Vetting the Veep

It used to be that our Vice-Presidential candidate was chosen by the convention, sometimes in the smoked filled rooms. In recent years it seems the person on top of the ticket chooses the running mate.
 The job was primarily ceremonial - waiting in the Senate to break a tie vote or attending dignitary funerals.  Anyway, the level of vetting was not always adequate and we experienced some surprises.
1940 - Henry Wallace - had been Secretary of Commerce - but turned out to be too pink for the party and was dropped in favor of Harry S. Truman in 1944.
1944 - Harry S. Truman - (the S stands for nothing) - was an unknown haberdasher from Missouri and a member of the Prendergast political machine in Kansas City. But he surprised everyone with his spunk and spine in the decisions he made.
1952 - Richard Milhous Nixon - was a young turk Communist hunter from California - was accused of some funding irregularities and Eisenhower was ready to drop him from the ticket. Then came Nixon's famous Checkers speech when he mentioned his wife's "cloth coat" and this saved his career - for the time being.
1960 - Lyndon Baines Johnson - was as surprised as anyone when JFK offered him second place on the ticket - much to the chagrin of Bobby Kennedy - and we know how this decision changed history.
1968 - Spiro Agnew  - had some financial problems back in Maryland and eventually resigned in 1973.
1972 - Thomas Eagleton - during the campaign it was learned that he had undergone electric shock treatment and George McGovern dropped him from the ticket and had to scramble to find a replacement during the heat of a campaign.
 1984 - Geraldine Ferraro was the first female to appear on any ticket - she was criticized for her husband's business but hung on throughout the campaign with Walter Mondale.
1988 - Dan Quayle - Bush 41 surprised us all with this young fellow from Indiana.
2000 - Dick Cheney - was chosen by Bush 43 to vett candidates for Vice-President - after doing so he selected himself for the job.
2008 - Sarah Palin - perhaps the ultimate example of inadequate vetting.
Conventions still sixteen months away - still time to stir the pot.
tjs
P.S. Recently read where Julia Louis-Dreyfus (Elaine of Seinfeld) will soon have a new show on HBO titled "Veep" where she plays number two on the ticket and is disappointed in the duties assigned to the job.
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