"Constitution? We don't need no stinkin' Constitution!"
Posted on 12/15/2002 1:47:17 PM PST by doug from upland
(Note: I checked a keyword search for "succession" and have not seen this posted yet.)
Is Joe Lieberman as stupid as Algore? You decide.
I just heard a clip on ABC radio from THIS WEEK, the partisan show with partisan Clintoninsta pretending to be objective journalist George Stephanopoulus. We could have an opportunity for a FReep over this one.
Lieberman was critical of Lott and sounded concerned that as incoming majority leader in the Senate, he was in line for the presidency. Um, Joe, baby. Do FReepers need to send you a copy of the Constitution?
The President Pro Temp is actually the one who is in line and who runs the Senate in the absence of the Vice President. Traditionally, the person is the from the majority party and has the most seniority. Currently, it is the wonderful Senator from West Virginia and former KKK member, Sheets Byrd. Before him, and before Jumpin' Jim defected, it was................the comatose Strom Thurmond. How amazing is that? At least even in a comatose state, Thurmond would have done less damage to the nation than did the Sinkmaster.
So, what do we do in the morning? Calls and faxes to Lieberman's office to educate him? Certainly we have to talk about it on talk radio.
I wonder if Lieberman believes, as does William Rivers Pitt, that Pitt cannot vote for Lifeguard Kennedy because he is in the John Kerry-Heinz district. And the RATS think George Bush is stupid?
I believe that Senator Thurmond is the President pro tempore currently. At least, an e-mail that I got from his office last week was signed that way. Just because Vacant Lott didn't demand a reorganization of the Senate when Talent was elected doesn't mean that the Republicans are not in the majority.
"Constitution? We don't need no stinkin' Constitution!"
According to the Presidential Succession Act of 1792, the Senate president pro tempore1 was next in line after the vice president to succeed to the presidency, followed by the Speaker of the House.
In 1886, however, Congress changed the order of presidential succession, replacing the president pro tempore and the Speaker with the cabinet officers. Proponents of this change argued that the congressional leaders lacked executive experience, and none had served as president, while six former secretaries of state had later been elected to that office.
The Presidential Succession Act of 1947, signed by President Harry Truman, changed the order again to what it is today. The cabinet members are ordered in the line of succession according to the date their offices were established.
Prior to the ratification of the 25th Amendment in 1967, there was no provision for filling a vacancy in the vice presidency. When a president died in office, the vice president succeeded him, and the vice presidency then remained vacant. The first vice president to take office under the new procedure was Gerald Ford, who was nominated by Nixon on Oct. 12, 1973, and confirmed by Congress the following Dec. 6.
The Vice President Richard Cheney
Speaker of the House John Dennis Hastert
President pro tempore of the Senate1 Robert Byrd
Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury,Secretary of Defense, Attorney General, Secretary of the Interior, Norton Secretary of Agriculture, Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, Secretary of Transportation, Secretary of Energy, Secretary of Education, Secretary of Veterans Affairs, FReeper Doug from Upland. (Okay, I added that last one.)
NOTE: An official cannot succeed to the Presidency unless that person meets the Constitutional requirements. 1. The president pro tempore presides over the Senate when the vice president is absent. By tradition the position is held by the senior member of the majority party.
That is a damn good idea!!!! Sounds like a Freep.
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