Sunday, October 19, 2008
John McCain and President Bush
Although President Bush did endorse John McCain in his bid for the presidency, I don't understand why they are so closely linked (as seen above in the recent Obama ad). Does is come as a surprise to anyone that Mr. McCain would vote with the REPUBLICAN president, even if it's at a huge percentage like 90%?
I would like to point out a few statistics from The Washington Post about Senate voting in general that might surprise you:
1) Senators vote with their party 84.2% of the time
2) Barack Obama votes with the Democratic Party 96% of the time.
3) John McCain voted with the Republican Party 88.1% of the time.
Now although this may show that John McCain goes out of his way to vote with President Bush as he has admitted to voting with the President "90% of the time," but I think there are more striking conclusions one can draw from these statistics:
1) If there was a Democratic President, Barack Obama would be very likely to vote with that President no matter what (note that he ranks 10th and Joe Biden ranks 5th in voting along party lines)
2) John McCain might truly be a "maverick" as his percentage is very low compared to most Senators.
I'm not writing this in order to endorse one candidate over the other, I am simply trying to point out why this newest ad may highlight something that isn't really an issue, and something that should be made an issue in the other direction (is surprises me that at this point seeing as the McCain campaign needs to try almost anything to stay in this race they haven't gone to more statistics like this, but there is still a long way to go)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
That is Senator Obama's point, Mccain agreed with HIS PARTY's failed policies, the President can only acheive with the support of his party, which he had. Senator Obama is trying to show that no matter how much Mccain might try, Mccain=Republican, and Republican=Bush. If A=B and B=C, A=C.
The logic in the first paragraph seems a bit off to me. You set up an answer - solution dynamic. "I don't understand why they are so closely linked [...] does it come as a surprise to anyone the McCain would vote with a republican president."
Why does your lack of "surprise" warrant a reexamination of the link between McCain and Bush. I don't think anyone is arguing that party politics does not exist. The point is that party politics in large part reflect party policy.
Also, Obama votes with the Democratic Part 96% of the time is solid POSSIBLE evidence for your first claim. However, while certainly possible, we might never know. So, instead of stating that claim as substantiated, it would come across better as an off hand suggestion.
Re: this point: "John McCain might truly be a "maverick" as his percentage is very low compared to most Senators." The relevant comparison would be McCain vs. other Republicans, not all Senators. But the larger issue is that McCain (unlike Obama) has adopted as a campaign theme his willingness to buck his party; these admittedly simple data throw that into question.
I don't believe he (McCain) has ever said that he always, or even more often then not, "bucked" the Republican party. He is more "maverick-like" then both Joe Biden and Barack Obama.
Post a Comment