Voting Games

Apparently, Kerry’s guest appearance wasn’t as warmly received as he would like today. Senator Bill Frist tossed a couple of barbs at Kerry for missing 80% of the votes this year, then announced the vote would slip a day. Kerry had to leave, so apparently he won’t be voting on this issue after all.

Raspberries on Frist for playing voting games – though there’s no proof he slipped the vote just to make Kerry look bad. In fact, Frist’s spokeperson specifically denied that, but it certainly looks like partisan games on the part of the Republicans. But I’m only going to toss a few raspberries at Frist for that, votes slip often. This one just had a bit higher visibility because Kerry was flying in for it.

The Democrats didn’t win any points, either – Daschle, the memory impaired Minority weinerdog of the Senate, said, “I would hope that we come to our senses and get on with getting the business of the Senate done,” Daschle said. “This is counterproductive.” He went on to note that “the Senate has often accommodated members running for president.”

Daschle is an expert on counterproductivity since he finagled the fillibuster that prevents the Senate from voting on Bush’s judicial nominees, so he should recognize counterproductivity when he sees it. He also must think we’re all stoopid – the last Senate member to run for President was Bob Dole in 1996, and Democrats pressured Dole into resigning by pointing out Dole would be “counterproductive.” Before that, you have to go all the way back to 1972 to find Senator McGovern running against President Nixon. So what’s this “often accommodated” crud? Once every 32 years is “often?”

No such quarter was granted for Dole when he was running for President. If you’re going to pressure Dole into resigning, be consistent – Kerry should be pressured into resigning, too.