, in Cheney news, the Vice-President was a little alarmed by a "tirade" on the show Morning Joe by one of the hosts, Mika Brzezisnski about him. Brezezisnski (God thats a complicated name to type) was commenting on Cheney's speech at the Center for Security Policy that he made on winning their "Keeper of the Flame" Award, that I wrote about in my last blog on Tuesday, where he accused President Obama of "dithering" in Afghanistan:

BRZEZINSKI: You really think is was a good idea for the former vice-president, who was one of the architects of the war we are still in, because they didn't finish it up correctly...you really think it was good of him to say the President is dithering, and you really think that our White House right now, the administration, shouldn't fire back at the former vice president for these ridiculous low blows?

Apparently the Cheney's thought Brezezisnski was "a little cranky" that morning with those comments, so the next day they sent a delivery of gourmet cupcakes to the set. Nice huh? Who knew the Cheneys were in on that whole cupcake trend thats' been going on over the last few years?

In other Cheney news, the former VP has also decided to give a "treat" to one of the candidates in the race for Governor of Texas. He has decided to endorse Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison for the Republican nomination for Governor of Texas in her campaign against current governor Rick Perry. Cheney will officially endorse Hutchison at a Houston fundraiser on Nov. 17, Hutchisons' campaign confirmed Wednesday.

“Kay Bailey Hutchison is pleased to have Vice President Cheney’s endorsement,” said Hutchison spokeswoman Jennifer Baker. “He knows she’s a conservative who walks the walk, not just talks the talk."

Political scientist Adam Schiffer of TCU-Texas Christian University in Ft. Worth, TX. said Cheney’s support should help Hutchison “chip off that core Republican primary constituency” that Perry has been concentrating on to help win re-election.

“Cheney is an extremely polarizing figure, overall very unpopular, but he’s very popular among this small subset that is the most likely to turn out in a normal gubernatorial primary,” Schiffer said about this election-which is truly dividing the Texas Republican Party.

Meanwhile, Mark Miner of the Perry campaign brushed off Cheney's endorsement by calling Cheney part of the “Washington establishment”.

“The Washington establishment likes to stick together,” Miner is quoted as saying. Perry and his campaign have been trying to portray Hutchison as a Washington insider who is out of touch with how "real Texans" live and work and think.

I guess thats why Perry went out and got his own endorsement from a definite Washington outsider- Sarah Palin! I guess Perry got Palins endorsement because he thinks Alaskans know how Texans think better than a Senator from Texas.

One wonders how this election will effect the GOP in this reddest of Red States (except for Austin-of course) and whose endorsement will help or hurt more-Cheney's or Palin's. What do you think Vice-Precedence readers? Let us know, become a Fan of us on Facebook and Thanks for reading! Have a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Biden Slips Up Again

2009-10-28T13:05:00.001-07:00

Fox News is reporting that the Vice President "unwittingly revealed" the plans of automotive newcomer Fisker Automotive to create a full line of plug-in hybrids. He revealed this at a speech to the workers at Fisker's plant. It was then laughingly played off by Fisker's CEO on Fox News later on.

The CEO, Henrik Fisker, then went on to detail the line, giving us model names and specs. Ahh, Fox News - where even a playful attempt to help the economy and aid the image of an automotive manufacturer will be met with a little slap at Joe. Maybe its a cutesy slap, but come on. Both the Administration and Joe himself know how to play on his image as The Man Who Said Too Much, so, actually, why even play along? You'd think they'd slap Biden for being so obvious in his deviousness. But, then again, that's what they liked about George Bush.

In other news, Dr. Jill Biden, Second Lady, is attending the World Series with Michelle Obama. Okay, it's not news, but how often do you hear about Jill? And where's her comic book, Bluewater?

Good things on the horizon for Vice-Precedence, everyone. I can't announce the details yet, but we will be publishing a Vice-Precedence-related item within the next few months, which should be available on Amazon.com pretty much right away.

Good night, and good Vice-Presidenting.

- Jason C. Klamm, B.A.

Cheney Wins Award, Gets Called a Cannibal, and Makes News

2009-10-27T11:22:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Fans! Well, there's been a lot of Cheney news recently. No big developments in the CIA investigation, or about his book, but general news. So I thought I would give you an overview of what he's been up to and whats been said about him.

First of all, Cheney was named #9 in GQ Magazine's "50 Most Powerful People in D.C."* (* And to eliminate the obvious, all people with the last name Obama or Biden have been stricken from the list).

Last Wed. VP Cheney won the "Keeper of the Flame" award from the Center for Security Policy in Washington-a national security think tank that says it is non-partisan but advocates neoconservative policies based on the philosophy of the late Democratic Senator from Washington State-Henry "Scoop" Jackson-which can be boiled down to the expression, "Peace through Strength". Previous winners of this award include Senator Joe Lieberman, Paul Wolfowitz, and extremely right-wing Senator James Inhofe from Oklahoma. Cheney used his acceptance speech to rip on President Obama and the present administration on their Afghanistan policy.

Among the former Vice-Presidents many charges against the administration, was that the President is "dithering" in his decision on whether or not to send more soldiers and marines to Afghanistan. Cheney's direct quote is:

"Having announced his Afghanistan strategy in March, President Obama now seems afraid to make a decision, and unable to provide his commander on the ground with the troops he needs to complete the mission,"

Vice-President Biden and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have responded to this charge by saying that they were left with a flawed Afghanistan policy and an undermanned military effort there. Mr. Emanuel says that the former Afghan commander, Gen. David McKiernan, had requested 30,000 more troops last year, a request the Bush administration failed to fulfill. "Everybody knows resources got moved to Iraq, and Afghanistan suffered for it," Mr. Emanuel says. Now, Vice-President Biden says, Mr. Obama is simply waiting to make sure to get the next steps right after an Afghan presidential election covered with charges of corruption.

It's true that Gen. McKiernan asked for troop increases amounting to 30,000 additional forces last fall, Pentagon officials say. The Bush Administration initially hoped that allied countries would step up to fill some of that need. When that didn't happen, the administration began sending small numbers of additional forces in its final months. Finally, President Obama dispatched 21,000 additional troops in March.

Cheney's most damning charge is that the Obama Administration is soft on national security and that by ceasing the "harsh interrogation techniques"-called "torture" by some-that resulted in some valuable information. By stopping these tactics, Cheney said the Obama Administration is giving in to "the angry left". To this, Chief of Staff Ehmanuel said:
"We just disrupted what was seen as the most serious homeland-security threat since 9/11,"
This is in reference to a plot by an Afghan citizen to detonate bombs in New York City after receiving al Qaeda training in Pakistan.

Mr. Cheney's remarks that night not only fired up the White House's attack dogs, but also radio commentators on the Left. Mike Malloy even went so far as to accuse the former Vice-President of cannibalism:

Cheney, by the way looks very ruddy; I couldn't get over that like he must have feasted on a Jewish baby, or a Muslim baby; he must have sent his people out to get one and bring it back so he could drink its blood, because that's what somebody like Cheney does to get that ruddy look.

It was scary to see. This was not makeup; and the weird part is there were no dribbles of blood down his tux. But it was very clear that he had been eating the blood of a Jewish or a Muslim baby. He wouldn't eat a Christian baby. If he ate the blood of a Christian baby, there's something in the old writings that said that instantly the trap door to Hell opens and you disappear into the smoke, so it's got to be a Muslim or a Jewish baby; and you drink the blood and you're healthy again if you're somebody like Dick Cheney.

I'm thinking, oh my God, he just won't away! There's no way to stop him, and now his spawn, his daughter, is picking up the cudgel, so to speak; and now they have this new organization, something to do with more right-wing warmongering, death and destruction. How do you stop Dick Cheney?

Wow. Baby eating. Wow.

Ronald P. Reagan son of the late former President, who has been pilloried by the Right for "betraying" his fathers party and what he stood for, also took his shots at his fathers former ally:

Politics over security? Would that be anything like ideology over truth? Private profit over patriotism? Hidden agendas over the precious lives of young American men and women who are willing to put service to country over personal safety, something that Dick Cheney by the way never had the guts to do in the days in when he chose to pursue, quote, ‘other priorities’?

Dick Cheney is a nose-blowing incompetent! When faced with the most important decisions any elected leader choice ever confront, choices about to send American citizens to war, he consistently, inevitably got it wrong, each and every time.

The former VP is by now, used to being called "The Dark Lord" and "Darth Cheney" and all, and has almost from the beginning of the Obama Administration, been unafraid to voice his concerns and level criticisms against the current Administration. His being a thorn in the Obama Administrations side is what earned him that #9 ranking from GQ. This has also opened him up to more criticism-as shown in a post by Lance Simmens on The Huffington Post where he compares Mr. Cheney to another not so illustrious VP:

"Not since Spiro T. Agnew have we been so publicly assaulted by an individual so bereft of integrity and decorum."

Simmens, for one, is tired of hearing the former Vice-Presidents blasts at the current White House occupants and their policy. As he makes clear with his closing comment:

"Write a book, go fishing, shoot something other than another human, read, travel, see a shrink, or just connect with your family. But for goodness sakes, work out your demons on your own time; do not force us to agonize over your tortured conscience. Don't go away mad, just go away."

Personally, I seriously doubt Mr.Cheney is going away at all. All his comments and the attention they get just lead to more anticipation of what he will say next and what he'll be saying in his book. Mr. Cheney has just as much right as any other American to voice his opinions, and his experience and knowledge of geo-politics and American politics and policy make him more qualified than most to talk about them. It may be true that people don't like what he's saying, but its my theory that Cheney doesn't care about that at all, and may in fact, enjoy the fact that he gets the Left so riled up and furious. In any case, Mr. Cheney seems to be determined to voice his opinions on whats going on, and I know that people posting on the Huffington Post or left wing radio pundits won't stop him. Even if they do call him a baby eater.

Remember to encourage your friends and family to become Fans of Vice-Precedence on Facebook and to watch our videos on YouTube. Thanks for your support.

Biden Comic Review and October Veep Birthdays

2009-10-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog readers. Its been awhile since I posted something, but I wanted to wait until there was something to really write about. Jason already posted his review of the Joe Biden comic published by Bluewater Comics, so now its my turn.

First of all, like Jason I am glad that someone had the guts to write and publish a comic about a vice-president. It means that someone has decided that there is an audience for this. That's great news for Vice-Precedence and I am happy to see it. I certainly hope that the comic sells well. At least better than Bo Obama's. Although I can understand why dogs would be more popular than politicians.

I just finished it a few minutes ago and I have to say overall....I'm disappointed. Aside from the typos and mistakes that Jason already mentioned its very hard to follow. It jumps around from time to time. It opens with Bidens' brush with death-to the point of his receiving last rites and that is portrayed in a powerful way. His upset victory in the Delaware Senate race as a 29 year old upstart during the Nixon Administration is also shown and his struggles to make it all happen are done in a interesting noir style-complete with the dirty union boss with a cloud of smoke over his head. The book also does a good job of illustrating Bidens pain at the loss of his first wife and daughter. The writer does a good job in showing how these trials shaped Biden's life and effected him emotionally. These stories are important, and make for interesting reading and I certainly understand why they are here in the book. I have to give kudos to writer Wey-Yuih Loh on at least this.

My main complaint with the book is how it seems almost jagged-it jumps back and forth in time and seems haphazard about it. It makes it hard to follow. Also, the art style is not to my liking. It seems a little rushed and the coloring is a little too pale to my liking. The cover is well done by artist Vinnie Tartamella. Like Jason, I wish it had spent some time on his work in Washington and how he became such a powerful presence there. While Bidens personal struggles do make for dramatic stories, more than passing legislation, it seems like that was the only thing this book was interested in. Still, I'd like to learn more about how Biden developed his way of making things happen in Washington and how he got to the Vice-Presidency. Like Jason, it makes me want to read Bidens autobiography "Promises to Keep-On Life and Politics".

Still, the fact that this book has been published is great. I am glad that it was written, and I hope you Vice-Precedence fans will at least give it a try. Darren G. Davis and Bluewater are to be applauded for creating this book.

On another note-October is a big month for VP birthdays-so happy belated birthdays to the following VP's!

Happy Birthday Chester Alan Arthur-Born October 5th 1829.

Happy Birthday Henry Agard Wallace-Born October 7th 1888.

Happy Birthday Richard Mentor Johnson-Born October 17th 1780-"The most vulgar man of all vulgar men in this world." according to the Doorkeeper of the U.S. Senate.

and Happy Birthday John Adams-Born October 19th 1735.

Keep tuned here on the Vice-Precedence blog for all the latest and greatest news in Vice-Presidents. Thanks for reading.

Biden Comic Review

2009-10-19T12:55:00.001-07:00

This is the first time - not likely the last - that I'll be able to say I just read a comic book about one of our Vice Presidents. It'll be at least three years before I can say that it's about a sitting VP. The fact that I can say it, though, says some good things about growing public awareness of the office. As Vice-Precedence, whether book, movie or blog form proves - its about damn time.

The book is unexpected, in many ways. I haven't yet read Joe's autobiography, if only because I tend to reserve political pre-campaign bios of any sort for light afternoon reading. The comic book, it seems, is considerably based off of Joe's book "Promises to Keep," and, sadly, makes me want to read the Veep's book now. The tone of the whole thing is like that of an action comic. To be more accurate, though, its the drama in Joe's life that gets the beams-of-light and low-key noir shadows treatment. From the death of his wife to his political struggles, the book gives you a strong look at Biden up to the Vice Presidency. Sure, it kind of skips the 20 years between his marriage to Jill Biden and his election to his current office, but it's compelling nonetheless.

The comic has its weak points, though - the sketches often seem a little too rough and a few of the typos make it obvious Bluewater Productions (the comic's producer) needed to rush the book out to its (hopefully) growing audience. We could use some of those twenty years, even if they aren't dripping with drama - a few points along the way showing the good Joe has done politically. It's still worth a look, though, and there's something to be said for the risk Bluewater was willing to take by making the comic in the first place. Pick it up, if you can find it in your shop. Though stores ordered almost 2,000 of the Biden comic books (a little short of the First Lady's record of 65,000+ units sold), you'll be more likely to find a copy of Bluewater's other recent book in your local comic shop - the issue that sold almost 4,000 units - the Obama comic book.

That is, the book about the life of Bo Obama, the First Dog.

- Jason C. Klamm

Biden a Cover Boy

2009-10-12T22:59:00.000-07:00

Newsweek's cover story this week is none other than The Veep himself. Big Joe Biden, decked out in sunglasses and smiles, is part of an article that actually examines the office. He's also the subject of a photo piece on the site.

I'm going to spend my research tomorrow actually reading the article to see how well Newsweek assesses Biden in comparison to other VPs (not just Cheney) and within the context of what it means to actually be a Vice President.

The fact that they've sexed Joe up - the first I've personally come across any evidence of an actual Vice President being played up as living the good life and being handsome since Dan Quayle was pointed out to look somewhat Kennedy-esque (and honestly, never before that have I seen it) - is not a good sign for their journalistic skill, but it is Newsweek. I'm willing to give them a chance.

It's either a sign of the state of the media - desperate to sex things up regardless of the subject matter - or a sign that Biden needs a new image. Or both. What with Biden taking his own strong positions on Afghanistan and having something of a say in Iraq, it seems appropriate to make sure the guy who could follow in the steps of a Nobel-Prize-Winning handsome black progressive president looks as hip and interesting as possible.

I'm not uncomfortable saying that as far as 66-year-old Vice Presidents go, Joe's a looker. And maybe he deserves it. I won't say he does, because I can't be sure anyone deserves the play that celebrities and politicians get, but I will say the office deserves it. I just hope this kind of play, this kind of free-wheeling attitude toward the office, doesn't distract from the central theme of Vice-Precedence - the office needs a purpose.

The last thing an office with one duty needs is another excuse to let the man who could potentially be our next president get used to being too pampered and not having real duties. Not that that's what's happening - this is a clear attempt to make people understand that the Obama Administration works and is still working, even in the Vice President's office - but its something to watch for.

It's also nice to have an article that doesn't focus on Biden's verbal diarrhea. Keep it in mind, but lets see how the Veep plays out as a human being.

- Jason C. Klamm

P.S. - Don't forget to check back for my review of the Biden comic book on Wednesday!

Cheney's Lesbian Daughter Giving Dick Another Grandchild

2009-10-07T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence readers. Breaking news today: former VP Dick Cheney's daughter Mary, who I hope you all know by now, because I've written about her about 3 or 4 times here on the blog-is an out lesbian who has been with her partner Heather Poe for years, is pregnant for the second time! So the former VP will be a grandfather once again.

So once again, conservatives around the country who love the former VP's criticisms of the Obama Administration, will be gnashing their teeth and cursing the heavens as Mary Cheney once again undermines the "traditional" family values of the United States of America by giving birth to a baby with a baster as the daddy. Of course, liberals will be once again pointing out the hypocrisy of the Right on Gay and Lesbian Civil Rights as Cheney has offered his full support to his daughter. Get ready for the screaming heads to really get at one another on MSNBC and FOX and for some really stupid and insensitive remarks to come flying. Boy oh Boy!

Mary and Heather had a child-son Samuel David Cheney back in 2007. The happy grandparents are pictured above with their new grandson. After the 2004 election Mary had sort of gone off the radar after creating some headlines, until her first pregnancy stirred up controversy across the country receiving criticism from such prominent right-wing Christian icons like Focus on the Family's Dr. James Dobson who wrote an article for TIME called "Two Mommies is One Too Many". According to reports, Mary plans to go on maternity leave soon, and then start a political consulting firm with her sister Liz-perhaps to aid her in her possible run for Congress in Virginia? We'll see.

So once again the Cheney family will go into the breach of one of the most controversial issues in today's America. So get ready Vice-Precedence readers-because with his lesbian daughter having another baby, the possibility of his being called to testify about the CIA assassination squad and torture issues, and of course-his still untitled book coming out-it looks like its going to be a hell of a year for the polarizing former VP. Stay tuned here for all the latest news and thanks for your support!

Matt Saxe

Whose Book Will Rule and Veeps for Halloween

2009-10-06T13:07:00.000-07:00

It seems in todays culture that everyone writes a book. As we have reported on this blog, former President Bush, former Vice-President Dick Cheney, and former VP candidate Sarah Palin are all writing books. While there is still no title for Cheney's book, we know former Gov. Palins book will be called "Going Rogue". Now the question becomes-of these three upcoming Republican biographies-whose will sell the most?

Its an interesting question-in that sales may show who is more popular, and that it may reflect which way the GOP is going ideologically. I don't think its sexist to say that a LOT of women are going to want to read Palin's book. That alone may put her above the sales of both Bush and Cheney, but at the same time, a lot of women may want to read Bush and Cheney's books too.

Readers all hope that these books will answer questions that people want to know. Such as:

"What were their emotions on 9/11?"

"How did you deal with all the stress and attention?"

"What are your beliefs on the complicated issues that currently divide the country?"

and about a million others. Which book are you most interested in reading? Let us know.

Also, with Halloween coming up, you know that there'll be some costumes out there about political figures, and I found the one at the top of the blog-available for $59.99 advertised with the following:

Deadeye Dick-Our Dick Cheney costume features a Dick Cheney mask, full hunting jumpsuit with wire hoop, top vest, target and cap. The costume also comes with an automatic membership in the Deadeye Dick Gun Club. Anyway, you know how the song goes, "Save A Quail, Shoot A Lawyer", or something like that.

Also, of course there's lots of Sarah Palin costumes out there too-including instructions on how to dress as Palin for under $100-For you who are interested-it involves a brown wig or your own brown hair put up in either a ponytail or with a banana clip, lots and lots of bronzer, glossy muave lipstick, a power suit with no pantyhose (gotta show off those hunting in snowshoes stems), dangly earrings, and of course-some simple drugstore rectangular frame glasses (red is a good choice) and VOILA!

For those of you into using Halloween as an excuse to "slut it up" as the kids say these days, who may want to put an ironic twist on it, there is of course the "Sexy Sarah Palin Costume". Which basically consists of you putting your hair up in the ponytail or clip in that Palin style, squeezing into your hottest bikini, putting on your best stiletto heels, grabbing yours or your husbands/boyfriends or kids best hunting rifle, throwing a sash saying "Mrs. Alaska" or "Hockey Mom" over yourself, and of course don't forget the glasses. For hints you can see the pic above. I'm betting you Republican guys who are reading this blog (you are out there right?) are drooling about now.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned here for all the latest news on the Veeps!

Matt Saxe

Cheney and the CIA Plot-Part 3.

2009-10-02T07:23:00.000-07:00

Well Vice-Precedence readers-its all coming together. As you know, I have been following the issues with Vice-President Cheney and the CIA. Its ranged from how furious the former VP is over Attorney General Holders investigation into the controversy of torture, the revelation of the CIA Assassination Squad, to lingering issues about the Valerie Plame outing.

I've posted previous blogs on all these since we started it back in June, and I encourage you to go back and re-read those. Now another break in this story-yesterday Federal Judge Emmett Sullivan ruled that the FBI must publicly reveal the majority of its interview with Cheney during the investigation into who leaked the identity of Valerie Plame. He said that limited parts could be withheld to protect national security or personal privacy, but 67 pages will be revealed. Plames name was leaked after her husband former Ambassador Joe Wilson wrote an article critical of the Bush Administrations intelligence reports justifying launching the war in Iraq.

As many of you remember the only person who was exposed and punished for having anything to do with the Valerie Plame leak to the press was Cheney's top aide and dear friend I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. During his trial, jurors found that Libby lied to the FBI and a grand jury about his conversations with reporters. Libby never served a day in jail since President Bush commuted his sentence-but he refused to pardon him and decided he was guilty, as was revealed in the TIME cover story I reported on here on July 29th-"The Final Days of Bush and Cheney".

Now with the court ordering the release of the former Vice-Presidents interview we can only speculate what will happen next. Libby told the FBI that it was "possible" that the Vice-President ordered him to reveal Plames name. Will Special Investigative Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald be put back to work? Will there be more hearings, what will these 67 pages expose? Thanks for reading, and I recommend going back and reading some of our previous blogs to learn more about this issue. Stay tuned here for the latest news on this and other breaking news on the Vice-Presidents.

Matt Saxe

Cheneys and Generals

2009-10-01T12:17:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence readers! Sorry I haven't been able to post something in the last couple days-had some technical issues here. Now I am back.

As I have reported many times former VP Cheney has frequently criticized the Obama administration on its handling of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the policy changes the administration is working on such as shutting down Guantanamo. He has been frequently joined in his criticism by his daughter Liz-who may be prepping for a Congressional run in Virginia. Also, in another earlier blog here titled "Cheney Grabbag" written on 9-16-09 I wrote how two former marines Commandant Charles Krulak and Marine General Joseph Hoar who succeeded General "Stormin'" Norman Schwarzkopf at Central Command have responded to the Cheneys with a blistering repudiation of their own-calling the former VP "irresponsible" and said he was using "scare tactics".

Now more military figures are also saying that they disagree with both the former VP and his daughter and what they are saying about these military and security issues.

A group of retired generals say that former Vice President Dick Cheney and his "acolytes," especially Liz Cheney, are trying to scare Americans over the prospect of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison facility through "nonsense" arguments, the website Politico reports.

"It's up to all of us to say these arguments advanced by Cheney and his acolytes are nonsense and that really what they're doing is undermining our national security by delaying the date at which Guantanamo is closed," retired Brig. Gen. James Cullen told Politico.

Added retired Gen. David Maddox: "Some of the fear issues that are being raised in this are really unfortunate. It gets people excited about things they shouldn't be excited about and impedes doing what is critical to this country…We take a setback every time somebody, whether it's the vice president or his daughter comes out and says the things that they say."

So far the Cheney's haven't commented on these remarks made by generals, and considering that neither of them have any actual military service that may be the smart move for now. Although Cheney has no actual military experience, he is a former Sec. of Defense and his years of experience in politics and international issues are nothing to sneeze at. The question is-who do the American people trust more about these issues-experienced combat veterans and high-ranking military figures, or a former Sec. of Defense and Vice-President of the United States? Who do you trust more? Well, the Obama Administration made it clear who they trust more-Attorney General Eric Holder met with Generals Maddox and Cullen on Monday.

Stay tuned here for all the latest VP news and updates and keep becoming Fans on Facebook and watching the trailer and Gore Vidal footage on YouTube and thanks for reading.

Matt Saxe

Palin Quits Politics to Be an Author...

2009-09-30T12:07:00.000-07:00

...So that she can become a politician again.

CNN reports that the title of Sarah Palin's memoir will be "Going Rogue: An American Life." Her obvious attempt to be a rogue among mavericks - the outcast of the misfits, the outsider of the outsiders - will probably sell as many books to those who buy things to be ironic as to those who genuinely want to see Palin be president. Like it or not, she's staying exposed.

This is a subject I need to do much more research on, but to my knowledge there hasn't been one failed Vice Presidential candidate to get this kind of attention or following that didn't hit it big afterward. Certainly, the media has helped that last two generations of politicians move from the idea of aesthetics as a necessity to enable change to the idea of aesthetics as a necessity to make the appearance of change, but it can't be denied she has appeal.

A book is a landmark for many politicians. It is either the beginning of strong intent or the last word on an administration or figure. No politician - save for Henry Wallace, who also liked to breed corn - ever wrote a book because a book needed to be written. Even Profiles in Courage, JFK's Pulitzer-winning book, was the launching pad for his presidency. This is a proposal. Sarah Palin is saying "Here is my life, nothing excluded. I did good things and bad things, and was justified in doing the good things. I have political experience and life experience, which is what you really need to be elected into an office." This is what they all say. It doesn't always work, but it rarely hurts. At least it opens the door for her to write her own fantasy novels about Alaskan Werewolves if this whole politics thing doesn't work out.

Jason C. Klamm

Biden Comic Preview!

2009-09-28T12:11:00.000-07:00

On October 14, Bluewater Productions (who we interviewed in one of our first blogs) releases the Joe Biden comic in their "Political Power" series. Again, story-wise, they seem to pull no punches in a preview I recently found, which you can find here. Let us know what you think. As I've said, I'll be in line on Wednesday.

Jason C. Klamm

Vice-Presidential Stamps?

2009-09-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Readers!

Well, there still isn't much news out there right now on the Vice-Presidents, and of course, life can't only be about the VP's you know. For example, yesterday I had to go to the post office.

While waiting in line I saw a display about all the stamp collections available this year. Many were very interesting and beautiful-birds and flowers, State Flags, lots of Abraham Lincoln stamps commemorating his 200th birthday, Edgar Allan Poe and "The Raven", and more. One particularly caught my eye-Supreme Court Justices. Now, of course its appropriate to have stamps for Supreme Court Justices. However it got me curious, and I wondered-"If there are Supreme Court Justice stamps, are there Vice-President stamps?"

So I went to the Post Office website and looked through the archives they have online of stamps going back to 1997. They have everything that you can imagine to capture the interest of collectors or attract new collectors; from Star Wars and DC Super-Heroes to Vintage Black Cinema and Commemorative Cars, flowers, seashells, Disney characters, animals, fictional animals from childrens picture books, football coaches, baseball players, authors, movie stars like Jimmy Stewart, landmarks, bats, extreme sports, folk singers, African-American heroes like Malcolm X and Paul Robeson, holidays, Christmas cookies, carnivorous plants, practically anything you can imagine-but as of 1997-no exclusive Vice-President stamps. This struck me and made me think-there has already been a documentary on the Supreme Court on "American Experience" on PBS, and now-stamps before the Vice-Presidents. Where's the love for the Veeps?

So I ask you Vice-Precedence readers, do you think we should start a campaign to get the Post Office to create a series of Vice-President stamps? The post office does listen to Americans about creating series and stamps. Its how fans of the legendary radio comedian Jack Benny who was famous for always saying he was 39 got the post office to create a 39-cent Jack Benny commemorative stamp. Is it something we should pursue? Would it be interesting? Let us know.

Make sure to stay tuned here at Vice-Precedence for all the latest and breaking news about the VP's. Believe me when I say we are following every breaking news story on former VP Cheney and current VP Biden and anything having to do with past VP's as closely as we can. Please make sure to become a Fan of ours on Facebook, visit YouTube to watch the trailer and rate it and favorite it, and post comments here on the blog. Let us know you are out there and Thanks for your support.

Bush on Biden

2009-09-23T20:38:00.000-07:00

A former Bush 43 speech writer was interviewed recently in GQ. With the kind of humor you wouldn't expect from someone who worked in that administration, he paints an oddly human picture of Bush, with a certain irreverence aimed at letting us see the former President's funny side. He weighs in on Palin and Biden (you can find the section, if brief, about Biden, here) with some unexpected ribbing (unexpected at least in him taking shots at Palin), and it's an interesting read.

Not a lot else in the VP world at the moment, but the article is worth checking out, though it's also worth thinking about how easy it is to be so rapt by an article written by a guy claiming to have the inside scoop and showing us this human side of Bush, when he was one of the elite few who got to help lie to us every day. Sure, he came in late in Bush's term, so he was part of damage control, most likely. But I don't trust the words of a speech writer or a publicist, especially when they claim to "finally be telling the truth" (not his words, just the jist of these sorts of essays).

Cynical? No. Just careful. I'd rather read Cheney's book, even if it is co-written (he never writes alone, famously writing alongside his wife before becoming VP). At least he'll say what he means, and I'll be pretty sure he isn't putting me on.

Good night, and good vice-presidenting.

Jason C. Klamm

Another Day at Vice-Precedence

2009-09-22T08:59:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog Readers.

Well, its a slow day on the news front for former VP Richard "Dick" Cheney-who I follow for the blog. No news about anything going on really with Mr. Cheney-whose operation seemed to go well. I will let you know if anything breaks with it.

For those of you who read my article on Chris Rocks' documentary film about black womens hair-"Good Hair"-that comes out soon- that want to know more, there was an interview with Rock in the new issue of GQ that just came out this week.

In Cheney news, Jonathan Alter at NEWSWEEK wrote a rather incendiary article on the former Vice-President where he states:

"...as much as I'd like to see Cheney frog-marched out of Jackson Hole and sent to prison for violating his oath, it would set a bad precedent."

If you're interested in reading the entire article, copy and paste the address below into your browser, its an interesting article.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/214929?tid=relatedcl

As most of you readers know I am following Mr. Cheney's progress on his (still untitled) book, and found an article where renowned historian Joseph J. Ellis gives advice to Mr. Cheney on writing his book. Professor Ellis won the Pulitzer Prize for his excellent work (which I have read and enjoyed) “Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation,”. The chapter in this book on the Burr-Hamilton duel is particularly interesting for me of course-but in my opinion Ellis like many historians, makes the mistake of being a little too impressed with Hamilton, and a little dismissive of Burr. Still, overall its an excellent read, and Professor Ellis is a gifted writer of history. Here is his advice to former VP Cheney as he tackles his own chronicle of his career:

There is some scholarly consensus that the memoir Ulysses S. Grant wrote for money while he was dying is the greatest presidential memoir, though it’s almost entirely about his military career. Believe it or not, Calvin Coolidge’s memoir is great at explaining his Vermont origins and the values he brought to the presidency. Barack Obama’s “Dreams from My Father” is the most candid and compelling self-portrait, perhaps because it was written before he knew he would become president.

John Adams’ autobiography is the best example of how not to do it. Angry, obsessed with settling scores, often incoherent in its rambling asides — and I love the guy.

Avoid coming across as angry, trying to settle scores and writing rambling asides.

The greatest memoir in American history, I think, is “The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography.” He not only sustains an ironic perspective on himself but on the entire 19th century. Benjamin Franklin’s “Autobiography” is a close runner-up. Like Henry Adams he had the ability to see himself historically, which is very hard to do.

If Dick Cheney’s memoir is to have any lasting influence, it will need to confront his failures, most especially regarding Iraq and the hyperbolic reaction to 9/11. Based on his most recent public statements, that seems unlikely. He will probably follow the John Adams model, which will yield a self-justifying testament designed to rally the right-wing base of the Republican party. Another blip on the radar screen.

One can only wonder if Mr. Cheney will take this advice, as he's not really known for doing that. As soon as anything breaks on the CIA investigations, Mr. Cheney's book, or anything Vice-Presidential, you can count on us to report it ASAP. Please keep supporting "Vice-Precedence" by reading this blog, posting on our Facebook page, going to YouTube and watching our videos and rating and posting comments on them, and most of all-letting friends and family know about it all. We need to spread the word and get more readers and Fans. Thanks for your support and I will see you here Thursday.

Matt Saxe

Cheney Meat-Carving Photo Creates Uproar

2009-09-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

What a title huh?

Hey Vice-Precedence Blog readers. Well, I was worried about what I would write today, since former VP Cheney went under the knife yesterday for elective back surgery. You can read all the details below in the quick little blog I posted yesterday on learning the news. From all reports-the surgery went well.

So I was worried, but luckily(?) a new story was revealed. This week in NEWSWEEK a photo was published showing former VP Cheney sticking a knife into a piece of meat on a bloody carving board with a quote about the CIA torture controversy we've been covering. You can see the picture above.

Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Hume Kennerly was very upset with how NEWSWEEK cropped his photo and made sure to call attention to it in an essay called "Chop and Crop". Here's what he wrote in its entirety:

"The Sept. 14th Newsweek cover line — “Is Your Baby Racist?” — should have included a sub-head, “Is Dick Cheney a Butcher?”

Featured inside the magazine was a full-page, stand-alone picture of former Vice President Dick Cheney, knife in hand, leaning over a bloody carving board. Newsweek used it to illustrate a quote that he made about C.I.A. interrogators. By linking that photo with Mr. Cheney’s comment and giving it such prominence, they implied something sinister, macabre, or even evil was going on there.

I took that photograph at his daughter Liz’s home during a two-day assignment, and was shocked by its usage. The meat on the cutting board wasn’t the only thing butchered. In fact, Newsweek chose to crop out two-thirds of the original photograph, which showed Mrs. Cheney, both of their daughters, and one of their grandchildren, who were also in the kitchen, getting ready for a simple family dinner.

However, Newsweek’s objective in running the cropped version was to illustrate its editorial point of view, which could only have been done by shifting the content of the image so that readers just saw what the editors wanted them to see. This radical alteration is photo fakery. Newsweek’s choice to run my picture as a political cartoon not only embarrassed and humiliated me and ridiculed the subject of the picture, but it ultimately denigrated my profession.

Photojournalists fight the credibility battle every day, from combating digitally faked photos to being lumped in with the paparazzi, a group of camera-carrying cretins who have no respect for anything, particularly the people they hound. In the case of my Cheney photo, Newsweek is guilty not just of blurring but of blowing up that line between tabloid-style sensationalism and honest photojournalism.

This incident is another example of why many people don’t believe what they see or read. And America clearly notices these shifts in journalism. This week, the respected Pew Research Center for the People and the Press released a poll stating that nearly two-thirds of Americans surveyed believe that news stories are inaccurate and biased — 25 years ago, the number was half that.

We photojournalists have a long and storied tradition of striving for objectivity. Many of my colleagues have died flying that banner. I consider myself as much historian as photographer, having spent a 40-year career endeavoring to make photographs that inform, not misinform. My heroes are the likes of Joe Rosenthal, who photographed the Marines raising the flag over Iwo Jima; Eddie Adams, whose photo of a South Vietnamese police officer shooting a Viet Cong suspect changed the course of a war; and countless others who have hung their lives out to capture the facts through the lens of a camera. Their photos have provided a raw and unflinching view of the world and have contributed to a free society’s understanding of sometimes harsh reality.

The advent of digital photography and the proliferation of instant images have dulled the power of historical photos against the steady and relentless 24-hour drumbeat of the “breaking story” syndrome, which holds publications and networks hostage to the relentless demands of feeding the News Monster. It doesn’t help to have the photos misrepresented on top of that.

However, I still believe in the power of the image to empower, embolden and inspire. Photojournalists, editors and writers must continue the struggle to turn their trained minds and eyes to telling and showing the truth, and holding that quivering line of credibility against what is beginning to feel like insurmountable odds."

Well, Kennerlys essay created an uproar from the Right as a perfect example of the "liberal media bias". K. Daniel Glover who has worked for Congressional Quarterly and The National Journal who now writes for the conservative website Accuracy in Media stated that:

"NEWSWEEK's reputation will continue to plummet as long as it keeps looking at the world through a lens with the cap on it."

NEWSWEEK Vice-President of Corporate Communications Frank J. DeMaria responded to Kennerly's essay with a statement of his own on behalf of the magazine:

We doubt any reasonable reader would, in David’s phrase, think something “sinister, macabre, or even evil” was going on in that image as presented. Yes, the picture has been cropped, an accepted practice of photographers, editors and designers since the invention of the medium. We cropped the photograph using editorial judgment to show the most interesting part of it. Is it a picture of the former vice president cutting meat? Yes, it is. Has it been altered? No. Did we use the image to make an editorial point — in this case, about the former vice president’s red-blooded, steak-eating, full-throated defense of his views and values? Yes, we did.

Some people are saying that there is more outrage at this cropping of the photo than about the former VP's support of questionable interrogation tactics. Some say this is the worst kind of psuedo-journalism. Its an interesting controversy- another controversy in the long string of them surrounding this polarizing VP.

We here at "Vice-Precedence" believe in giving you the unvarnished, non-partisan truth, so I would like to post Kennerlys picture in its entirety here on the blog. However its protected and copyrighted, so the best I can do is post the cropped photo, remember-NEWSWEEK cropped it to show just the former VP sticking the knife into the piece of meat on the bloody carving board-not the entire picture of the Cheney Family. However here is the link to Kennerlys article so you can see the whole picture. When viewed in its entirety without the quote about the CIA issue, it is simply a picture of an American family-maybe not some peoples idea of an "ideal" American family. But certainly a unique one in many ways.

http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/17/essay-9/?hp

Let us know what you think of this story. Keep spreading the word about "Vice-Precedence". Finally, to all our Jewish readers-Happy New Year! Have a great Rosh Hashannah weekend. L'shana Tova! Thanks!

Matt Saxe

BREAKING NEWS: Cheney in Surgery Today!

2009-09-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Hey Vice-Precedence blog readers! I hope you have already read Jasons blog today on VP Bidens role in the Obama Administration in Iraq. If not-please do. Its fantastic.

Just wanted to let you know about this breaking news.

Today Former VP Cheney, who as everyone knows has had a series of health issues for a long time-mostly heart related-(yeah yeah insert your own "I didn't know he even had a heart." joke here) is possibly going under the knife as I write this now. But its not for his heart-which considering the fact he's had 4 heart attacks is something of a medical miracle. No, the surgery is NOT for his heart. What it is it you may ask?

His spokeswoman Lucy Tutwiler said that Mr. Cheney is having surgery today on his back. Here is their official release:

"Former Vice President Cheney went to The George Washington University Hospital this morning for elective surgery to deal with lumbar spinal stenosis,"

The AP says that lumbar spinal stenosis is an often-debilitating back condition caused by pressure on the nerves in the lower spine. It is caused by compression of nerves in the lower back, most often producing pain or numbness, tingling and weakness in the legs and buttocks.

Thats right-Cheney is having pain or numbness....on his buttocks. Dick Cheney's buttocks. Wow. Dr. Anthony Caputy, chairman of the hospital's neurosurgery department, is performing the operation.

We here at "Vice-Precedence" wish a successful surgery to the former VP and a speedy recovery as well. Stay tuned here for all the latest news in VP's as proved by that story. Thanks!

Matt Saxe

Bad Cop, Good Cop

2009-09-17T08:58:00.000-07:00

On his last visit to Iraq (pictured right), Joe Biden went with a little more pizazz. He was there to get everyone excited not just about the Obama Administration and their plans to end the war, but about Joe Biden, a non-president who hoped to genuinely act in Obama's stead. This time around (not pictured right), on his third trip, Biden is playing the Good Cop to the Bush Administration's Bad Cop, a relationship that has persisted since George Bush I created a similar situation in Iraq and Bill Clinton stepped up to usher in a new era of peace.

Any head of state knows that one's perception of peace is relative to how much one knows about what is actually going on in the world. Making lip service to peace is always easy - from those who want it and don't know how to get it and from those who don't want it and say they do - but making actual strides in terms of peace is very difficult, because, outside of the most simply-decided peace (the end of a war), the path has rarely been tread.

But what I personally find most interesting here is that, conceptually, the "Good Cop, Bad Cop" analogy (not the best, I'm aware), in comparing the Bush and Obama Administrations, seems to apply most strongly to the seat of the Vice President. As far as the war in Iraq, the Vice President has, in both administrations, taken a strong role. Certainly, Cheney is only coming out in the press about it all now, sort of a more honest ghost of who he was while in office, but the comparison between him and Biden is a stark and interesting one. Meanwhile, our President is involved in the healthcare debate (or, as David Cross put it on a local radio show this morning, "The Healthcare Yellings") and spends little time addressing one of the main issues on which he was elected - the war. That said, I wouldn't, in this case, call that a bad thing. At least in terms of the Vice Presidency.

The Vice President has regularly been given diplomatic duties, from simple showboating and handshaking to serious debate about issues and conflicts while in the affected country. Rarely, though, has the Vice President taken up a full wing of policy in the President's stead. This, as Matt and I have often argued, is how the Vice President ought to function, in practice, at least, if not in law (though law would actually be preferred). Biden's time in Iraq, whether fruitful or not, whether more PR than substance, still says a lot about the Obama Adminstration's trust and respect for the office's potential. It should be made clear that the Veep has only potential, and, given Biden's role in cleaning up after the bulk of the Iraq war, it seems Joe might be on the road to realizing it.

Jason C . Klamm