Amendment XII

The Electors shall meet in their respective states, and vote by ballot for President and Vice-President, one of whom, at least, shall not be an inhabitant of the same state with themselves; they shall name in their ballots the person voted for as President, and in distinct ballots the person voted for as Vice-President, and they shall make distinct lists of all persons voted for as President, and of all persons voted for as Vice-President and of the number of votes for each, which lists they shall sign and certify, and transmit sealed to the seat of the government of the United States, directed to the President of the Senate;

The President of the Senate shall, in the presence of the Senate and House of Representatives, open all the certificates and the votes shall then be counted;

The person having the greatest Number of votes for President, shall be the President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed; and if no person have such majority, then from the persons having the highest numbers not exceeding three on the list of those voted for as President, the House of Representatives shall choose immediately, by ballot, the President. But in choosing the President, the votes shall be taken by states, the representation from each state having one vote; a quorum for this purpose shall consist of a member or members from two-thirds of the states, and a majority of all the states shall be necessary to a choice. And if the House of Representatives shall not choose a President whenever the right of choice shall devolve upon them, before the fourth day of March next following, then the Vice-President shall act as President, as in the case of the death or other constitutional disability of the President.

The person having the greatest number of votes as Vice-President, shall be the Vice-President, if such number be a majority of the whole number of Electors appointed, and if no person have a majority, then from the two highest numbers on the list, the Senate shall choose the Vice-President; a quorum for the purpose shall consist of two-thirds of the whole number of Senators, and a majority of the whole number shall be necessary to a choice. But no person constitutionally ineligible to the office of President shall be eligible to that of Vice-President of the United States.

Thoughts on the twelfth amendment:

This amendment was put into place so no more duels would take place...just kidding. This amendment states that the elector vote for the President and Vice-president independently. This amendment inadvertently made a step toward a party system in American politics. It was put into place because of the 73-73 tie between Hamilton and Burr. Hamilton was the known presidential candidate and Burr the vice-presidential candidate but because there was no set rule on what the vote was specifically for it caused a major problem.

This amendment was a necessity for the time and more then likely would still causes problems today if it was not passed.




Vice presidential infamy: Burr, Agnew...Cheney?
December 5, 10:52 PMColumbus Democrat ExaminerSteve


Few vice presidents ever go on to greatness. In fact, only 14 vice presidents have become president--nine of them due to the death or resignation of the sitting president.

Suffice it to say, the office of VP isn't exactly the ideal launching pad for further ambitions. It has, however, been the temporary residence of some of the most reviled politicians in our nation's history. Leading this parade of the infamous are Aaron Burr and Spiro Agnew. Burr, then the sitting VP, challenged Alexander Hamilton to a duel and shot and killed him. Agnew resigned in disgrace amidst a bribery and tax evasion scandal.

Now, it appears Dick Cheney is gunning to be added to this list.

Cheney's trail of tears. Although Cheney did his best to secure a place alongside Burr and Agnew in just the past year alone by becoming the most critical and outspoken ex-VP in our nation's history, a review of his, er, finer moments, most certainly would remove any doubt:

*As a young man in the 1960s while Vietnam raged, our war-loving ex-VP applied for, and received, five draft deferments. Five! Then, in two election campaigns, in both debates and speeches, Cheney helped to paint former VP Al Gore and Senator John Kerry as either too weak in military matters or soft on terrorism. So while tough-as-nails Cheney was busy dodging the draft, peacenik weaklings Gore and Kerry...enlisted in the army and navy, respectively. That they did so knowing they could have avoided military service due to their family connections, only serves to widen the chasm between their bravery and Cheney's lack thereof.

*As a congressman, Cheney voted against making Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday a national holiday in 1979.

*As vice president, Cheney was a major behind-the-scenes player in many less than shining Bush administration policies including asserting much greater executive office authority over the other two branches of government, the creation of the Guantanamo Bay terrorist prison, advocating torture, and preemptive war.

*Cheney's Mini Me, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby was convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice over his involvement in the leaking of a CIA agent's name to the press. Many people believe this incident was orchestrated by Cheney.

*Cheney also continued to assert Iraq's involvement in the 9/11 terror attacks years after intelligence agencies dismissed any such connection.

And to think...that's just Volume I of Dick Cheney's Greatest Hits.

What is past is prologue. Now that he is retired, Cheney is not going gently into that good night, rather he seems to be just warming up. In fact, since he left office, he's become President Obama's Critic-in-Chief. Although it is practically an American political tradition for ex-presidents to criticize their successors, ex-veeps critical of a new president aren't exactly commonplace. Though I suppose one could argue that since Cheney was thought of as Dubya's shadow president, it should not be all that surprising.

What is surprising, is how quickly Cheney sought to bash the president and the frequency and condescending tone of his criticism. Clearly Cheney has no sense of decorum, or, perhaps, no sense at all.

Just two weeks out of office, Cheney gave an interview to Politico.com in which he criticized a wide range of Obama administration policy changes (i.e. no more torture, closing Guantanamo Bay, not launching full scale wars on countries that didn't attack us).

In that interview, Cheney asserted that the biggest threat is another "9/11-type event where terrorists are armed with something much more dangerous than an airline ticket and a box cutter--a nuclear weapon or biological agent of some kind". Cheney insinuated that America would be less safe if Obama changed Bush administration policies. In other words, unless Obama continues to torture suspects, tap Americans' phones, and go to war with more countries, we're all goners.

In May, Cheney gave a speech at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative 'think' tank, in which he excoriated the president's terrorism policy. Cheney said banning tough tactics (re: torture) "is unwise in the extreme." He went on to say that "It [Obama's approach to terrorism] is recklessness cloaked in righteousness and would make the American people less safe."

In October, the broken record that is Dick Cheney gave, yet again, another speech--(yawn)--criticizing President Obama. This time, he claimed that the president was "dithering" during his Afghanistan policy review and that Obama "seems afraid" to make a decision. Evidently, one man's dithering is another man's rational thought.

In Cheney's latest nit witted narrative, he blasts President Obama as "projecting weakness" and for the overall direction of his foreign policy...again. Cheney criticized everything from the decision to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in civilian court to the bow president Obama gave to the Japanese emperor on his recent trip to Asia. Cheney, though, didn't elaborate on his thoughts on why Republican president Richard Nixon bowed to then-Japanese emperor Hirohito in 1971. Yes, that Hirohito. The terrorist who greenlighted the attack on Pearl Harbor.

Cheney, also railed against President Obama's Afghanistan policy. I suppose the first 48 times was't enough. When asked if he felt any sort of responsibility for the deterioration of the situation there, Cheney simply replied, "I basically don't." How brazenly asinine of you, Mr. former vice president.

Indeed, Dark Lord of the Sith Cheney appears to be positioning himself for some sort of accolade. I'm just spit-balling here, but I'm guessing it is not for a Nobel Peace Prize. And even if it was, Cheney would probably pass on going to Oslo to pick it up because as crazy as he is, he knows he'd probably be arrested for war crimes outside of U.S. borders.

My bet is he's aiming higher. And even if he loses the Tea Party Patriots' 'Teabagger of the Year' award to Sarah Palin or Glenn Beck, history will most likely reward him with a place in the pantheon of Worst Vice Presidents in U.S. History.

Of course, Cheney has not been convicted of any crimes (yet) and he never killed a man in a duel...though he did manage to shoot a guy in the face once.

So is that gun powder I smell, or the stench of infamy, Dick?