Dean and Republican National Committee attack Kerry re: Medicare vote

[Karmadillo]

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=%5CPolitics%5Carchive%5C200311%5CPOL20031126b.html

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Christine Iverson, spokeswoman for the Republican National Committee (RNC), chastised Lieberman and Kerry for missing an "incredibly important" vote.

"Both senators have expressed a concern about prescription drugs and when they had an opportunity to actually do something to address the problem, they failed to show up," Iverson said.

"They were elected to the United States Senate to represent their constituents and to do their job by showing up to vote and it's clear that they would rather demagogue the issue on the campaign trail than show up for work in the United States Senate to actually do something to fix it," she added.

more...

http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0311/25/ip.00.html

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WOODRUFF: ...Well two of the three senators who are running for president missed today's final vote on Medicare reform. Joe Lieberman and John Kerry. Aides say that both of them opted to return to the campaign trail when it became clear that their votes would not make a difference.

But Howard Dean's camp apparently is not satisfied. The Dean campaign sent out an e-mail specifically noting Kerry's absence from the final vote after he talked so much about the importance of Medicare during yesterday's debate.

more...

[Karmadillo]

1. Kick

n/t

[IndianaGreen]

2. A legitimate criticism, and another PR fiasco for Kerry's campaign

Aides say that both of them opted to return to the campaign trail when it became clear that their votes would not make a difference.

Kerry's vote was not needed for passage of the Iraq War Resolution, yet Kerry made a point of voting for it. Supporting Bush on his war was more important than defeating Bush on his gutting of Medicare.

I am also glad that many DUers have seen the real Feinstein for what she is, a whore in the employ of special interests voting for a Medicare bill that financially benefits her husband's business interests.

[robcon]

5. They did 'opt-out' to return to the campaign.

They decided that it was too politically risky to vote against the prescription addition in the Medicare bill. It was two acts of extreme cowardice by two cowardly office-seekers.

[TimeLord]

46. I have no respect for the 10 (?) democrats that voted for the bill.

None whatsover.

[creativelcro]

51. This criticism is unfounded

I don't care much about Kerry myself, but HE DID not go to the presidential debate in person to go back to the Senate and fight against the bill when there was a realistic chance of beating it (the day before the final vote). The day of the final vote it was clear that it would pass, with or without Kerry's vote....

[carrowsboy]

3. maybe if Kerry...

hadn't been so bitchy to Dean the last few weeks then the email wouldn't have went out.

You get what you give.

[JNelson6563]

4. Headline: Kerry gives rivals stick to beat him with.

Again.

Julie

[Monte Carlo]

6. This is a non-issue.

Kerry DID represent his constitutents by being there in the Senate fighting the good fight when it mattered. All of these bills are won or lost before the actual vote takes place. Kerry has better things to do than formalize a loss with his irrelevant vote.

[RetroLounge]

20. Then why should he bother EVER voting?

Hmmmmm...

[Monte Carlo]

34. Don't generalize this like that.

This is not every vote.

[RetroLounge]

44. But your logic included

"ALL THESE BILLS"

Don't generalize this like that. This isn't all these bills.

[Eloriel]

32. Or did he miss it to avoid having to answer for either yes or no?

That's frankly what I see a lot of these spineless Dems doing, and not just Presidential Candidates.

They sit out the votes so they can't be pegged voting yes for a bad bill or demagogued about voting no on a bill with a great title.

I don't know in Kerry's case -- but there have been other votes he missed that I suspected were for the "avoidance" value. Lieberman too.

Eloriel

[Monte Carlo]

36. But they can and _will_ be pegged for the filibuster...

... which sounds like a big 'NO' to me. When has the GOP ever been conservative or reserved about labelling its chosen opponents? Stop me if I'm wrong, but I just don't see how he's going to be able to straddle this issue when he helped with the filibuster.

[sendero]

38. an alternative view....

... since his campaign is on the rocks largely on the single mistake of voting the wrong way on a controversial measure, perhaps Mr. Kerry, unable to see any political advantage for voting yea or nay, but seeing lots of risk decided to eschew the vote altogether.

Toast just got darker.

[Monte Carlo]

43. If you wanted to believe the worst about it, then yes.

Maybe I'm just optimistic, maybe I'm just a fool being lead on, but I cannot attribute that to Kerry.

[sangha]

7. Dean agrees with the Republicans

again

[dsc]

9. So it is OK for Kerry to not do his job

Yes, for once the Republicans are right. Kerry should have voted against that bill.

[sangha]

11. Kerry's job is to beat Republicans

but I guess you never had so much work that you had to choose one priority over another.

[IndianaGreen]

15. The only "beating" of the Republicans that Kerry is doing

is Kerry's hand job.

:puke:

[Monte Carlo]

17. Spare us your drama.

He was there in the Senate when it mattered. You might see that if you weren't so biased against him.

[RetroLounge]

19. How does it matter

if he didn't vote?

Twist your logic around that...

[Monte Carlo]

24. Twist my logic around that? Here it goes...

The Senators know if a bill is going to pass or not well before the actual vote; there are very few surprises. If a bill is known to have 51 supporters in the Senate, additional nay votes are irrelevant. So, instead of wasting time in the Senate formalizing a loss, Kerry must have decided that his campaign was a higher priority.

What's the problem?

[RetroLounge]

28. That he didn't vote is the problem

How is it that all the other senators decided to vote?

Voting is what he is paid to do, elected to do.

But I guess dissing other candidates will look good to all the Seniors he fucked by not voting...

[Monte Carlo]

31. He's paid to represent, and he did that with the filibuster.

Actual voting is tiny fraction of what a Senator does. His abstaination vote might bother me, or strike me as a weasel-y political move if he had not helped to lead the filibuster against the Medicare bill, but he did. I do not think you should discard that stance so easily.

[RetroLounge]

33. Gee, you think a no vote might back up his stance

on the filibuster?

Yeah, we need a president who says, why bother, I'll lose anyway...

Screw Kerry...

[Monte Carlo]

40. Yeah, it might.

But do not confuse the roles of a Senator and the President.

Screw Kerry? Guy, I take that personally. He's been my Senator for years, and he's been solid with a record any Democrat should be proud of. If I wanted to be cynical too, I might ask where Dean was during the filibuster or vote.

[Zynx]

41. Dean supported the fillibuster. He's not a senator so he can't vote.

But he lent his moral support.

[RetroLounge]

42. He's not a senator so he can't vote

eom

(but I'm pretty sure he wasn't skiing :))

[RetroLounge]

45. Okay, I take back the "Screw Kerry" comment

unduly harsh. Apologies...

[IndianaGreen]

23. Kerry's vote on the Iraq War Resolution was not needed for passage

yet Kerry made a point of casting a vote for IWR. How do you reconcile that with Kerry's failure to vote against Bush's gutting of Medicare?

Why is Kerry such a Bush enabler?

[Monte Carlo]

27. It wasn't campaign season then, it is now.

I might be troubled by it if I didn't know that Kerry was there leading the filibuster against the bill. That's how I reconcile Kerry's irrelevant abstaination in the Medicare vote with the IWR vote.

Be careful with the term "enabler". It's a tricky term. The Greens and Nader 'enabled' Bush, don't you know.

[IndianaGreen]

39. In other words, Kerry's Max Headroom appearance on the debates

was nothing more than a PR stunt to help his fledging campaign. And taking this logic a little further, Kerry's "Yes" vote on IWR was done in response to the expectation that the war would be over in a relatively short time and Bush would be untouchable on foreign affairs.

What became of that principled John Kerry that opposed the war in Vietnam, or was that a cold calculation too?

[Monte Carlo]

47. You're losing me.

I'm surprised that you know all this about Kerry's motivations. Stop me if I'm wrong, but I don't think Kerry ever expected the Iraqi war to be quick and easy.

[sangha]

18. Another Deanie ignoring the facts

Kerry, along with the other Dems defeated

Fed school vouchers
extremist judges
permanent tax cuts
the energy bill
authorization to invade every Arab nation
a much more with only a minority in Congress.

[RetroLounge]

22. Did his defeat of these bills

actually include his voting?

[dsc]

48. No his job

for which he is handsomely paid and gets great benefits, is to represent the citizens of Massachusetts in the Senate. It isn't to campaign. Dean didn't run for governor of Vermont in 2002 because he didn't want to serve two masters. He wanted to campaign full time. Kerry should have voted, the fact Republcans also are saying that makes no difference.

[Monte Carlo]

13. He did do his job.

He was there in the Senate fighting the good fight when it mattered. That should count for something.

[dsc]

49. Yes the filibuster counts for something

but for the life of me I can't see why he didn't stay to vote. After all the filibuster was also a known outcome so if the vote didn't matter it is hard to claim the filibuster did. He blew it. When Dean blows it I admit it.

[Karmadillo]

10. Interesting Kerry's not voting has gotten tons of attention here,

but there seems to be almost no interest in Dean's repeated refusal to specify what he planned to do about cutting the growth of Medicare. Given his previous willingness to stand with Republicans in making serious cuts in the program and given the right of voters to know what their candidates would do if elected to office, one might think this would be a matter of slightly greater concern.

[sangha]

12. Dean also clams up about his Affirmative Action remark

There was an article in yesterday's NY Times about Dean's "not race, but class" remark about AA. They asked his campaign to explain the remark and they refused.

[Zynx]

35. Kerry has made similar comments about AA.

From Washington Wrap on CBSnews.com:

"CBS News confirmed that both Lieberman and Kerry have made comments questioning affirmative action. In fact, Lieberman supported California’s Proposition 209 that ended affirmative action in state government. Kerry’s comments during a 1992 speech at Yale University caused a major firestorm at the time, even though his campaign cites that speech as proof of his support for affirmative action.

Kerry did clearly state, “I support affirmative action,” however he called it an “inherently limited and divisive program that has kept us thinking in racial terms,” offending many minorities at the time – and for weeks after, Kerry had to perform damage control. In fact, the issue dogged him during his 1996 Senate re-election bid, as well, and it was the subject of a January 2003 Boston Globe article that had the senator once again defending himself and clarifying his position.

The Lieberman oppo-research department also went into high gear, telling The New York Times that Gephardt had also raised questions about affirmative action. Gephardt press secretary Erik Smith confirmed that Gephardt had said, “We need to reform affirmative action,” but said he was referring to narrow limits on it set by the Supreme Court"

What say you Kerry supporters?

[blm]

53. Kerry wanted the LEGAL LANGUAGE of Affirmative Action fixed

so the Republicans couldn't keep throwing legal actions into the mix.

That's what Clinton wanted, too, when he said Mend it, don't end it.

It was ONLY a matter of tightening the language to prevent further onslaught from the rightwing.

[Badger1]

8. Very Much An Issue

My parents are retired in Iowa and are very active Dems. They have been big Kerry supporters for years. They have been working for his campaign in Iowa for months. Last night my dad told me that they were so upset with Kerry's non vote that he removed his bumper sticker and yard sign. Kerry's job is to vote, thats it. Not to much to ask when thats what we are paying you to do. This has upset many seniors in Iowa, I know this as fact. Kerry has some explaining to do. Another F-Up from his camp.

[trumad]

14. Lieb and Kerry...

Finger in the air politicians who aren't worth crap! Ya hop on a fucking airplane John and place your vote even it it isn't going to win..... Do your god damn job!

[sangha]

16. Dean has had his fingers in the air too

When the Repukes were going after AA, Dean went with the popular choice to eliminate race as a factor in AA.

When the Repukes were trying to cut Medicare, Dean went with them

When the Repukes pushed for free-trade NAFTA, Dean went along.

When the Repukes wanted to cut social programs with a Balanced Budget Amendment, Dean was there.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

21. Absolutely ridiculous

I have lost a tremendous amount of respect for the Kerry campaign because of this.

[Zynx]

25. This underscores a problem with Kerry.

Sure he was there for the fillibuster, but because he voted for that, he decided he didn't need to prove himself and vote on the bill. While I understand it, most of the American people don't. It just stinks of Washington elitism and strange beltway practices to the average American. It is for these reasons that I think Kerry is actually one of the least electable candidates we have because he will be painted as a liberal, eltist, beltway snob.

[IndianaGreen]

29. This also illustrates why Kennedy was the last Senator elected to Prez

The ways and modes of the Beltway are offensive and incomprehensible to the rest of America.

[Squeech]

26. A couple points

1) I thought the vote was not properly scheduled, but sprung on the Senate with four hours notice. To agree to be present for every vote under these circumstances would mean never going anywhere to campaign. (Which would not bother me in practice, as neither Kerry nor Lieberman in my candidate, but in theory I think it shows once again how much contempt R's hold for the small-d democratic process.)

2) However, it's low of Dean to do this. Not only does it look bad to ever agree with R's and validate what passes them for ethics, but at some point the Dean camp and the DLC are going to have to kiss and make up and focus on the main event, and the less bad blood we all stir up now, the smoother it'll be after July.

[AP]

30. Kerry isn't my first choice, but this kind of attack is very unseemly.

Only the guy who currently doesn't have a job would make this criticism. Every candidate will have to make a tough call between making a vote and campaigning. To make an issue of this is to play with fire.

As for Dean, does he really want to get in a debate over whether he campaigned or "did his job" in 2002?

[JI7]

37. the republicans would love it

the republicans with a majority in the senate would love the opposition to stay in the senate and vote for bills they already have the majority to pass rather than go out and talk about what the republicans are doing with this.

[paulk]

50. I expect this kind of cheap shot from the RNC

I honestly didn't expect it from Dean.

[Scott Lee]

52. Typical Insiders exhibit typical Insider behavior. Yawn.

"Aides say that both of them opted to return to the campaign trail when it became clear that their votes would not make a difference."

So, since they couldn't milk it for publicity or personal vanglory, it wasn't worth their vote.

This is why voting for Kerry or Gep would equate voting for business as usual.