Cheney Is Not the First Ex-Veep To Attack a Sitting President and Won't Be the Last
source: http://www.slate.com/id/2233450/
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Dick Cheney was already going down in history as one of the most influential vice presidents ever. Now he's taking flak for being one of the most vocal ex-VPs, too. Since leaving office, Cheney has gone from White House booster No. 2 to White House critic No. 1. Agree with him or not, however, he's hardly an outlier: There's nothing more American than ex-presidents and VPs slamming their successors.
If that makes Cheney unpatriotic, he's in good company. There's a proud tradition of former executive-branch leaders disparaging sitting presidents. The most notorious example—the ur-ex-presidential critic—is Herbert Hoover. After losing the presidency to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, Hoover spent the next nine years railing on him. Like Cheney, Hoover was a conservative Republican. He thus believed that the New Deal insulted American values and that the Roosevelt administration "violated the principles that reach the very foundation of our nation and race." Hoover quieted down after Pearl Harbor, when the country rallied around the president. But he returned to form under John F. Kennedy, whom Hoover called a socialist.
But Hoover wasn't even the first. Presidential and vice presidential disputes stretch back to the founders. During the election of 1800, sitting veep Thomas Jefferson slammed sitting president John Adams—his own boss—as a monarchist. Adams, in turn, painted Jefferson as a revolutionary and atheist who would destroy the churches. (That was before 1804, when the 12th Amendment was passed, putting both president and vice president on a single ticket.) After losing the presidency in 1828, John Quincy Adams made a second career out of criticizing Andrew Jackson and pro-slavery Democrats from his post-presidential perch as a congressman from Massachusetts.
If that makes Cheney unpatriotic, he's in good company. There's a proud tradition of former executive-branch leaders disparaging sitting presidents. The most notorious example—the ur-ex-presidential critic—is Herbert Hoover. After losing the presidency to Franklin Delano Roosevelt in 1932, Hoover spent the next nine years railing on him. Like Cheney, Hoover was a conservative Republican. He thus believed that the New Deal insulted American values and that the Roosevelt administration "violated the principles that reach the very foundation of our nation and race." Hoover quieted down after Pearl Harbor, when the country rallied around the president. But he returned to form under John F. Kennedy, whom Hoover called a socialist.
But Hoover wasn't even the first. Presidential and vice presidential disputes stretch back to the founders. During the election of 1800, sitting veep Thomas Jefferson slammed sitting president John Adams—his own boss—as a monarchist. Adams, in turn, painted Jefferson as a revolutionary and atheist who would destroy the churches. (That was before 1804, when the 12th Amendment was passed, putting both president and vice president on a single ticket.) After losing the presidency in 1828, John Quincy Adams made a second career out of criticizing Andrew Jackson and pro-slavery Democrats from his post-presidential perch as a congressman from Massachusetts.
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chasingame
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Cheney may not be the first. Cheney may not be the last. But Cheney is the most evil big mouthed ex VP we will ever see.
- 2 years ago
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chasingame
