With a resounding 'Aye', and to the cheers of his fellow Senators, Ted Kennedy returned to the floor of the Senate yesterday to vote on a signature issue, securing Medicare, and ensuring that we pay our nation's physicians equitably for treating our seniors.
Video Credit: NCDem
You know who didn't? John McCain.
The vote was 69-30, which even to the math challenged like me equals 99. There are, as 20% of Americans know, 100 United States Senators. So who missed the vote? The guy who just had brain surgery? Um, no. He was there. But as Ben Pershing notes in the Washington Post, McCain was not, extending his record to three full months -- 76 consecutive votes -- without casting a yea or nay. He's actually only voted once since March 14. Nice work if you can get it.
Maybe we shouldn't complain. Maybe it's really better if McCain doesn't vote. After all, he has a lifetime voting score from the League of Conservation Voters of 26%. 0% from the ACLU, 33% from the HRC, 7% from the NAACP, 45% from the NEA, 15% from the AFL-CIO, 25% from the APHA, 40% from the ARA, and 20% from the DAV. That's a whole lot of letters to vote against, but basically, if you're looking for an anti-environment, anti-civil rights, anti-human rights, anti-education, anti-labor, anti-health care, anti-senior citizen, anti-veteran guy, you should give his office a call and tell him to get back to work. He did, though, get a perfect score from CATO, so if your job's been outsourced and you don't want to lose your next one, you should give his office a call and thank him for staying away.
Comments (1)
Posted by Otter | July 10, 2008 2:38 PM
Hmm. So if 99 votes were cast, 100 minus McCain's since he apparently feels that actually being a senator with day-to-day duties and responsibilities is strictly optional these days, then that means all the other Republicans showed up for the vote. And all of the Democrats. Oh, and Joe Lieberman too.