Typical: Kerry and Edwards Miss Vote on Middle Class Tax Break Extension

In typical fashion, Both Kerry and Edwards apeared unavalible to vote on the Middle Class Tax Extension that sailed through congress. The other funny part, was that Democrats of both houses tried to limit it to 1 year so they could vote on the popular tax cuts and benifit in the election year, then take it away the next.

You have to love the Democrats: They really stick to thier convictions eh?

Kerry and Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites), D-N.C., both out on the campaign trail, did not vote on the tax cut legislation. Other senators not voting were Sens. Daniel Inouye, D-Hawii; Daniel Akaka, D-Hawaii, and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
Tax cuts pass House and Senate

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I want to know how it is that Kerry Supporters think it's O.K. for Kerry to be skipping out on his job!!

This is unbelievable. Why aren't you people upset that Kerry isn't doing the job he is PAID to do???? It makes me SICK! This guy can't even handle a Senate job ... you think he can be PRESIDENT?!?!?

Jemison

I bet they get real mean in their attacks on how 'undiciplined' it was.

Hey Kerry/Edwards, if these measure the 'evil' Republicans are passing are so important, how about taking a stand on any of these issues and actually VOTING!!!!!

Originally posted by Jemison
I want to know how it is that Kerry Supporters think it's O.K. for Kerry to be skipping out on his job!!

This is unbelievable. Why aren't you people upset that Kerry isn't doing the job he is PAID to do???? It makes me SICK! This guy can't even handle a Senate job ... you think he can be PRESIDENT?!?!?

Jemison

Psst!

Dear Yahoo!:
How many vacation days has George W. Bush taken to date as president? How does that compare with Clinton?

August 2 was Bush's last full day in Washington, when he appeared in the Rose Garden to announce his support for intelligence reforms. Locked in a tight race for re-election with Democrat John Kerry, Bush is roaming the country instead.
CNN

And, um, hasn't Bush had the fewest press conferences than any President in 50 years, and, how common were press conferences 50 years ago?

Was Bush just too busy to answer questions from the press?

If you live in a glass house, dress in the basement.

Hate to pick nits, but.....

The reply referencing George Bush's 'vacation days' (since when must aPresident's entire term be spent in Washington?) Does nothing to contribute to the thread. The thread's topic is discussion as to why John Kerry and John Edwards missed a very important vote. A vote that could cost taxpayers over 146 Billion dollars over the next few years. Anybody care to tell me why such an historic vote was missed by someone who claims to be running for President under a more responsible platform, but can't take a stand by voicing their opinions on the Senate floor for all to see?

Seems to me they've missed several other votes, such a gay marriage, to name just one other hot button topic.

curme,
The reason that Clinton didn't go on 'vacation' is that Monica Lewinsky couldn't fo with him. No joke. When he went to the Oval Office everyday, he didn't have to go anywhere else. The only reason he went when he did, is that Hillary was probably crawling his back about it!

John and John however, had a duty to be in Washington, along with everybody else thathold seats in the Senate and wasn't. Presidents don't cast a tie breaking vote, so they can be anywhere and still do their job.

I wish I could sing School House Rock song on ATS, because it seems people find facts easier to digest without reading and context. Well, just like Bush, they are trying to save the country, by campaigning. Any votes that they may of missed in the past, well, it's complicated. No black and white, sorry. No easy to digest sound bites, or a power point presentation. There are some votes, if you know they don't need your vote to win, your energy is best devoted somewhere else. Sorry I can't think of an analogy, that will simplify the way things work inside the beltway. Remember that movie, with Jimmy Stewart, "Mr. Smith goes to Washington"? Well, it's nothing like that. But, if it will make you feel any better, and maybe make you feel a little smarter:

Kerry is a flip-flopper!

Edwards isnt known as the 'Absent Senator' for lack of a reason. Now with the both of them shirking their duties, it indicates to me that this is SOP for their party.

Who here really think Kerry and Edwards were going to vote on the bill the way the Republican majority framed it? As more outsourcing pork.

Every Democrat in office including Kerry and Edwards supported continuing the $145 billion in middle class tax relief and proposed thier own versions that didn't include Republican corporate welfare.

But once again all politics all the time Republicans made it impossible for Kerry and Edwards to vote either way. Kerry told Democrats to vote for it as is for survival, but even those forced to vote for it complained. Even McCain complained for crying out loud that it was fiscally irresponsible to not counter it with cuts before approval. :shk:

But Kerry wasn't about to vote for outsourcing the way Bush Republicans bundled it no matter what.

In addition, Republicans added provisions to extend a group of 23 expiring tax provisions at a cost of $12.97 billion. The biggest item in this group was $7.56 billion to extend until the end of 2005 a tax credit to businesses for research and development.

Opponents, however, zeroed in on these proposals as an example of corporate welfare.

Rep. Rahm Emmanuel, D-Ill., said it was ironic that Congress was passing the corporate tax breaks one day after the liberal-leaning Citizens for Tax Justice issued a report saying that 82 of the country's largest corporations paid no federal income tax for at least one year out of the past three.

Either you guys know better and should be ashamed or you really have no clue how Congress works. All the evil that gets done by Republicans always gets tacked as pork onto something they try to make it impossible to not vote for, so supporters like you can manipulate and spin the vote or they have red meat for election ads against well meaning incumbents.

It's just like the $87 billion lie that Bush keeps telling. Kerry did support every single thing Bush says he didn't. Body armour, everything. He just voted for the Democratic version that made Iraq pay most of it back with oil money. Bush wanted it to be a gift of American taxpayers though and got his way. Kerry and others voted against that, supporting the fiscally responsible version of the bill.

There was never any doubt the troops would be supported then OR the middle class would get it's extension on tax relief this time. NONE.

There are several versions of every bill discussed and supportered and a vote against one doesn't mean you're against everything in it. Kerry did the absolute best thing he could do in this set up BS pork situation.

He made a statement he was for the middle class tax relief extension, urged his fellow Democrats to vote as they had to but refused to vote either way on a rigged issue that would show him supporting Bush outsourcing.

Really get a clue on the evil and obstruction you support when you parrot these Republican strategies to sell out America and make politics out of every single little thing against the best interests of yourself.

[edit on 24-9-2004 by RANT]

Rant, do you have a lengthy explanation for all the Kerry Missed votes? Bottom line: He missed it. Where were the lengthy denounciations? Where where the speached railing aginst the pork? None. I checked CSPAN. Nothing Zip Nada. If he was not going to vote, why not try to spin it his way? No he wanted to be able to claim he supported it or opposed it if the wind shifts. Easy to claim if you have no record of pro or con.


Edit: I do give him some credit, he has stayed consistent on the not voting thing.


Edit again for spelling: Im well into a bottle of 1999 Coppola Estate Rubicon, toasting my tax extension so please excuse any typos.
[edit on 25-9-2004 by FredT]

[edit on 25-9-2004 by FredT]

FredT, this whole ploy was highlighted this morning on CNN as the "Political Play of the week" with credit to Bush and the Republican majority for creating another campaign issue out of nothing. How to take a bi-partisan supported issue and screw it up so hard it's a partisan ploy. Way to go Republicans.

Kerry made a statement supporting the tax break extension. There was no doubt that part would pass. Like I said, nobody was against that part of the bill.

But even those forced to vote for the bill "as is" like Rangel were complaining about how disasterous and partisan it was conceived. They showed a statement by McCain addressed to the Senate President to the effect of: Mr. President we can't go on like this with record deficit spending making no cuts to counter it.

If Kerry flew to Washington to vote for it, then complained later about how it was done, your post would be about him "flip flopping" on something he voted for and you know it. Or if he voted for it, some Republican operative would be posting as a Nader supporter saying Kerry supports corporate welfare and he's no better than Bush. :shk: So which would you prefer? He vote for outsourcing and unchecked deficits while complaining about it, just to be on record supporting the Republican version of extending the tax break? Or he be on record voting against unchecked deficits so bush can run ads saying he's againt the middle class tax cut?

Either way, it's a BS politcal ploy on the Republican's part to divide us further and pretend like they singularly accomplished something here while really just mucking up a simple issue for the sole purpose of making later campaign ads and counter points no matter how Democrats voted.

Would you be happy if Kerry ran similar half truth ads about Bush's political nuance like:

Announcer: Democratic bill to provide body armor to troops
Mr. Bush: I'd veto any such proposal that came across my desk.
Announcer: Democratic proposal for extending combat pay.
Mr. Bush: I'd veto any such proposal that came across my desk.
Announcer: Democratic proposal for the funds needed to win the war on terror in Iraq
Mr. Bush: I'd veto any such proposal that came across my desk.

It's all true. Bush said he'd veto all the Democatic proposals to support our troops that required Iraqi oil money to offset the deficit. But those half truth BS ads and celebration threads like this about "Republican victories" for bi-partisan supported tax breaks are your game. Not ours.

I'm glad you got your tax break. So's Kerry. It's too damn bad it had to be the corporate pork version, but that's what you get with a Republican majority and a Republican President. All political BS against our best interests. That's why we sorely need some checks and balances in play again in Washington.

I'll be happy to pull all the quotes for you in the morning if you're still arguing somehow that anyone opposed these tax breaks. Or that Republicans weren't just playing a politcal game here. I'll be happy to see what's available by then and let it air for all to see the reality of how poorly Republicans schemed this one.

What I won't do is go back over a 20 year career and try to figure out where Kerry was for any missed votes massaged now for a Republican talking point. The man's name is on over 4,000 pieces of legislation for crying out loud. And you can't even account for where your guy was during Vietnam :shk: so really don't worry so much about Kerry's voting record unless you're willing to look at the context of each issue piece by piece.

There's Republican stink on every bill, and I'll be happy to point it out for any you feel confident bringing up.

[edit on 25-9-2004 by RANT]