Thanks for the cite, interesting that he had an impact in foreign policy but couldn’t do more for Green issues. I still think it is obvious that Cheney has had more decision making that nearly any other VP in our history however. I don’t think Gore or Bush the 1st even come close.
Agreed: Cheney is the most powerful VP to this date.
On the environment, I recall 2 significant Clinton initiatives. First, he used a Presidential order to establish a bunch of national parks.
Second, he proposed a BTU tax in conjunction with health care reform. The BTU tax was essentially a modified carbon tax, with sops built in for coal. It would have made a big difference in my view, but was shot down by Harry, Louise, and a very determined wing of the Republican party (Gingrich and William Kristol).
More to the point though, Gore’s interests extended far outside the environmental realm.
Hey, Measure for Measure, can you dig that list up? I kinda wanted to look up one of the military women, and I didn’t get her name.
Sure, E-Sabbath. Incidentally, I passed over one female 3 star general who had endorsed either Obama or Hillary Clinton.
Here’s the post I wrote (roughly):
The remainder of Wiki’s mayoral list (R-Z) didn’t pan out for me.
From the military, I can add 4 more:
Carol Mutter, 3 star general, US Marine Corps (ret) Distinguished Service Medal, Defense Superior Service Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Meritorious Unit Commendation with bronze star, National Defense Service Medal with bronze star, and the Sea Service Deployment Ribbon with four bronze stars.
Leslie F. Kenne, 3 star general, US Air Force (ret). Harris Corporation Board of Directors
Patricia Ann Tracey, 3 star Vice Admiral, US Navy (ret).
Ann E. Dunwoody, soon to be 4 star General, US Army. Master of Science Degree in Logistics Management from the Florida Institute of Technology, 1988. Master of Science Degree in National Resource Strategy from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, 1995.
Admittedly, the politics of these candidates are unknown - some may be currently independent or even Democratic. But they do have extensive managerial experience and technical competence. I do not consider them to be serious candidates: I’m merely saying that they have more relevant experience than Sarah Palin. *
Incidentally, I kept copies of most of my key posts. I’ll resurrect the parlor game Which Republican Women are More Experienced than Sarah Palin? if I get two more requests (three more requests if E-Sabbath retracts). PM me as appropriate.
- Although, it is interesting to think about unconventional VP choices. David Stockman at may have been a candidate before his legal troubles. Certain congressional staff members, heads of the OMB/CBO or former chiefs of staff might be other out of the box options.
Carol Mutter, thank you. Holy heck, a female Marine in '67. Hm. Space Command! Hmm. She seems like a second generation Grace Hopper. Oh, heck, please bring it back. As a Republican, I’ve been feeling very disappointed in the caliber of my choices. This gives me hope for a reborn party.
If I felt a lot of antagonism toward “the Republican candidates,” I would be criticizing McCain and I haven’t been. My antagonism toward Sarah Palin is very personal and very emotional, but it is not unthnking.
I disagree with her on all of the political and social issues that I have been able to determine her stance on. All of them. She is against a woman’s right to choose. She is opposed to any kind of gun control measure. She is opposed to the legalization of gay and Lesbian marriage. She stands with John McCain on the war in Iraq with the added horror that she sees it as a holy war. She is opposed to federally supported embryonic stem cell research. She is for the teaching of creationism in public schools. She left the town where she was mayor incredibly in debt. She plays politics with people’s lives too easily.
On a more personal level, she doesn’t seem to be very honest. She has given misleading statements about her religious affiliations. (I think it would have been better not to answer at all.) She has been inconsiderate of her older daughter. She has shown an interest in censorship of library materials. She has demonstrated a demand for “loyalty” more than a desire for public service. She has made a snide comment about community organizers. In all, she is not the kind of woman that I like or would ever admire.
I do not have any objections to her working mother status. She does give an interesting speech. I haven’t ridiculed her as a hypocrite for having a pregnant daughter. She may have been very open and frank in educating her daughter.
I worry most about her becoming the POTUS. The VP has become the President four times during my lifetime. I believe that she is shallow, impulsive and undereducated for the job, but I could be wrong And I resent her not making herself available to the press.
I have seen many others here who have been as fair in their criticisms of Palin.
Since she is virtually a stranger to most of us and is running for the second highest office in the land and should be prepared for the highest, I think that she is fair game during an election when she does not make herself available.
Palin could be a powerful VP - maybe one of the most powerful, because I can see her being put in charge of energy policy. It’s something she’s actually an expert on. She knows far more about it than McCain does. She’s negotiated pipelines with Canada, she’s fought with oil companies (and won), her husband is a North Slope blue-collar worker, and she’s been managing one of the most energy-rich states in the country.
Energy is going to be the key issue of the next two decades or more. It’s huge. If she’s put in charge of formulating and selling McCain’s energy policy, she’ll have very consequential work to do.
First off, despite Palin’s exaggeration in her speech, those pipelines do not yet exist or even been approved. (The deal has not been struck, just endorsed by the state legislature. The companies haven’t signed off that the $500 million in state subsidy for planning and the exclusivity promised is enough for them and the Feds haven’t permitted it. Besides the deal has been in process for decades.)
But more so, expert on energy policy? And you are not kidding? Despite her misrepresentations, even her sparse experience is a bit more knowledge of the subject of oil companies in Alaska than McCain has. Still. Is that what you’d call energy policy? Sorry but drill baby drill is not an energy policy. Hell it aint even a Band Aid. C’mon. She knows nothing of our nation energy demands, of the nature of our electric infrastructure and its future options, of the intricacies of various ethanol options, of how any of things interact with global warming and with global cooperation on the same or on food supplies, etc etc etc. She is no energy expert.
If she’s an expert on energy policy, she certainly didn’t show it in the one chance we’ve had to hear that expertise shine through. I think Kevin Drum, who is now blogging at Mother Jones, put it most succinctly:
I love that - “farrago of nonsense” - on her supposed topic of greatest expertise.
And I certainly wouldn’t want the “Drill, Baby, Drill” party continuing to set our energy policy. We’ve seen what simpletons get done. Let’s let the adults take control for a time, shall we?
I said my piece and to his credit, Bricker’s response was classy and much appreciated.
I used to work in the oil field and my family owns oil wells. I am also an expert on energy policy. There is only one energy and it is oil. And Fritos. There are only two energies and they are oil and Fritos. And cake. Can’t forget cake.
Well, gee, point of fact, I am a tool. Sometimes a hammer, sometimes a scalpel, always a tool. But rust never sleeps…
I am an Obama supporter.
I am not a tool (just ask anybody I know)
Therefore, not every Obama supporter is a tool.
QED.
First one to make a “Now QED–there’s a tool” joke is a tool.
Oh.
I’m no tool!
I’m an implement.
It may have been Kevin Drum who also pointed out that Palin is an expert at drumming up business for her state, which is actually a pretty narrow sliver of “Energy policy”.
Does Palin know anything about cap and trade, carbon taxes, nuclear power, solar or wind energy, the middle east and Venezuela, etc? I don’t see why she should, given her experience.
I’m not convinced that energy policy would be a good use of Palin’s skill set. Then again, we really don’t know for certain whether Palin is a quick study or thinks well on her feet, since she hasn’t given any press conferences.
We do know that she’s a solid speaker and has the novelty of being a glamorous fundamentalist. I suspect that she could keep a large chunk of Republican base pretty happy.