Before you criticize Hillary for going to Flint, note that Sanders skipped a vote on aid to Flint

[Empowerer]

but apparently, he DID find the time to campaign in New Hampshire and then head to NY to get ready for his SNL gig.

Only three Senators didn't show up for this vote - Sanders, Cruz and Rubio. Good company he's in.

Frankly, I'm not upset about the choice he made - a lot of juggling has to be done on campaigns. And I haven't heard HIM criticized Clinton for going to Flint. But it is breathtakingly hypocritical of his supporters to attack Hillary for taking the time to go to Flint when Sanders did not bother to take the time to DO HIS JOB and cast an important vote on aid to Flint.

S. 2012 - An original bill to provide for the modernization of the energy policy of the United States, and for other purposes.
Question: On the Cloture Motion

ROLL CALL VOTE

Not Voting - 3
Cruz (R-TX)
Rubio (R-FL)
Sanders (I-VT)

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=114&session=2&vote=00017

[ucrdem]

1. Looks like he caucused with Cruz and Rubio on this one.

[SamKnause]

2. I replied to you in another thread.

Will you please answer the questions in that thread ???

Thank you in advance.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. We're talking about someone who promoted fracking worldwide, damaging OK, NY, PA & TX watersheds.

.


She's all of a sudden worried about the people of Flint, MI when she was pushing fracking domestically and worldwide.


Her positions on KXL are another issue, as the next president will be able to reverse Obama's stay.


Fracking and Big Oil destroyed people and household in multitudes as of yet determined!


#hypocrisy


===


This comes off like John McCain's "Suspend my campaign" tactic during the 2008 elections, when he was complicitory.


.

[question everything]

3. Ah. But it is so much easier to pick and choose facts (nt)

[Arazi]

4. Hillary did vote in support of cluster bombs

Still ignoring this thread I see...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511140849

[jillan]

5. Bernie should have voted. I agree on that point.

[Kip Humphrey]

6. let me help you out with your selective cutting & pasting:

from your link:

YEAs 43
NAYs 54
Not Voting 3

So, Bernie's vote would not have made any difference. Therefore, given the demands on his time between campaigning and being Senator of Vermont, Bernie prioritized his time and chose to miss a procedural vote that would not impact the outcome. OH HORRORS!

[Empowerer]

9. Actually, his being there to vote COULD DEFINITELY have made a difference

When Senators vote, they do more than just walk onto the floor and cast a vote. They talk with their colleagues, influential Senators influence others, etc. On close votes such as this one, they watch to see how the high profile Senators are voting, they listen to each others' floor speeches.

You do not believe that had Sanders gone to the chamber, talked to his colleagues, delivered a strong floor statement, he could have helped the Dems rally the support they needed to get the additional 6 votes necessary to win this vote and put the bill on the floor? I think he could have. And even if it wasn't guaranteed, since it was a possibility, shouldn't he at least have tried?

Bernie's supporters keep telling us about the revolution he's going to lead to force major, wholesale change in this country - surely he can use his presence and persuasion to muster up enough support to get 6 votes on a critical procedural motion to move a bill that may mean life or death for a community?

[questionseverything]

11. the dems voted nay

so i am assuming they did not want this bill to pass

why are you acting like they did want it?

or am i misunderstanding something?

[Warren Stupidity]

17. You should watch CSPAN for a while.

It ain't Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

The cloture vote failed and it didn't have a chance to begin with. If it were close Sanders would have been there. There was no chance, zero, nada, zilch, of any other outcome.

[Arazi]

22. There was ZERO chance his vote would have made a bit of difference

I see you're still ignoring Hillary's support of cluster bombs...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511140849

[kath]

26. Let's repeat that for the neuronally-challenged -THERE. WAS. *ZERO*. CHANCE. HIS. VOTE. WOULD. HAVE.

MADE. A. DIFFERENCE.

(This is kinda like "News for the Hard of Hearing" back in the early days of SNL.)

[leftofcool]

31. What does that have to do with his doing his damn job?

My tax money pays his salary, I expect him to show up and vote no matter the outcome

[Armstead]

33. I suppose you were equally concerned with every vote Clintion missed

[Arazi]

34. Bernie Sanders has missed 3% of votes this year

managing the best voting record of anyone running for president. Is Sanders your Senator?

http://www.politicususa.com/2015/11/03/bernie-sanders-missed-votes-running-president-paid.html

Exactly who are your Senators? I'd be interested in any posts showing your outrage at the percentage of votes they've missed, especially while running for president (shrug, or what their percentage is even if they weren't running for President).

Say, how do you feel about Hillary's vote to support cluster bombs?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/12511140849

[Empowerer]

38. That was for 2015 - he has missed 94% of Senate votes in 2016 - he's now 98th out of 100 Senators

His voting percentage for this year is worse than Rubio's and tied with Cruz.

None of my senators have run for president. But in the first part of 2008, Hillary Clinton missed approximately 44% of Senate votes.

And mind you, it doesn't bother me that Sanders has missed votes - I know that's to be expected during a presidential campaign. But I will call out the hypocrisy of people who claim that Bernie can't do certain things because he's busy doing his job as a senator, when the truth is that he's busy doing something else.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/bernard_sanders/400357

[Arazi]

43. Lol, now you're just embarrassing yourself

We're only a little over 4 weeks into 2016

Your glossing over 2015 is hilariously desperate.

Furthermore just like the vote on Flint, Sanders' vote would have made ZERO difference for anything voted on in January

http://democrats.senate.gov/2016/01/

[Empowerer]

44. You said "this year"- I gave you the correct numbers for "this year"

if you meant "2015, "you should have said, "last year."

[Bill USA]

50. 94% MISSED??? Jesus!! Would a resposible progressive ditch 94% of the votes in ANY year? Was he in

the hospital or something?

[Duckhunter935]

27. nope it would not have

He prioritized correctly like the smart man he is

[Empowerer]

45. Ahh - so even the sainted Bernie pragmatically says, "No, I can't". . .

Got it. . .

[Bill USA]

49. & of course, because Bernie is clairvoyant he KNEW what the vote would be before it was taken. ROFL!

[lunamagica]

7. Too busy campaigning to do the job -even for a desperately urgent situation

I wonder what the spin will be on this.

[Luminous Animal]

8. When Hillary, as Senator, was on the campaign, she missed up to 83.5% of Senate votes.

https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/hillary_clinton/300022

Oct-Dec 2007: 83.5% votes missed

Apr- Jun 2008 77.9% votes missed

[EdwardBernays]

12. Hillary missed a LOT of votes

during her first Presidential run.


Date #votes #missed %missed
2007 Jan-Mar 126 3 2.4%
2007 Apr-Jun 112 3 2.7%
2007 Jul-Sep 119 26 21.8%
2007 Oct-Dec 85 71 83.5%
2008 Jan-Mar 85 38 44.7%
2008 Apr-Jun 77 60 77.9%
2008 Jul-Sep 47 7 14.9%

Surely, no important votes were missed though?

"Clinton missed 18 of 21 votes while Obama missed 10 of 21 roll calls so far this year, though they spent much of Tuesday casting votes related to a bill that ultimately passed, empowering U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct domestic surveillance on terrorism suspects without court orders.

The two skipped the final passage vote for that measure as they headed back out on the campaign trail but McCain, who has a commanding lead for his party’s nomination, stuck around for it."

http://blogs.reuters.com/talesfromthetrail/2008/02/13/clinton-leads-obama-in-missed-senate-votes/

[Dem2]

15. So this isn't one of the bigger crises in this country right now?

Seems to me it is - referencing votes Hillary missed not related to this emergency misses the point by a massive amount.

[EdwardBernays]

18. Here's some things you obviously don't think are important

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008 - Key Vote
FISA Amendments Act of 2007 - Key Vote
Economic Stimulus Plan - Key Vote
Defense Authorizations Bill - Key Vote

Because she skipped all of those to campaign.... and that's just a sampling...

Many people would consider authorising endless warrantless electronic wiretapping, or voting on the economic stimulus for the entire country to be important, but not Hillary apparently.

[Dem2]

20. OK

You refuse to see the blatantly obvious point - I love stubbornness.

Have a nice day then.

[EdwardBernays]

25. actually

I do see it... they both care about these issue... pretending that presidential candidates don't care because of campaign events clashing with their job as politicians is patently absurd.

But if you WANT to use that nonsensical metric to judge Hillary, if that's your big plan, then we can do that.

However, it might make a LOT more sense to look at what makes the candidates different, not what makes them the same.

[Duckhunter935]

28. actually it is you

She missed many votes that may have made a difference. Too bad she did not also miss that time she voted to send us to war.

[Arazi]

23. Sanders' vote would have made ZERO difference

[Dem2]

24. Clearly that's not the point n/t

[Arazi]

30. Oh I understand the point - to try to gin up another smear on Sanders

the OP has a history of a slew of manufactured smears against Sanders and posts at least one or two per day.

This is another.

Bernie Sanders has one of the best attendance records in Congress (it may be the best, I don't remember exactly). He's been there for something like 93% of the votes.

He's currently running for President and needs publicity. SNL does that for him, same reason Hillary Clinton went on SNL

This vote was not necessary and would have changed nothing.

So yes, I do understand the point. Very well actually

[Empowerer]

16. As amused as I am by the "But but Hillary did it TOOOO!" argument, this has nothing to do with her

or with how many votes either she or Bernie have missed.

This has to do with one particular vote on one particular issue, an issue that Sanders' supporters are claiming is SO important that they are actually attacking Clinton for highlighting it because they think she's using it for political gain. And some folks claim that Bernie is working SO much harder for the people of Flint because he's fighting for them in the Senate.

I simply pointed out that he has NOT been fighting for them in the Senate - that he didn't even show up for the fight.

I'm not criticizing him for not showing up - as I've repeatedly said, these schedules are hard and tough choices have to be made. But his supporters can't have it both ways. You can't insist that he's using his position in the Senate to fight for the people of Flint when, given the chance to do so, he opted to do something else instead.

[EdwardBernays]

21. you've missed the point

Hillary SHOULD go to Flint, obviously, but trying to contrast it with a media appearance, to make it seem like she cares more about it, is so slimy...

Hillary ALSO missed plenty of important votes, as does everyone running.. but that's NOT a reflection on the amount they CARE about an issue.

And pretending it is, or pretending that Hillary cares more about Flint because of the DAY she visits Flint is just desperate... and it's a sign of just how desperate Hillary's campaign and her supporters are becoming.

[mcar]

41. Well said!

[Squinch]

13. I guess some poor people are less important than others.

[NCTraveler]

14. That's just an example of how anti-establishment/image he is.

[SidDithers]

19. DU rec...nt

Sid

[oasis]

29. Wow, what a DEFLECTION MAGNET this thread turned out to be.

Up next: Kissinger and Walmart.

[MoonRiver]

32. I really am getting the impression that Flint is irrelevant to BernieBros. eom

[kath]

35. Only in the Pretzel Logic world.

[kath]

37. Oh, and enough with the BernieBros meme.

It's now being widely recognized on the web and elsewhere as the horseshit that it is.

[cherokeeprogressive]

36. No criticising for politicizing! Citizen Hillary solves problems with her presence dontcha know.

Knowing that, how could anyone criticize her for going? She's not going there to campaign; she's going there to get things done. Because, that's what she does.

[cali]

39. I started a thread praising her for going there.

You post a petty snipe.

[Empowerer]

40. Then I wasn't talking about you, was I?

[cali]

47. And I was talking about you

[Armstead]

42. Chill. There was no reason for him to be there.

Bernie knows how Congress works. I am positive that he checked and was certain that the votes and procedure were lined up so that the outcome was preordained and that his presence was unnecessary.

Aside from being a fundamentally decent person, he is not fucking stupid, and would not knowingly make the political mistake of being AWOL and costing the loss of an important vote.

[Bill USA]

46. Now, why would anyone criticize HRC for going to Flint?...oh, dumb question.

[karynnj]

48. click the link the Republicans voted yes, Democrats no

Obviously your description is off. Not to mention all candidates miss votes as HRC did in 2008.