2008 Vice Presidential debate, at WUSTL: on Government Reform

Joe Biden: Led fight against Bork based on ideology

BIDEN: Yes, I can. When I got to the US Senate and went on the Judiciary Committee as a young lawyer, I had been trained in the view that the only thing that mattered was whether or not a nominee suggested by the president had a judicial temperament, and had not committed a crime of moral turpitude. It was hard to change, but it took about five years for me to realize that the ideology of that judge makes a big difference. That’s why I led the fight against Judge Bork. Had he been on the court, I suspect there would be a lot of changes that I don’t like and the American people wouldn’t like, including everything from Roe v. Wade to issues relating to civil liberties. I was the first chairman of the Judiciary Committee to forthrightly state that it matters what your judicial philosophy is. The American people have a right to know it.

Sarah Palin: Agrees with Cheney that VP as executive is flexible

PALIN: Our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we’ll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.

BIDEN: Vice President Cheney has been the most dangerous vice president we’ve had probably in American history. The vice president works in the Executive Branch. The only authority the vice president has from the legislative standpoint is when there is a tie vote. The idea he’s part of the Legislative Branch is a bizarre notion invented by Cheney to aggrandize the power of a unitary executive.