Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Is Cheney really the "least popular Veep"?
Is Dick Cheney really the "least popular Veep"? I mean, it's not as though he killed Alexander Hamilton or anything. Or evaded taxes. I really find it hard to believe that Dick Cheney would be less popular than Burr or Agnew if we educated our citizenry well enough for them to know who Burr and Agnew were.
Better historians of the Vice Presidency than I should submit other candidates for "probably would be less popular than Dick Cheney if anybody had a clue or gave it a thought."
14 Comments:
By 
Kid Various, at
Tue Jul 10, 08:38:00 AM:
He didn't kill Alexander Hamilton (or plot to set up his own country in the Ohio river valley) but he *did* shoot a guy!
By 
, at
Tue Jul 10, 09:27:00 AM:
Princeton lore had it that Burr had the highest GPA in the school's history at .715 until some math weenie came through in the early '70s and scored a straight string of 1-plu's. Then they changed the grading system and grade inflation occurred.
Whenever I request a copy of my transcript it comes with one page of transcript and 2-3 pages of explanation about the grading system.
JLW III '67
By Angevin13, at
Tue Jul 10, 10:07:00 AM:
Or perhaps better educate our citizenry to know the job and role of a VP well enough to evaluate their performance...
Didn't Burr flee to Europe and get kicked out of Britain, refused refuge in France by Napoleon, only to return, disgraced, to the U.S.?
By Purple Avenger, at
Tue Jul 10, 10:19:00 AM:
Spiro is certainly the modern "gold standard". Stupid, corrupt, all the things that make politicians from Maryland so lovable.
By Cardinalpark, at
Tue Jul 10, 10:26:00 AM:
It would have to be agnew. He was run out of the job for corruption before watergate. Can you think of another one like that?
Habing said all that, keep in mind what JN Garner said about the job...
By GreenmanTim, at
Tue Jul 10, 11:02:00 AM:
TH, as family historian I feel oblidged to caution you about casting stones at Aaron Burr. The Ogdens and Daytons were thick as thieves with Burr - Matthias Ogden went with him and Arnold to Quebec in '75 and Jonathan Dayton was implicated in Burr's Louisiana scheme and charged (but not convicted) with treason. Of course, they were close with Hamilton, too. Elizabeth New Jersey was a political hotbed and no mistake.
As for most hated Veep, until quite recently, the office of Vice President was practically a supernumerary in the Executive Branch, having little to do besides presiding over the Senate and waiting for the President to keel over. 14 Veeps actually became President, and by and large (Nixon excepted, I think) whatever villany accrues to them dates from that point onward.
But you might consider Breckenridge, who was 14th Veep in the Buchanan administration and an unsuccessful presidential candidate who then turned traitor and became a Confederate General. Even Burr didn't do that and the Northern half of our divided nation hated him with a passion. Or how about Grant's first VP, Schuyler Coleax, who left under a cloud of suspicion for his association with the Crédit Mobilier of America scandal? Nasty stuff in that day and age. I also think Dan Quayle deserves a nod, less because he was hated than because he was simply ridiculous.
Cheney is hated in part because he is feared. That and the imperial Vice Presidency sets him apart from the pack.
By ScurvyOaks, at
Tue Jul 10, 11:03:00 AM:
Henry Wallace was a communist sympathizer. He's got to be in the running.
By Assistant Village Idiot, at
Tue Jul 10, 11:20:00 AM:
Remember all those Jay Leno people-on-the-street questions which reveal how little general knowledge people have. People can't name that many VP's. The poll means nothing, just another excuse for the Times to reassert its premise that Cheney is bad and everyone knows it.
By Purple Avenger, at
Tue Jul 10, 11:33:00 AM:
I love those "Jay Walking" episodes. They're a stark indictment of the public school system.
By , at
Tue Jul 10, 12:34:00 PM:
Sean Hannity also does a "man in the street" segment. He mostly targets college age people and many of them have a hard time naming the current VP. I agree, the poll is meaningless.
In the infancy of our country, the VP used to be the loser of the election. I don't know if that made them "the worst", but I don't know how helpful they would have been.
By , at
Tue Jul 10, 01:13:00 PM:
Infancy of Country: VP was person with second-highest total of votes. Implication is that more than 2 people were running, multiple parties.
I got a chance to spend about 20 minutes talking to Dick Cheney during the '84 Naval Academy graduation (he was SecDef for Reagan and commencement speaker). I have always had a great deal of respect for him, I trust him, I believe him to be an honest, honorable citizen with the best interests of the country as his guide in decision making. I would vote for Cheney for president.
Isn't it said that you can take a true measure of a man by those who count him enemy? By that measure, Cheney is possibly the best man in the Bush administration - look at who reviles him.
By , at
Tue Jul 10, 01:39:00 PM:
I agree that the poll is meaningless. The results are a mix of ignorance of history and the twisting of events by politicians and the MSM.
I hate to think where we would be if Bush and Cheney were not in office. Sure there have been stuff ups. There are mistakes in every war. The main issue is how we rebound from the mistakes.
One major difference from the past (not counting Vietnam) is now there is always someone slinking out from cover to let the world know of every tactic and strategy including the mistakes. The stench emanating from these people is not bad enough to keep the MSM from publishing what they provide. The MSM is ably supported by the hyenas of the left who crawl in on their bellies to snatch morsels with which to atack the administration.
A far cry from the Republican support of Roosevelt during WWII.
Look to the Case-Church amendment of 1973 to see where the ratbags are heqading.
By GreenmanTim, at
Tue Jul 10, 02:41:00 PM:
Americans aren't stupid. Except for those interviewed here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pltgk3Y0Omw
By fmfnavydoc, at
Thu Jul 12, 06:16:00 AM:
I wonder where the inventor of the Internet ranks among fellow VP's?
