CHENEY '01: "Its Really The Last 50 Yrs That VP's Become An Important Part Of EXECUTIVE BRANCH"

[kpete]

CAUGHT ON TAPE: Cheney Claims Vice President Is ‘An Important Part’ Of Executive Branch

New evidence bolsters the case that Vice President Cheney himself considers his office to be part of the executive branch (except when he is attempting to avoid accountability and oversight).

Yesterday, ThinkProgress noted Cheney’s claim in 2001 that a congressional probe into his energy task force “would unconstitutionally interfere with the functioning of the executive branch.” Today, a White House video emerged showing Cheney acknowledging:

It’s really a function of the last 50 years or so that the vice president’s become an important part of the executive branch.

VIDEO AT:
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/06/27/cheney-vp-is-an-important-part-of-executive-branch/


UPDATE: It’s worth noting that Politico’s Mike Allen published an article today claiming that Cheney’s office has “thrown in the towel” and will no longer argue that the VP’s office is not part of the executive branch. As emptywheel http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0607/4679.html and Kagro X http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/6/27/121140/936 explain, this is simply not true.