# US vice presidents = not presidential. Why? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 2, 2010, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387 "2010-09-02T14:36:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Bean\_Wrangler](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9de053/32.png) [@Bean\_Wrangler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bean_Wrangler)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/21 "2010-09-02T16:44:07Z")
> [@shiftless](#): > > … In any case, during the campaign they are a team - when they get into office it turns out the VP is in charge of getting coffee and breaking congressional ties… That’s not entirely true [QUOTE=Futurama] Gore: I’m Al Gore. And these are my Vice Presidential Action Rangers! A group of top nerds who’s sole duty it is to prevent disruptions in the space-time continuum. Fry: I thought your duty was to cast the tie-breaking vote in the Senate. Gore: That, and protect the space-time continuum. Read the Constitution. [/QUOTE] ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/22 "2010-09-02T19:21:08Z")
> [@Outpits](#): > > …I believe Charles Giteau said “I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. .. Arthur is president now!!'”, shortly after he assassinated James Garfield, so that is at least one instance where the VP mattered to the “nut”. Point taken. But out of dozens he’s the only assassin, or prospective assassin, I know of who said or wrote anything of the sort. Most would-be assassins don’t care who comes after the guy they kill. > **[List of United States presidential assassination attempts and plots](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots)** > > Assassination attempts and plots on the president of the United States have been numerous, ranging from the early 19th century to the present day. This article lists assassinations and assassination attempts on incumbent and former presidents and presidents-elect, but not on those who had not yet been elected president. > Four sitting U.S. presidents have been killed: Abraham Lincoln (1865), James A. Garfield (1881), William McKinley (1901), and John F. Kennedy (1963). Ronald Reagan (1981) is t... ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/23 "2010-09-02T19:43:44Z")
Vice presidents in recent years have become to be known as unimpeachment insurance. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/24 "2010-09-02T20:06:32Z")
> [@Inigo\_Montoya](#): > > I put it to you that had McCain made a less-obviously bad choice for a running mate, the most recent election would not have favored Mr. Obama quite so heavily. I agree but I don’t think that’s really the issue we’re discussing here. The issue wasn’t that Sarah Palin wasn’t Presidential - it wasn’t her role to look Presidential. The problem was that John McCain looked less Presidential for having picked Palin. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/25 "2010-09-02T20:17:08Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Quick—name something a vice president has accomplished _as_ vice president, other than stepping in upon a president’s death. [Lyndon Johnson had a little to do with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#Johnson_and_passage) ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/26 "2010-09-02T22:38:55Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > > > Quick—name something a vice president has accomplished _as_ vice president, other than stepping in upon a president’s death. > > [Lyndon Johnson had a little to do with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#Johnson_and_passage) He was President at the time, though. > [@Marley23](#): > > I don’t think VPs get picked for geographical balance anymore. I think the last candidate who was was Lloyd Bentsen, who was picked partly in the vain hope that it would make Texas competitive. It ended up backfiring, because it Bentsen was more impressive than Dukakis, but… ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2010, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/27 "2010-09-02T22:42:53Z")
> [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > > [Lyndon Johnson had a little to do with the passage of the Civil Rights Act.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_Rights_Act_of_1964#Johnson_and_passage) > > He was President at the time, though. I misread the quote I was looking at; I thought it said “Name one thing a VP has done as prez.” That of course is an invitation to recite the resume of Dick Cheney. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/28 "2010-09-03T01:56:32Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I agree but I don’t think that’s really the issue we’re discussing here. The issue wasn’t that Sarah Palin wasn’t Presidential - it wasn’t her role to look Presidential. The problem was that John McCain looked less Presidential for having picked Palin. Not entirely. McCain is old enough that people were seriously worried that he might have health problems, and Palin would have to take over. Sure, it wasn’t as bad Truman with FDR, but it was a consideration. In fact, a lot of people thought Palin was campaigning to be president. Quite often people framed the choice as being Obama or Palin. The fact that she didn’t even seem vice-presidential, let alone presidential, really hurt the ticket. I think Obama was going to win regardless, but I think it would have been a lot closer If McCain had picked one of his opponents in the primary–all of whom had campaigned to be president. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/29 "2010-09-03T02:09:18Z")
Mr. Dooley has it about right:\* " If ye say about a man that he’s good prisidintial timber he’ll buy ye a dhrink. If ye say he’s good vice-prisidintial timber ye mane that he isn’t good enough to be cut up into shingles, an’ ye’d betther be careful.\* ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/30 "2010-09-03T04:06:47Z")
Woodrow Wilson’s VP, Thomas R. Marshall, joked, “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.” Daniel Webster declined the job twice, saying, “I do not propose to be buried until I am really dead and in my coffin.” ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2010, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387/31 "2010-09-03T04:17:08Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > > > He was President at the time, though. > > I misread the quote I was looking at; I thought it said “Name one thing a VP has done as prez.” That of course is an invitation to recite the resume of Dick Cheney. Johnson had attained so much power in both houses of the legislature that he was a factor in the Kennedy adminstration. Even though he was not well excepted within Kennedy’s White House, Congress had to assume that Johnson could exert his influence with congressional leaders. Nixon, preceding him as VP also had attained a certain amount of political influence as well. Johnson and Nixon as VPs and presidents represented the peak of presidential power in this country. The period that encompassed the Truman, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, and Bush I presidencies may have made the VP seem like a more important role than prior history would indicate. As I mentioned previously, presidents tend to keep an eye out for running mates that the congress might prefer, to reduce their chance if being impeached or removed from office. But since Johnson, they have been considered a major factor in the election process, filling out the presidents appeal across the country. In the case of Clinton-Gore, two southerners were considered a way to neutralize the republican southern strategy. With Bush-Cheney, Cheney appealed to the traditional publicans and neo-cons who realized Bush was a moron. Bush-Quayle was a clear case of a president protecting himself from impeachment for the crimes he committed as VP. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/us-vice-presidents-not-presidential-why/552387.md?page=1)