I don't Think He Wants Your Job, Mr. Cheney.

"As far as me and the vice presidency is concerned ... I spent a number of years in a North Vietnamese prison camp in the dark and (was) fed scraps, and I don't know why I would want to do that all over again," - Sen. John McCain

Wow. What a statement of distaste.

The thing is, it's almost entirely justified.
The Vice President acts as president of the Senate, spending loads of time trying to keep wonderful folks like Barbara Boxer (D., CA,) Hillary Clinton (D., NY,) Orrin Hatch (R., UT,) Ted Kennedy (D., MA,) and Arlen Specter (R., PA,) in line and behaving in a relatively civil fashion.
He only gets to vote if there's a tie, in which case he votes along strict party lines. (He's really supposed to vote his conscience, but that's virtually never happened since the late 40's.)
He's the heir to the throne, figuratively speaking; if the Prez dies, or can't perform his duties, then the Veep steps up to the plate. But wait: he's privy to practically none of the information that the president has. Most of the intelligence briefings are cleared for the Prez only, and he's not present for most of the Cabinet meetings, because he's either busy with the Senate or off putting out political fires for the sitting Prez.
His salary is way lower than the President's, and he's virtually given himself the political kiss of death by accepting the office.
Yet somehow, he's held accountable as though he had a large degree of control over the Prez' decisions and behavior, and he has to endure the same endless security arrangements as the Prez. He is in a position traditionally used as a fall guy by the Prez in the case of a scandal, and has essentially no defense against any allegations of misconduct that may arise.
On top of which, no-one pays attention to anything he says.

What a great job. Gee, I wonder why Senator McCain wasn't more enthusiastic about it?