LuftCarl:
Hold on - no, I'm not suggesting that you are stupid, and I had no such thought in mind. I certainly didn't intend any insult or disrespect to you.
But there are a few points that I think are important here that the Fox News analysis seems to miss, and that don't support the view of a multi-branch office for the VP. First, the VP's role as President of the Senate is pretty narrow.
1) The VP cannot introduce legislation.
2) The VP cannot debate legislation.
3) The VP cannot serve on any committees.
4) The VP cannot hold any party office in the Senate (majority leader, etc.)
5) The VP cannot speak to the issues or add statements to the record.
6) The VP cannot propose amendments to the Senate rules.
7) The VP cannot submit motions to be voted on by the Senators.
6) The VP cannot even vote on legislation, unless there's a rare tie that needs breaking.
With those limitations, it's a huge stretch to call the VP a legislator. In essence, the VP is even less substantively involved that the moderator at the debates. He has a small role in running the proceedings, but in the VP's case, he doesn't even get to choose the questions that get debated. All he does (when he's there) is apply the rules, while the substance is completely out of his reach. His typical comments are limited to such things as "The chair recognizes the Senator from Maryland", or "The ayes have it". If Biden didn't mention the power of the VP to make those statements, I don't think he missed much. The "powers" of the VP in the Senate are pretty slim.
That's why V.P. "Cactus Jack" Garner said the vice presidency was not worth a bucket of warm piss.
The Cheney approach to vice-presidency, which Governor Palin seemed to me to be supporting, is self-contradictory. Cheney thinks the VP can put on his executive hat and ask for orders from the Chief Executive, but if it's convenient for the administration, he can then put on his legislative hat and refuse to follow those same orders. It's hard to believe that such an idea was what the Founders had in mind, and nobody before Cheney had ever suggested such a thing since the Constitution was first ratified.
As I re-read my prior post, it does directly address the powers of the VP, and I'll stay by my keyboard, thank you very much.