Re: McCain once again is doing the honorable thing
Daniel is right. in a lot of State houses "Present" is often used to avoid going on the record on something that might be used against you.
Speaking of this. i remember as a kid going to Baton Rouge and watching the state legislature in action. Mom and Dad took us kids to the State Capital and it was quite interesting.
We were there while the legislature was in session and so Dad took me in to see them voting. there is this big board with lights for yes, no, and present.
Anyway, while we were watching, we found the name of our Representative. At some point I remember, my dad saying with mild disgust "Coward". I looked at him and asked him why, he said JD just voted present.
that was somewhere in the late 1970's. It crystalized my veiw of such an action.
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Ummm... google "McCain Foreign policy gaffes". He is on record as being unclear about some things that are very crucial in our foreign policy. Obama may not be a foreign policy giant, but unfortunately I honestly think that the only person on either ticket who is impressive in regards to foreign policy is Biden.
sorry tstew, but even 62 percent of the amercian people view mccain as the best on foreign policy, biden is no competent, lol
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Esther, the 120 present votes was as an Ill legislator, not as a US Senator.
What these numbers dont indicate is if either candidate missed crucial votes that would have moved legislation in their direction.
this is just another misdirection to make McCain look bad without dealing with reality.
The fact is, McCain was part of an effort to reform this mess in 2005. That effort was summarily dismissed by the democrats on a partyline vote.
Obama didnt attempt to bring reform to the root cause (Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) while at the same time, taking more money that all but 1 member of congress from Fannie and Freddie.
THAT is the real issue. not who missed the most cloture votes!
You need to 'plain that to DA.
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DA only deals in misdirection. facts will be dismissed! LOL!
Misdirection would be what you are doing ... we are discussing the McCain decision to suspend his campaign ...
However you turn around and say somehow a deadbeat Senator would have fixed everything because of his attempts to reform Fannie Mae and Feddie Mac and this bailout would not be necessary ..
1. This crisis beyond those 2 entities ... which if you forgot we have been bailed out already ....
2. McCain is getting his economic and campaign advice from those who pimped these two entities:
Quote:
McCain should look first to his campaign staffers as the cause of that debacle. One of them was Fannie Mae's head of lobbying, and spread tens of millions of dollars around Washington in the form of lobbying contracts. A number of McCain staffers were on the receiving end of those contracts, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars each from the lenders to rep their interests. And McCain's campaign manager served as president of a lobbying association that fought to protect Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae from the sort of regulation that McCain is now proposing.
In McCain's op-ed in the Journal, he and Palin wrote:
For years, Congress failed to act and it is deeply troubling that what we are seeing is an exercise in crisis management rather than sound planning, and at great cost to taxpayers.
We promise the American people that our administration will be different. We have long records of standing up to special interests…
But McCain's own campaign staffers are those special interests, a fact that casts doubt on both McCain's hiring judgment and his ability to pursue tough reforms of Fannie and Freddie.
Aquiles Suarez, listed as an economic adviser to the McCain campaign in a July 2007 McCain press release, was formerly the director of government and industry relations for Fannie Mae. The Senate Lobbying Database says Suarez oversaw the lending giant's $47,510,000 lobbying campaign from 2003 to 2006.
And other current McCain campaign staffers were the lobbyists receiving shares of that money. According to the Senate Lobbying Database, the lobbying firm of Charlie Black, one of McCain's top aides, made at least $820,000 working for Freddie Mac from 1999 to 2004. The McCain campaign's vice-chair Wayne Berman and its congressional liaison John Green made $1.14 million working on behalf of Fannie Mae for lobbying firm Ogilvy Government Relations. Green made an additional $180,000 from Freddie Mac. Arther B. Culvahouse Jr., the VP vetter who helped John McCain select Sarah Palin, earned $80,000 from Fannie Mae in 2003 and 2004, while working for lobbying and law firm O'Melveny & Myers LLP. In addition, Politico reports that at least 20 McCain fundraisers have lobbied for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, pocketing at least $12.3 million over the last nine years.
For years McCain campaign manager Rick Davis was head of the Homeownership Alliance, a lobbying association that included Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, real estate agents, homebuilders, and non-profits. According to Politico, the organization opposed congressional attempts at regulation of Fannie and Freddie, along the lines of what John McCain is currently proposing. In his capacity of president of the group, Davis went on record in 2003 and insisted that no further reform of the lenders was necessary, in contradiction to his current boss's sentiments. "[Fannie and Freddie] are subject to an innovative and stringent risk-based capital stress test," Davis wrote. "The toughest in the financial services industry."
At a campaign rally Wednesday morning in Fairfax, Virginia, John McCain said that the heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac ought to give back the millions of dollars they've earned. What about the lobbyists who helped Fannie and Freddie game the system? Maybe McCain can ask them — at the next campaign strategy meeting.
3. The McCain campaign has received just as much money from these mortgage companies and their affiliates.
Quote:
And as it happens, Freddie, Fannie and friends have been quite generous with Sens. McCain and Obama.
In the current election cycle, Sen. McCain has received $169,000 from the mortgage companies and their affiliates. Two of the top contributors -- Freddie Mac's board member Geoffrey T. Boisi and Fannie Mae lobbyist Richard F. Hohlt -- are listed on McCain's Web site as bundlers who've raised between $100,000-$250,000 for McCain. (A sidebar in the Times lists McCain's top donors connected to the mortgage companies.)
McCain's campaign also has a few more direct connections with the companies. For example, the Times notes that McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, was also previously "head of the Homeownership Alliance, a coalition of banks and housing industry interests led by Fannie and Freddie to stave off regulations."
Re: McCain once again is doing the honorable thing
The "quite generous" link also had this to say -
Fannie Mae so far in this two-year election cycle has given $1.3 million, twice as much as Freddie Mac, the center said. Both are giving more to Democrats in this election cycle.
Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, an Illinois senator, has raised $103,899 from both companies' employees for his presidential run, compared with $15,650 for his Republican opponent, Arizona Senator John McCain, according to the center's figures.
The companies' largesse also included donations of $100,000 each last year to the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Inc., chaired by Representative Kendrick Meek, a Florida Democrat.
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sorry tstew, but even 62 percent of the amercian people view mccain as the best on foreign policy, biden is no competent, lol
DT, I can't even begin to see how the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee is not competent when it comes to Foreign Relations. I don't think you have to be from his party to see that.
The direct quotes that I have seen from McCain (not what someone told me to think) shows someone who is far from being more competent than Biden.
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Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States. – W.E.B. DuBois
No I haven't forgotten those votes that deal w/ his service in the Illinois Senate ... spanning 7 years from 1997-2004... I posted to this fact in response to JTullock.
There IS NO PRESENT VOTE IN THE US SENATE, ESTHER ... so this obsfucation may fbe spin for your candidate who has the worst attendance record this session and fifth worst last session. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080923/..._present_votes
Presently, your candidate is a deadbeat in Congress in the last 2 sessions ... dating the last 4 years ... who just now figured out we are on the verge of economic depression.
I still have not seen an adequate direct response to these proven facts. I don't see how anyone can accuse Obama of not voting when McCain did not vote enough to be graded in the same study that we have referred to on this forum hundreds of times. I've pointed this out many times and have not seen one response to it.
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There are no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, Chuck Norris lives in Houston.
Either the United States will destroy ignorance, or ignorance will destroy the United States. – W.E.B. DuBois
Misdirection would be what you are doing ... we are discussing the McCain decision to suspend his campaign ...
However you turn around and say somehow a deadbeat Senator would have fixed everything because of his attempts to reform Fannie Mae and Feddie Mac and this bailout would not be necessary ..
1. This crisis beyond those 2 entities ... which if you forgot we have been bailed out already ....
2. McCain is getting his economic and campaign advice from those who pimped these two entities:
3. The McCain campaign has received just as much money from these mortgage companies and their affiliates.
sorry bro, all this began with freddie and freddie. had the dems not played hide and seek with the 2005 legislation, this could have been avoided.
and you really dont want to talk about McCains connections to freddie and fannie. Barak obama has gotten way more money and is advized by former HEADS of the companies. beyond that, McCain has attemped to reform them and your boy B. Hussain hasnt said a single negitive word about his former cash cows.
this "deadbeat senator" nonsense is just that. your attempt to take the light off the fact that B. Hussain hasnt done jack didley execpt say yesterday that if Paulson needed him, he knew where he was.
Your boy is a typical liberal, with no record doing what he does best. hole up in a hotel and let someone else do the real work.
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I still have not seen an adequate direct response to these proven facts. I don't see how anyone can accuse Obama of not voting when McCain did not vote enough to be graded in the same study that we have referred to on this forum hundreds of times. I've pointed this out many times and have not seen one response to it.
Stew, what are you talking about? so a couple of guys running for president missed some votes. That doesnt mean either of them missed important votes that their parties or those that they agreed with needed them on.
No one has accused either in the Senate of not showing up when they were needed.
the Present votes by Barak in the Ill legislature were what they are, clear indications of an intent not to get on the wrong side of politics. (See my dads commnents back in the 1970's about our representative in La...)
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