Maybe We Need a "No Congressman Left Behind" Act

You may have heard that there was a Tea Party-type protest on the steps of the Capitol today. Organized by Congresswoman Michelle Bachman, quite a few Republican Representatives were not only in attendance but had vital speaking roles.

First up, Congressman Todd Akin (MO-10) led everyone in the Pledge of Allegiance:



He was obviously pretty excited about getting to the God part.

Contrary to what Congressman Akin believes, this bleeding-heart liberal doesn't go crazy when people say the Pledge, I go crazy when they don't know the words.

Next House Minority Leader John Boehner (OH-8) motivated the masses by quoting the Preamble to the Constitution.



Now I'm certainly no Constitutional Scholar, but I did pass 8th Grade Social Studies and my teacher, Ms. Peterson, would be very happy to know that I can still tell the difference between the Declaration of Independence and the Preamble to the United States Constitution (I scored a 100% on that test, but you knew that). I also still have the Schoolhouse Rock song in my head.



And here's the Declaration of Independence:



It sure would be nice if our elected officials knew what every 8th grader knows.

Sarah Palin on the Job of the Vice President

One might think that in 3 months Sarah Palin would have figured out what she agreed to do as John McCain's Vice President. If that's what you thought, well, I'm sorry, you were wrong. Dead wrong.

Before we get into what Sarah believes to be the job of the Vice President, let's look at some recent history . . .

Back in July 2008, Sarah wasn't sure what the VP does.



At the beginning of October, during the vice presidential debate with Joe Biden, both Sarah and Joe were asked about the responsibilities of the Vice President and how they would carry them out. According to the Sarasota Herald Tribune, "[Sarah] said that the Constitution gave great "flexibility" to the vice president, and that she hoped to be given even more authority."

And then today, Sarah was asked by a third grader in Colorado what the vice president does. Let's take a look at her response.



Unfortunately, that's not quite what the Constitution says. We all know that the Constitution says that the vice president's main job is to hang out and wait for the president to die or otherwise be unable to perform his or her job. Other than that, the vice president is the President of the Senate, but doesn't have any say over anything unless he or she is needed to break a tie.

Isn't there a Schoolhouse Rock episode that could help Sarah with the daunting task of learning her actual job description? How I long for the days of a Vice President who spelled potato with an "e."