Dick Cheney invents a fourth branch of government

Posted by Lindsay Beyerstein at 2:40 PM on February 4, 2007.

Dick Cheney is now claiming to be his own boss.
TPM Muckraker found an interesting entry in a governmental directory known as "The Plum Book." The guide is supposed to list all the jobs in the federal government, but Dick Cheney's office submitted this entry in lieu of a staff list:

The Vice Presidency is a unique office that is neither a part of the executive branch nor a part of the legislative branch, but is attached by the Constitution to the latter. The Vice Presidency performs functions in both the legislative branch (see article I, section 3 of the Constitution) and in the executive branch (see article II, and amendments XII and XXV, of the Constitution, and section 106 of title 3 of the United States Code).

In other words, Cheney just pulled a fourth branch of government out of his ass to explain why he doesn't have to say who works in the Office of the Vice President.

[TPM, TPM Muckraker, Digby]

Tagged as: cheney, vice president

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.