Posted on 07/31/2007 5:51:58 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
It is one of the ironies of the 2008 campaign that probably the most popular Democrat and the most electable Republican are both ineligible to run for the presidency. The 22nd Amendment bars Bill Clinton from a third election to the office of president, while the original Constitution renders Arnold Schwarzenegger ineligible for the presidency because he is a naturalized rather than a "natural-born" citizen.
But what about the second position on the national tickets? Could the Republicans and Democrats avail themselves of the charisma and experience of these two leaders by nominating them for the vicepresidency? (Please e-mail your clever double-entendres to the address below.)
Let's start with Gov. Schwarzenegger. Fearful of foreign influence over the new nation, the framers of the Constitution included in Article II, Section 1 the directive that "no person except a natural born Citizen ... shall be eligible to the Office of President." They said nothing about the citizenship of the vice president. Thus, under the original Constitution, Schwarzenegger could have been elected vice president, but he could not have ascended to the top job on the death or removal of the president.
This anomaly was but part of the framers' incomplete explication of the vice presidency -- a failing that has manifested itself in a variety of forms, from John Adams' lament that the Constitution created "the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived" to Dick Cheney's assertion that he occupies an office that stands apart from the three branches of U.S. government.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Ahnuld is the “most electable Republican”?
When did they legalize dope in California? I must’ve missed the news.
Who writes this unreadable leftist crap?
Arnold is about as “electable” as Rooty. Neither could get much beyond single digits.
-- Amendment XII - Consitution of the United States
He’s saying that an Amendment (22nd) keeps Bill Clinton from a third term, while the constitution itself keeps Arnold off the ticket.
Qualifications for VP are the same as qualifications for President.
Damn, where’s the barf alert on this left coast sputum? LOL
Has the writer of this article ever read the Constitution? This is junk journalism.
I think it's more of what they've been sniffing. Check their noses for brown stuff from the Democrat party.
Maybe the LA Times have discovered Originalism? Or maybe not. Either way, no more Clintoons or Bushes.
Brian Gray is an asshat.
You cant be VP if you cant be P. Those are the rules.
For the asshat LA Times writers:
The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution requires the vice president to meet the same eligibility requirements as the president. That is, the vice president must be at least 35 years of age, a natural born citizen, and a resident of the U.S. for 14 years. The Twenty-second Amendment limits the president to only two terms in office. (Any period of service in the office of president, having succeeded from the vice presidency, counts as one term if it is for two years or more.) Thus, the maximum number of years a person may serve as president is ten years (two full four-year terms and one two-year term having succeeded to the presidency). Once a person is ineligible for the office of president, he is also ineligible for the office of vice president.
DUH
Please don't trouble liberal wishcasting with facts. They're so...so...so...inconvenient.
Thirty years ago, this kind of mistake would've never found its way into print. But, back then, journalists actually knew how to do research. And editors actually knew what questions to ask.
Today, we have the internet. And we have Google. And journalists who are simply incapable of any kind of research. >p? However, they are very skilled at promoting the liberal agenda...
Now Hillary could pick Jimmy Carter as a VP!
12th Amendment text:
“But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.”
22nd amendment text:
“Section 1. No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice, and no person who has held the office of President, or acted as President, for more than two years of a term to which some other person was elected President shall be elected to the office of the President more than once. But this article shall not apply to any person holding the office of President when this article was proposed by the Congress, and shall not prevent any person who may be holding the office of President, or acting as President, during the term within which this article becomes operative from holding the office of President or acting as President during the remainder of such term.”
He is ineligible for election to a third term, but he is constitutionally eligible to succeed to the presidency after election to the vice presidency.
I believe the framers would have thought that people would naturally understand that if the the Constitution says (forgive my paraphrase):
1. The president must be a natural-born citizen. And . . .
2. The vice president shall assume the office of the presidency in the event of the death or incapacitation of the president.
...that the electoral college would not elect, nor would the Congress certify the placement of a vice president not qualified to be president.
he’s a moron professor
Brian E. Gray is a professor at UC Hastings College of Law.
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