Why are we paying Cheney Inc.?

That's the question Rep. Rahm Emanuel is asking.
Democrats plan to cut Cheney out of executive funding bill

Following Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that his office is not a part of the executive branch of the US government, Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) plans to introduce an amendment to the the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill to cut funding for Cheney's office.

The amendment to the bill that sets the funding for the executive branch will be considered next week in the House of Representatives.

"The Vice President has a choice to make. If he believes his legal case, his office has no business being funded as part of the executive branch," said Emanuel in a statement released to RAW STORY. "However, if he demands executive branch funding he cannot ignore executive branch rules. At the very least, the Vice President should be consistent. This amendment will ensure that the Vice President's funding is consistent with his legal arguments."

Now Emanuel admits this is just a stunt. In a sense it is, even Ed Morrisey thinks the idea the the vice president is not part of the executive branch is absurd.

I'd say the Constitution is rather clear on this. Article 2, section 1 starts:

The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. He shall hold his Office during the Term of four Years, and, together with the Vice-President chosen for the same Term, be elected, as follows:
Each State shall appoint, in such Manner as the Legislature thereof may direct, a Number of Electors, equal to the whole Number of Senators and Representatives to which the State may be entitled in the Congress: but no Senator or Representative, or Person holding an Office of Trust or Profit under the United States, shall be appointed an Elector.

Arguing that the VP belongs to the legislative branch either looks like desperation or a Constitutional illiteracy that should disturb everyone, not just Democrats.

Ed is having trouble trying to figure out why Cheney is even doing this. Perhaps he has things to hide - that would be my guess.

But I think it's Andrew Sullivan who hits the nail on the head.

Cheney is acting as if he is outside the constitution and above the law. He has been acting that way for quite a while now. When a public official abuses the public trust and refuses any oversight, it's time for the other branches of government to do what they can to rein him in. Especially when the man has revealed himself to be a blithering incompetent.

I don't think this is a trivial matter, because it seems to me that Cheney is currently an extremely dangerous man. He has nothing to lose in the next eighteen months. He cannot get any less popular. He thinks the 2004 election is the only legitimacy he needs. He doesn't believe the Congress should have any role in foreign policy. And he also believes that Iran must not develop nuclear power and that no one apart from him can stop them. The drum beat coming from his office about Iran's direct involvement in the Iraq war is obviously a preamble to claiming that the 2003 war authorization gives him and Bush the right to bomb Iran without going back to the Congress for approval. He's a man ready and willing to pull a Cambodia. If the Congress and the press don't start pushing back now, it may come sooner rather than later.

As I said over at The Gun Toting Liberal:

He is unfit to hold the office of Vice President and as long as his insanity has power behind it the United States and the entire planet are in grave danger. I’m really not sure the 18 more months of Dick Cheney is something we will survive.

We don't need a stunt that threatens to cut off Cheney's funds we need to stop him from destroying the United States and the World.
Update
Cheney can't even get any support from cultist Glenn Reynolds who doesn't agree with the constitutional questions but thinks it's really stupid. Hey Glenn, maybe it's not stupid but INSANE!