Split in the ticket?

By Phil Lawler ( bio - articles - email ) | Aug 26, 2004

When was the last time that an American vice president voiced clear public disagreement with the president on an issue as important as a proposed constitutional amendment?

I may be wrong-- corrections welcome-- but I think it was 1832.

Here's what happened then: Vice President John C. Calhoun couldn't agree with President Andrew Jackson on the issue of state nullification. So he resigned. But even that didn't end the dispute between Jackson and Calhoun. The President sent warships to the ports of Calhoun's native South Carolina, to ensure enforcement of the tariff that Calhoun had opposed.

There will be no warships dispatched in this case. Still it's astonishing that VP Dick Cheney would voice public disagreement with President Bush on same-sex "marriage"-- just before the convention at which the President could, if he wanted, choose another running mate.

You can be very sure that Bush wouldn't tolerate a running-mate who disagreed with him on the war in Iraq. You've got to wonder how seriously he takes the question of marriage.