An Ovation For Ted & A Raspberry For John

Posted By on Jul 10, 2008 | 7 comments

20080709kennedy.533.jpg

It’s a given that presidential candidates who are running for president are going to miss a vote or three, but the situation with John McCain is ridiculous.

The Republican wannabe has not voted since April 8, missing a total of 76 votes. This includes several key votes on important legislation, among them Social Security, which he views as “a total disgrace,” and expanding veterans’ GI bill benefits, which he vociferously opposed and then took credit for after that bill passed.

Ted Kennedy, who is not running for president but merely for his life because of brain cancer, went where McCain no longer treads yesterday and cast the decisive vote in favor of moving the Medicare bill on to final passage.

Kennedy received a sustained standing ovation for his valor; McCain, who was the only senator to miss the vote, deserves a raspberry.

And needs someone to tell him that between missing Senate votes, joking about killing Iranians with American cigarettes and being an amnesiac on cue when confronted with one of his myriad flip flops, he is running an extraordinarily ham-handed campaign that at many turns casts him as not only unpresidential, but a real goofball.

More here.

Photograph by Lauren Victoria Burke/The Associated Press

Auf Stumbleupon zeigen
Auf tumblr zeigen

  • Marlowecan

    Ah, Shaun's pro-Obama bias. Nothing here about Obama's missed votes…almost as bad as McCain…or Kerry's in 2004 (far worse than either!)

    This is SOP for Senatorial candidates (see below quote)

    I imagine Shaun would be beside himself with delight if McCain showed up for all his votes…and Obama showed up for none.

    Then, I imagine, Shaun's post would be something like”
    “McLame Does Not Take the Presidency Seriously”:

    “McCain has cast 36 of the Senate's 169 votes this year, according to a USA TODAY analysis. Obama: 70 votes. Their truancy began in 2007, long before the primaries and caucuses. McCain's voting participation score, as tabulated by non-partisan Congressional Quarterly, dropped from 91% in 2006 to 44% last year. Obama fell from 99% in 2006 to 66% last year.In 2004, then-Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry, a Massachusetts senator, showed up for only 10% of the votes he was supposed to cast. Given the slow and unpredictable pace of business in the Senate, a candidate “could lose a whole day on the campaign trail waiting for a bill to come up,” notes Ray Smock, director of the Robert C. Byrd Center for Legislative Studies at West Virginia's Shepherd University.”
    http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2…

  • AustinRoth

    Marlowecan – I must take exception with your characterization of Shaun. This post is not an example of any 'pro-Obama' bias, but rather his permanent hatred of anyone and anything Republican (or maybe non-Democratic Party, but that is splitting hairs).

    You never really need to read his posts. Just look at the headline, say to yourself 'if I had that headline to work with, and a goal to smear Republicans, what would I write?' You will be 90% accurate or better, every time.

  • shaun

    Marlowecan:

    Nice try but you whiffed. What your cliplet does not note is that Obama (and Clinton) have showed up for key votes without fail, if not all votes. McCain has been AWOL for all.

  • http://www.whyweworry.com ChrisWWW

    Obama was even there yesterday to vote to kill the 4th Amendment. See, he shows up!

  • Marlowecan

    Shaun said: “What your cliplet does not note is that Obama (and Clinton) have showed up for key votes without fail, if not all votes. McCain has been AWOL for all.”

    Shaun, it is a simple equation, as the prof. notes in my cliplet. Time spent in the Senate for even a single vote – like the FISA vote – means at least 1 day off the campaign/fundraising trail.

    Clinton ain't going nowhere…so she can sit in the Senate for the rest of her life.
    Obama has the luxury of being there for more votes…as he is ahead in the polls and fundraising. He also enjoys a 2:1 media coverage lead over McCain, so he can spend more time in the Senate and still dominate the media.

    McCain is playing catch-up (badly, I might add) and thus cannot needs to be on the trail more.

    This is not a GOP/Dem. or McCain/Obama virtue question. It is a simple equation. Were Obama in McCain's shoes, he would likely be out of town more.

  • DLS

    Not just _any_ Republicans, A.R., but especially *** BUSH ***

    (and “equal time” simply means an occasional bashing of a Dem who voted in favor of the Iraq war)

  • http://www.poligazette.com Michael Merritt

    Both McCain and Obama's absence records have gone up significantly in the past year or so. According to govtrack.us, in Q1 2008, Obama missed 31 votes and McCain missed 50. In Q2, Obama has missed 60 compared to McCain's 68.

    There's the numbers. Interpret them as you will.