What is Digg?95 Comments
- Insightful, on 07/08/2008, -8/+48And what does the so-called mainstream "liberal" press say in reply? Nothing. Again they give McCain a free pass first on his abysmal Senate absence and second on his taking credit for Senator Webb's (D-Va) GI bill despite the fact that he opposed it and did not vote for it.
- inactive, on 07/09/2008, -10/+38McCain Flip Flops - a long list
Can you trust him?
short list:
McCain was against the repeal of Roe v. Wade before he was for it.
McCain was against torture before he was for it. Really for it.
McCain was against crazy right-wing preachers like Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson before he was for them.
McCain was against Bush’s tax cuts for the wealthy before he was for them.
McCain was against shady Bush “Pioneer” Texas billionaire swift-boat financiers before he was for them.
McCain was for the McCain-Feingold campaign finance law before he was against it and began breaking it.
McCain was against Grover Norquist, whom he called “corrupt, a shill for dictators“ before he was for him.
McCain was against BJU because of its “hateful,” “racist and cruel” policies before he was for it.
McCain was against ethanol before he was for ethanol and then he was against it again.
McCain was against a Martin Luther King holiday before he was for it. …
McCain: I think that we must go back to the party platform of 1980 and 1984 - we include people who have specific disagreements who share our same goals. Ultimately, I would like to see the repeal of Roe v. Wade, but to do it immediately, I think, would condemn young women to dangerous and illegal operations.
See, back in 1999, McCain was walking a tightrope by calling himself pro-life on a personal level while at the same time assuring pro-choice voters for pragmatic reasons that “in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade.” Yet, today, McCain says bluntly right on his website that “John McCain believes Roe v. Wade is a flawed decision that must be overturned.”
It’s really hard to overstate the audacity of those in the media who tried to make Obama’s recent decision to opt out of public campaign financing out to be some colossal flip-flop without even mentioning the fact that McCain has now flip-flopped a gazillion times on almost every issue under the sun
And that’s not all. There’s many many more. In fact, here’s an even longer list. McCain has reversed his former positions to fall more in line with the Bush administration so many times now it’s really hard to tell Bush and McCain apart (can you beat my 3 out of 5 on the first try?). It might actually be easier to list the issue(s) McCain hasn’t (yet) flip-flopped on, although I can’t think of a single one right offhand.
full list:
* McCain supported the drilling moratorium; now he’s against it.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic ...
* McCain strongly opposes a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/06/18/mccains-o ...
* McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1578 ...
* McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1586 ...
* McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/10/mccain-fl ...
* McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1582 ...
* He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion,he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1586 ...
* McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.
http://www.americablog.com/2008/06/now-mccain-is-f ...
* McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic ...
* McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2008/may/28/mccain ... /
* McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1561 ...
* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1555 ...
* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1556 ...
* He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s policy making. Now he believes the opposite.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1557 ...
* McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/05/20/mccains-9 ...
* He wanted political support from radical televangelists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1563 ...
* McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn’t.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1569 ...
*McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a“‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded.Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1476 ...
* McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/04/mc ...
* McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1481 ...
*In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1503 ...
* McCain has changed his economic worldview on multiple occasions.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1533 ...
* McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1537 ...
* McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1535 ...
* McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off than they were before Bush took office.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/19/mccain-economy ... /
* McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/01/06/mccain-earmark /
* McCain believes his endorsement from radical televangelist John Hagee was both a good and bad idea.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/21/hagee-flip-flo ... /
*McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting“irresponsibly.”His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1517 ...
* McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/16/us/politics/16mc ...
* In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/04/10/emtimeem- ...
* McCain used to champion the Law of the Sea convention, even volunteering to testify on the treaty’s behalf before a Senate committee. Now he opposes it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/oct/31/mc ... /
* McCain was a co-sponsor of the DREAM Act, which would grant legal status to illegal immigrants’ kids who graduate from high school. Now he’s against it.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/oct/31/mc ... /
* On immigration policy in general, McCain announced in February 2008 that he would vote against his own legislation.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/1444 ...
*In 2006, McCain sponsored legislation to require grassroots lobbying coalitions to reveal their financial donors. In 2007, after receiving“feedback” on the proposal, McCain told far-right activist groups that he opposes his own measure.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/9658 ...
* McCain said before the war in Iraq, “We will win this conflict. We will win it easily.” Four years later, McCain said he knew all along that the war in Iraq war was “probably going to be long and hard and tough.”
http://electioncentral.tpmcafe.com/blog/electionce ...
*McCain said he was the “greatest critic” of Rumsfeld’s failed Iraq policy. In December 2003, McCain praised the same strategy as“a mission accomplished.” In March 2004, he said, “I’m confident we’re on the right course.”In December 2005, he said, “Overall, I think a year from now, we will have made a fair amount of progress if we stay the course.”
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/08/18/mccain-greates ... /
* McCain went from saying he would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310003 to saying the exact opposite.http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/mccain-abortio ... /
* McCain went from saying gay marriage should be allowed, to saying gay marriage shouldn’t be allowed.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/0 ...
* McCain criticized TV preacher Jerry Falwell as “an agent of intolerance” in 2002, but then decided to cozy up to the man who said Americans “deserved” the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6988 ...
* McCain used to oppose Bush’s tax cuts for the very wealthy, but he reversed course in February.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/6731 ...
* On a related note, he said 2005 that he opposed the tax cuts because they were “too tilted to the wealthy.” By 2007, he denied ever having said this, and insisted he opposed the cuts because of increased government spending.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/03/us/politics/03mc ...
*In 2000, McCain accused Texas businessmen Sam and Charles Wyly of being corrupt, spending “dirty money” to help finance Bush’s presidential campaign. McCain not only filed a complaint against the Wylys for allegedly violating campaign finance law, he also lashed out at them publicly. In April, McCain reached out to the Wylys for support.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=1880630&pa ...
* McCain supported a major campaign-finance reform measure that bore his name. In June 2007, he abandoned his own legislation.
http://www.nysun.com/national/campaign-finance-eff ... /
* McCain opposed a holiday to honor Martin Luther King, Jr., before he supported it.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20070115/pl_usnw/dnc_ ...
* McCain was against presidential candidates campaigning at Bob Jones University before he was for it.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8313 ...
* McCain was anti-ethanol. Now he’s pro-ethanol.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15637887 /
* McCain was both for and against state promotion of the Confederate flag.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200610310003
* McCain decided in2000 that he didn’t want anything to do with former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, believing he “would taint the image of the‘Straight Talk Express.’” Kissinger is now the Honorary Co-Chair for his presidential campaign in New York.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/mccain-kissing ... /
* McCain used to think that Grover Norquist was a crook and acorrupt shill for dictators. Then McCain got serious about running for president and began to reconcile with Norquist.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/19/mccain-kissing ... /
* McCain took a firm line in opposition to torture, and then caved to White House demands.
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individu ...
* McCain gave up on his signature policy issue, campaign-finance reform, and won’t back the same provision he sponsored just a couple of years ago.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/8066 ...
* And now he’s both for and against overturning Roe v. Wade.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/11/19/mccain-abortio ... /
The dreaded “flip-flop” is, according to the GOP, the latest cardinal sin for someone seeking national office !!!
- hawkeye17, on 07/08/2008, -8/+29Before this campaign is over McSame will kill his own campaign with his own big mouth. Trust me on this. He's a loose cannon just waiting to go off and eventually a camera will be on him when he does.
- inactive, on 07/09/2008, -1/+20Congress is still controlled by Republicans. You see even if the Dems in Congress pass a bill, Bush can veto it, then it goes back to Congress & they can only overturn the veto if the Republicans vote for it. Don't blame the problems that we have that were created by the Republicans on the Dems, because the Dems are powerless. But, if they get enough seats in Nov &/or the Executive Branch too, then things can happen to roll back some of this extreme right wing legislation. If they have the power & don't do that, then you can blame them to your heart's content.
- Insightful, on 07/08/2008, -7/+23So you are not disputing the fact that McCain is the most absent Senator and is a hypocrite for blasting the Congress for taking a week off?
McCain missed 50 votes and 68 votes in Q1 and Q2, that is a 59% and a whopping 99% miss rate. Obama miss rate in Q1 and Q2 is 37% and 87%.
And since you are jerk that brought up Kennedy who has a cancerous brain tumor, Kennedy's miss rate is 4% and 41% in Q1 and Q2.
And neither one of them are the hypocrites like McCain. - Insightful, on 07/08/2008, -5/+18No, I do not feel Congress is above criticism. In fact, I feel the opposite. This "do-nothing" Congress is only slightly better than the rubber stamping Republican Congress before that. Both sucks.
I am very well aware that it is common for Presidential candidate Senators to miss their votes. What I despise is a hypocrite. If Obama calls out Congress for recessing, I'd criticize him as well but the fact is it is McCain who is the one living in the glass house and throwing the stone. - bjornski, on 07/09/2008, -0/+7Digging hard?
McCain serves these things up on a silver platter. There's no digging needed.
And oh noes, I guess John better get his Truth Squad out to publicize how Obama needs external organizations to attack his opponent for him. - kbowen327, on 07/09/2008, -2/+8Right quick I just wanna point out that you are correct...Obama has missed a lot of congressional sessions too. The big difference between the two guys is that Obama isn't calling the rest of Congress lazy. You can't expect us to overlook his absence when he calls every other Senator and Representative out for taking time off to see their families.
Also, you have to admit that for a guy that is claiming to be an expert on the war in Iraq (and security issues) missing 7 votes on the Iraqi war is a little bit of a head scratcher. As president will he just decide that a vacation at Camp David is more important than a Peace Summit or a G8 meeting? His past attendance would suggest so... - teethandeyes, on 07/09/2008, -0/+5Hey easypie. I just looked at your comment history.
Do you realize that you use the word '*****' in almost every single one of your comments?
You might want to consider investing in a dictionary or some other type of vocabulary expander.
Do the long comments hurt your little brain? - pintomp3, on 07/09/2008, -0/+5and mccain missed even more!
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/se ... - stubarwick, on 07/09/2008, -3/+8that's a big post... seriously big
- exscape, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4Yup, almost correct.
"According to the Washington Post, McCain has missed 367 votes during the 110th Congress, 61.4 percent of those held. Johnson has missed 311 votes, 52 percent of the total. In third place is Barack Obama, who has missed 259 votes -- 43.3 percent. Not surprisingly, the next four most absent senators (Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Chris Dodd and Sam Brownback) also ran for president this year." - inactive, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4That wouldn't be nearly as impressive as researching McCain's. Obama maybe has 3-4 minor ones. McCain... well, as you see...
- Kanele, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4can we post insulting comments?
- theaceoffire, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4Obama is a Mime compared to the oceans of crap flowing forth from his opponents.
McCain not only flip-flops on what he said the first time he ran, he changes his mind almost weekly, depending on how it was received. - withears, on 07/09/2008, -1/+5>I love the fact that McCain is so irrationally hated,
You misspelled "rationally." - billbugger, on 07/09/2008, -0/+4we can only blame ourselves. we elected them.
- pintomp3, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3too much reading hurts the neo-con brain.
- Yogitw, on 07/09/2008, -0/+3He has the worst record of the 110th congress. The 110th congressional session began last year. So for a year and a half he has the worst voting record, not for the last 6 months.
- ZenMojo, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2McCain's a big hypocrite... seriously big.
- inactive, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Here's a great solution (a couple actually). How about we pass legislation to disallow sitting Congressmen from running for President. Or, how about we cease paying them the moment they decide to enter a presidential campaign. Better yet, how about passing legislation that would force sitting Congressmen to give up his seat if they decide to campaign for president.
Then we wouldn't have to bother with this trivial nonsense. - homah, on 07/09/2008, -3/+5all the candidates from both parties have been missing a lot of votes. can we focus on the real issues please?
- jgzman, on 07/09/2008, -2/+4I should point out that McCain (nor Obama, nor Hillary) is not getting paid a salary out of taxpayer money to run for President. He is getting paid to vote in the senate.
Yes, I know he has to campaign as well, but you can't use running a campaign as an excuse for excessive absenteeism. - oneiroi, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2No, you're absolutely right. They've been campaigning. But whether or not they've been busy isn't the point of the article, the point is, how can McCain criticize them when he hasn't been doing his part? That's the hypocritical part.
- conrail, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2I wish I could digg this up twice
- g00dETH3R, on 07/10/2008, -0/+2They can impeach him...
There is no left/right anymore, they're both controlled by the corporations. - ZenMojo, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2@runCMD
Maverick? Hello? - Barackalypse, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2I wish they'd all not show up, that would stop the government from enacting more unConstitutional laws.
- reaper527, on 07/09/2008, -3/+5"McCain now ranks as the #1 most absent senator of the 110th Congress, having missed 61.8 percent of the votes."
i'm sure obama and clinton are numbers 2 and 3. all 3 of them essentially skipped out on their day job for the past year and a half to campaign on their presidential run. (as did all the other in office senators which ran for president and have dropped out already) - itstodd, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2right or wrong, anything negative said about the congress has a very good chance of being true
- FortyCaliber, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2I still am appalled that these people are even allowed to miss congressional work. Tax payers pay their salaries to NOT go to work!
Them not working is like a breach of contract between them and their representatives.
Some things about California's recall system I like. - ftx437, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2ok so maybe obama was there a little more then mccain..but in his short time in office he's already voted 130 times 'present'. How is that any differant as not being there?? Obama is actually in the building and yet dose nothing..If im not going to do anything at work i usaly just stay home
- aookay, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2Oh he was there, they just didn't count him because he was sleeping.
- davdev, on 07/09/2008, -0/+2I have to wonder why it is so hard to setup a way for Senators to vote while they are on the campaign trail. It doesn't seem like it would be so hard to do. All it does allow is for any Senator who is on the campaign trail to rattle off his mouth on a subject, but never have to truly take a stand and vote.
- curtisag, on 07/09/2008, -1/+3Buried for obvious bias. What is Clinton's and Obama's track record recently?
- SpartanErik, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Leave it to the liberal media to take it out of context.. McCain wasn't present because he had been campaigning!
He is right, Congress does need to get in shape and actually work.
How about we protest their rulings on increasing their own pay?
Revolution anyone? - drunkmonkey01, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1thanks for the summary
- exscape, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Yes, it is... What, am I defending McCain or something? I pretty much hate the guy, but the fact is that Obama isn't too far away on the list of most missed votes. 'Tis not the best argument against McCain.
- inactive, on 07/09/2008, -1/+2You actually think that calling Congress lazy is ridiculous and unfair criticism?
Wow. I have nothing else to day but wow. I'm ***** shocked. - Jmn187, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1whatever send McCain back to the elderly home!
- zacharytelschow, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1What is the combined percentage of votes on which Obama was absent or voted present?
- VoodooPunk, on 07/17/2008, -0/+1Always happy to make the point as clear as possible for the liberals out there that have the attention span of a goldfish.
- Corrosionx, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1Goebbels could only have dreamed of such an efficient false two-party paradigm.
- Andrwmorph, on 07/10/2008, -0/+1Even though the democrats have the majority in congress the president gets to choose whether or not anything they do matters
- jgzman, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1I would like to see a law forbidding campaigning until six months before the election for any elected position.
- pintomp3, on 07/09/2008, -1/+2mccain: obama sucks. he's almost as bad as me!
- pintomp3, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1http://projects.washingtonpost.com/congress/110/se ...
look it up yourself. - themonkman, on 07/09/2008, -0/+1It's not like Obama or Clinton, or any of the others that made it just past the primaries weren't campaigning also. The fact is that he's been the most absent senator of all of them, including the other campaigners. He's also had months to take things easier than he would've had not nearly every other Republican candidate short of Ron Paul and Huckabee not stuck in the fight for as long as they did.
I understand having to take time off for things. I have to do it occasionally, too. Missing 61.8% of the senate votes is unacceptable, especially when we have so many important problems going on in this country right now. I guess that McCain took the saying "A Government who governs the least governs best" a little too literally. Think of how he'll be if he's president. Absent. Not there. I'll advised. Apathetic. I'm not promising my votes to anyone right now, but I'll tell you for sure that McCain won't be getting mine. He better earn every friggen tax dollar of mine that pays his salary before he gets my approval. -
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