What does Obama believe?

calmom
Thu, 07 Aug 2008 11:42:08 +0000

bz, Obama cast more 4,000 votes in the Illinois Senate. 130 times he voted present - that is 3% of the time. About 50 of those present votes were as part of a concerted effort with other members of his party. Many of the present votes were for bills that were assured of passage, but were “mixed bag” pieces of legislation where Obama agreed with some provisions but disagreed with others. Example:

State Senator Christine Radogno, a Republican, was a co-sponsor of the bill to let children as young as 15 be prosecuted as adults if charged with committing a crime with a firearm on or near school grounds.

The measure passed both houses overwhelmingly. In explaining his present vote on the floor of the Senate, Mr. Obama said there was no proof that increasing penalties for young offenders reduced crime, though he acknowledged that the bill had fairly unanimous support.

“If he voted a flat-out no,” Mr. Mannard (director of the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence) said, “somebody down the road could say Obama took this vote and was soft on crime.”



It’s kind of like the fact that Obama voted 10 times to fund the troops, and then he voted “no” on one bill AFTER Bush had vetoed the original bill, because it didn’t have a timeline for withdrawal – and so McCain goes and runs attack ads saying [Obama “voted against funding our troops”](http://www.factcheck.org/elections-2008/the_truth_on_troop_support.html).

Speaking of ducking issues, how come McCain didn’t show up to vote on the Webb GI bill, even though he had actively worked against it? You think maybe he didn’t want to go on record voting against increased benefits for the troops? (Since he turned around right away and tried to take credit for its passage, it looks that way to me).

And why has McCain missed so many votes this year on important issues? He’s running around trying to make Bush call Congress back in session, when he himself hasn’t cast a single vote since April. (He can’t say that he needed to be out campaigning when the GOP nomination was settled back in February. He’s also missed votes when both Obama showed up to take the heat, like the recent FISA bill).

In 2007, Sen. McCain missed all 15 critical environmental votes in the Senate, so he received a score of “0” from the League of Conservation voters.

In 2007, McCain was the only senator who failed to vote on a motion to invoke cloture (thus limiting debate) on the Energy Independence and Security Act, to invest in new clean energy technologies such as wind and solar, and efficiency. Sixty votes were required for passage. The motion was rejected 59-40.

McCain was also the only Senator to miss the vote on the 2008 Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act. Again, the Senate vote failed to invoke cloture by one vote, which resulted in forcing renewable energy incentives to be dropped from the legislation.

So watch who you slime… not showing up at all is even worse than a “present” vote. The taxpayers do pay this guy a salary.