We really didn't mean all that "Executive Privilege" stuff

Steve Benen, a contributor to Josh Marshall’s “Talking Point Memo,” poses a great set of questions on the Vice President’s alleged exemption from keeping government secrets secret. The argument seems to boil down to the bizarre and frivolous claim that the Vice President's Office, although created along with the Presidency in Article II of the Constitution, is not part of the “Executive Branch” (and subject to the President’s “Executive Order” on keeping government secrets secret) because the Constitution, as part of the checks-and-balances system, also provides for a legislative function for the Vice President: presiding over the Senate and casting a deciding vote in the case of a tie. By the way, hasn’t the Vice President on numerous occasions claimed the benefit of “EXECUTIVE privilege”?