Apparently, there's a little fact going around that Senator John McCain, a Republican, voted 91% of the time on bills and policy with President Bush, a Republican. The argument is a bit silly and I'm surprised - though maybe I shouldn't be - that Senator McCain hasn't responded by saying, "Yeah, well Duh! Aren't we both registered Republicans? Shouldn't we be in agreement on most issues? I wouldn't be much of a Republican if I didn't agree with its philosphy."
What makes John McCain a maverick is that he isn't 99% lock-step behind the President. Both men are Republican. Both men hold Ronald Reagan and Theodore Roosevelt in high regard. Both men should reflexively approach an issue from a Republican's perspective. Buth both men will surely come to their own conclusions, more often agreeng than disagreeing, because both are of the same party. Would we consider McCain much of a Republican if he bucked his party 25% or 30% of the time?
On the Democrat's side, Senator Barack Obama has agreed with far-left positions well above 91% of the time (I don't know the exact number). During the debate, Obama argued where and when he's differed from his own party, but most of his votes were not "NAY" but "PRESENT." That's not showing leadership when bucking one's own party.
In the meantime, a 9% or 10% difference between Senator McCain and President Bush tells me that we won't have the same man in office, if he's fortunate enough to win November 4. It is scary to think we may have a Democratic House, a Democratic Senate and a Democrat for a President. Are we going to see a President Obama disagree with his party more than 9% of the time?
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written by Daniel Peterson , October 20, 2008
Saying McCain voted 90% of the time with President Bush is an incorrect way of putting a legislator in the same camp as an executive.
A legislator can vote along the same lines of another legislator and be compared as having voted 90% of the time with each other. The executive doesn't "Vote" on legislation, he signs it.
I didn't think of this point when I made my original entry, so this sort of changes the whole dynamics of the argument.
So, with this argument, the new approach is:
Over the past 8 years, of all the legislation that has been put on the president's desk for signing, McCain has voted "YAY" on 90% of it. This president has signed a lot of legislation. A lot of it, conservatives have argued, has been big government proposals. Wouldn't we want a true conservative to deviate a bit from a big government (aka compassionate) conservative?
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