McCain/Kyl to skip stimulus vote

[catgirl]

The most important vote and they will be in Germany attending a conference on foreign affairs! I guess foreign affairs are more important than solving our situation.

Ryan Grim of Huffington Post:

The Senate is prepared for one of its most important votes in decades this weekend, whether to approve President Obama's economic stimulus package. Republicans are pushing back against Obama and Democrats are one vote short of the number needed to cut off debate and pass the stimulus.

Yet not all of the senators plan to show up: crucial lawmakers intend to be elsewhere, a senior Senate aide familiar with their travel plans said.

John McCain and Jon Kyl are scheduled to travel to Munich, Germany for a conference on foreign affairs over the weekend, said the aide. Democrats, he said, have so far been unable to persuade them to stay home for the vote.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/03/dem-aide-mccain-lieberman_n_163772.html

[JayMusgrove]

1. Who pays their salary?? O, I remember, the American taxpayer..so..

we can just take their passports away...their job is in DC and the home state, they can travel to Europe when on vacation.

[Vinca]

2. One word: cowardly.

Afraid to vote against it, afraid to vote for it.

[ErinBerin84]

3. McCain should just make his

long extended vacations from the senate permanent.

[rurallib]

4. and may the stimulus skip Arizona

going back to the Fatherland for a refresher course are they?

[panader0]

7. Whoa! just because we're cursed with kyl and mccane

doesn't mean we don't need help here too.

[rurallib]

12. thought about that after I hit the 'post' button

maybe McCain could just lose a dozen houses or so.

[panader0]

5. What a hypocrite! Just yesterday I saw that mccane asked his

supporters to vote against the bill.

[Connie_Corleone]

6. A vote to help save our teetering economy and they're going to Germany!

Pathetic.

[MNDemNY]

10. Two less "no" votes, I applaud their decision.

[fugop]

13. Exactly!

We never would have gotten them, so let them be cowards. I still am thankful every day that McCain didn't have the balls to vote against the bailout in the fall, because I was so nervous he would step up and do that and then use it to hammer Obama with. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief when he voted yes - I was just worried he could somehow turn the election with that.

What a chickenshit. Still, as you say, that's two no-stimulus votes gone. I'll take it!

[NatBurner]

8. typical. he always finds a way to be absent for critical votes

especially the ones that he talks a lot of shit about

at least he's consistent

[riqster]

9. McCain the coward nt

[MNDemNY]

11. Did you know that he was a POW?

[riqster]

14. Yes, and that's what makes his current wimpiness so sad to witness nt

[SIMPLYB1980]

15. Yep, but are you really surprised.

I'm not he proved himself to be a coward to me a long time ago.

[riqster]

21. Nope.

As you say, he shown his yellow streak with increasing frequency over the years.

My post was meant to help overcome the "he's-a-war-hero-so-he-must-have-guts" theme that dominates discussion of McCain.

[SIMPLYB1980]

22. Oh yes. As was mine.

It is sad to because he use to be one of the only republics that I had any respect for, but that was back before 2001. Since then he has shown himself to be a coward of epic proportions.

[Jennicut]

16. Pathetic. Joe Biden is already going there. We don't need McLame and Kyl there too.

The stimulus is one of the most important votes of the last few years and they won't stay home to vote? Cowardly.

[book_worm]

17. Two more profiles in courage--NOT (and yes I know McCain was a POW)

[shaniqua6392]

18. So they both flapped their mouths criticizing Obama this week

and jumped on a plane and left town?? LOL!!!

[Still Sensible]

19. Hey, it's pretty hard to filibuster

if two of your votes are in Germany! Not a bad thing.

[Barack_America]

20. There goes the filibuster. nt

[SIMPLYB1980]

23. Are we sure they can't filibuster if they are missing a Senator?

I admit I don't know the rules on this.

[karynnj]

24. A "not voting" has the same value as a "no" in a cloture vote

We need 60 votes to break it. 59 to ZERO causes the amendment to be filibustered - 60 to 40 breaks the filibuster. All our guys need to be there. (What this does is give McCain and Kyl an out, if they later want to argue they were not really against it.) So, much for the maverick acting for the good of the country.

[Barack_America]

25. Yep. You are correct.

Though you think they would make an exception considering that there aren't even currently 100 members in the Senate.

[karynnj]

26. True - I hope MN resolves things quickly

I assume if the count comes down to one vote, Kennedy will be there as he was on the medicare bill last year.

[catgirl]

30. Frranken may be seated as a temp

It will be decided this morning!

[rvablue]

27. It's time to start a count of how many days McCain spends overseas

I know his role as Senator means that he must do some work overseas, given his committee assignments.

But this is his second trip since the election and I think ole McCain thinks he is the shadow president or something.

Time to start calculating all the time he spends overseas missing important work and votes on behalf of the American people and his constituents in AZ.

And then, whoever challenges him in 2012 needs to drive this point home, over, and over, and over again during the campaign.

[Phx_Dem]

28. AZ is in a world of hurt and these two yahoos are missing in action.

But at least they won't be able to vote no, which some of their wingnut constituents would probably like. This way, they're just missing in action and appear not to care about the state of their state and country. Not good for them.

[backscatter712]

29. In other words, the Rethugs can't get 40 votes!

QUICK, CLOTURE THEM ON THE STIMULUS!!!