Currently, there are living former Vice Presidents. Here’s what they’ve been up to…
Walter Mondale
Jimmy Carter’s old VP, Walter Mondale, hung out with 100 students at the University of Minnesota to watch the Vice President speak at the Democratic National Convention Thursday night.
He also spoke at an August 13th fundraiser for Minnesota State Senate candidate Julie Bunn. He is quoted as saying, “We need a bipartisan spirit back in the legislature. Great public issues require debate, and sensible people of good spirit to sit down and compromise.”
George HW Bush
In this video, Ronald Reagan’s VP, George H.W. Bush, parodies the Dana Carvey impersonation of himself:
“There was never a taint of scandal around his presidency,” Bush said of his son in a video produced for the Republican National Convention this year. “And I think we forget the importance of that. But they’ll remember him for being a good, honest president that got a lot of things done, but I think the thing I take pride in is integrity.”
On September 1st, H.B.O. premiered a 100-minute documentary called “41″ about George H.W. Bush’s term as our nation’s 41st President.
Bush Sr. spends the summers up at the family compound in Kennebunkport, Maine. Apparently, he was part of a high school senior prank this year — and loved it! (Hey, who wouldn’t love a free hat?)
Dan Quayle
Check out this blast from the past! In 1988, a 60-minute visit from Vice President Quayle drummed up $80,000, with people paying $5,000 a plate to shake hands with him!
More recently, Dan Quayle told The New York Times he felt inclusion was necessary for the party. “The Republican Party needs to re-establish its philosophy of the big tent with principles. The philosophy you hear from time to time, which is unfortunate, is one of exclusion rather than inclusion. You have to be expanding the base, expanding the party, because compared to the Democratic Party, the Republican Party is a minority party.”
Also, it’s likely Dan is consoling his son, Ben, who recently lost a heated race for Arizona’s 6th Congressional District.
Al Gore
Bill Clinton’s VP, Al Gore says he’s “mostly at peace these days” with his unbelievable loss to George W. Bush in 2000.
Yet, one has to wonder with the bizarre headlines he’s been making lately! For one, he’s calling for an end to the Electoral College and an embrace of the National Popular Vote legislation that would have Thomas Jefferson rolling over in his grave.
Then he said Democrats can’t keep blaming George W. Bush for everything.
He also elected to skip the DNC altogether and spend his time in New York City, anchoring Current TV special coverage on the convention from afar. He did say of his former boss’s speech on Wednesday: “I have heard President Bill Clinton give a lot of great speeches and I honestly don’t know of a better one.”
Maybe he’s a little ticked off at Obama, which explains his aloofness during the campaign season. “President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change,” he wrote in a 2011 Rolling Stone article. He also blasted Obama’s decision to postpone toughening EPA regulations on smog.
Al Gore’s been appearing on Joy Behar’s Say Anything show. Here he surprises Darryl Hammond, the SNL actor who impersonated Vice President Gore. Here is an extended interview with Al Gore on Joy’s CurrentTV premiere.
Mostly, it seems Gore wishes to leave the past behind him and live in the present moment.
Dick Cheney
A new boys and girls club opened, dedicated to George W. Bush’s former VP, Dick Cheney. Unfortunately, he couldn’t attend the opening of the Cheney Cowboy Ethics Club in Casper due to a change in medication related to his heart transplant back in March. Lynne went in his absence!
Meanwhile, his daughter Liz moved to Wyoming, prompting some to speculate she may have her eye on a run for political office there.
Cheney recommends that people read Ed Klein’s book, The Amateur: Barack Obama In The White House before Election Day.
After fishing with Sean Hannity, Cheney also told Fox News, “I’m a big fan of Paul’s. I can’t think of a better choice. I really just think that it is a vital one and I want to give Gov. Romney very high marks for making it. I think that what he has done here is take, and put front and center in his campaign, somebody who has been spending time and energy addressing the most serious problem we face as a nation. I’m delighted with the Paul Ryan choice. I think he’d make a great vice president.”
He’s also planning to speak about topics of defense at the Long Island Association’s fall luncheon in October.
