CNN blaming Kerry for unemployment benefit not passing.

[blm]

CNN received its talking points from Rove. They engineered that vote with some Rs switching so it appeared that it needed one more vote - Kerry's.

Kerry is calling their bluff by saying that if those same Rs would keep their vote then they can bring it back to the floor and he'll be there and vote with them.

[the_real_38]

1. There's going to be more and more of this...

.. the investor class realizes that Bush should lose with all of the fu**-ups he's committed, and they're going to have to get their minions in the media out there aggressively attacking Kerry and licking Bush's boots.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

2. Anyone remotely familiar with politics knows this happens all the time

It's called bandwagon voting. Once people know a measure will or will not pass, they'll vote differently than they normally would have in order to save face.

[quinnox]

3. CNN at it again, eh

Another arm of the GOP.

[ACK]

4. They rigged that vote to embarras Kerry -- especially Zell Miller

Zell voted for cloture on this thing.

This is all a huge fucked scam.

_

[Killarney]

5. Fuckers

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

6. Yeah 40 fucking Repubs were right there and ONE of them could have

voted otherwise but let's scapegoat John Kerry for the bill not passing instead of the 40 motherfucking bastards that were there and have NO SENSE of their constituents' suffering in the job loss recovery.

Go read the thread in LBN..even fucking Democrats eat this shit like it's fucking candy.

[Beetwasher]

7. Yeah, I Did, I'll Admit It. You're Right

I got suckered not realizing what had happened. My bad...I didn't scapegoat him though, I just knew that it would be painted like this and thought it sucked...

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

8. Shit like this only works when people fall for it. Thats why it angers me.

How does ONE DEMOCRAT who cannot be two places at once take the fall for 40 people who were there demonstrating how little they care about the suffering of ordinary Americans? That Rove even thinks this can work indicates that he KNOWS nobody expects compassion from his piece of shit political party. Disgusting.

[revcarol]

11. I heard they tied it to all sorts of pork and tax breaks for big business.

So WHICH Democrats would vote for that? OK, Zell, Lieberman...etc.
Can someone check the contents of the main bill for sure?

A set up for propaganda purposes.

[quinnox]

10. No need to read it for me

There is a 'blame Kerry first' mentality among a large group at DU.

[bowens43]

15. I am not a member of that crowd

but this bothers me. This is very important to a LOT of people. He is still a Senator and he should be showing up to vote on important issues. Did he know this vote was going to occur?

[sangha]

41. If it bothers you, then you shouldnt be so certain you're not in the crowd

Particularly when some of the posts above yours point out that there were 40 other Senators you should also be blaming. If you're not part of that crowd (and I didnt say you were. I just said you shouldn't be so sure you're not) then why do you focus on the one Dem, and ignore the 40 Senators, who happen to be Repukes (and Zell Miller)?

[Andy_Stephenson]

18. That was important legislation...

he should have been there to vote. What is he getting paid to do...campaign or govern?

Oh I know...it's the Republicans fault he missed the vote.

[blm]

22. Amazing that you have NO empathy for a fellow candidate

and one who spent years exposing government corruption. Do you find exposing corruption SO easy for you and your candidacy that you have ZERO admiration for all the years and obstacles that Kerry had to endure?

You, of ALL people, should grant some slack to someone campaigning against such an opponent as BushInc.

[Andy_Stephenson]

25. I have zero admiration for Senator Kerry...

he has a lot to make up for. I am voting for him (really against bush),
but I don't have to like him.

[blm]

29. Yes, because you find exposing govt. corruption SO EASY.

In fact, it is SO easy for you that you can clearly see that Kerry had a cakewalk with such puny efforts like BCCI, IranContra and CIA drugrunning.

In fact, YOU would have had them all nailed down and still in jail, even if most of the entire DC powerstructure including Dems were against you. YOU would have had NO FEAR of the CIA and FBI that were trailing your every move. YOU would have successfully countered the press calling you a conspiracy theory nut and degrading your efforts for years. It wouldn't have stopped a brave soul as you who finds the government powermongers such easy foes who quake at the very mention of your name.

[Andy_Stephenson]

33. No exposing corruption is hard work...I know.

another hard thing to do is to vote against war when the political winds are blowing towards it. What has Kerry done for me lately? Nada...zip...zilch...he has only mentioned BBV in passing. Why? Is he part of that problem? As I said I will put a check by his name...but I don't have to like him.

[Redleg]

42. Why don't you let Kerry know what you want instead of complaining

about him here at DU.

[Hubert Flottz]

35. Playing Politics with the taking the food out of the baby's mouth!

Who could be lower than these ratbastards?

EDIT Kerry should attack CNN!

[Claire Beth]

9. yeah....

they can do a re-vote!

[bowens43]

12. Did any other democrats miss the vote ?

if not, then Kerry deserves the blame for this. Regardless of the fact that he's running for president, he is still a US Senator. This was VERY important.

[bolokshi]

16. what about the other 40...........

I guess their vote don't count right? well sometimes us Dem's can surprise me, here you are falling for a scam, HOOK LINE and SINKER. and please don't tell me otherwise, b'cuz I just read your reply, we have to be very careful now.

[Nazgul35]

20. You live by the sword

you die by it....

If Kerry is going to run campaign ads that claim credit for his vote being a decisive vote cast to bring about the 90s economic prosperity....

Than he can catch hell when he doesn't show up for a vote to extend unemployment benefits...

Say what you will about Dems, but 99.9% of the Electorate don't know shit about how their government works...and will not be able to distinguish a "nuanced" explanation of this missed vote...

[Lou_C]

13. Kerry needs to keep asking them to bring the bill back

Kerry is going to win but it is also going to be a hard road because of the * crime families tactics.

[karabekian]

27. so congress should schedule itself around kerry's schedule?

n/c

[Lou_C]

32. Let's have * call all of the shots!

If need be congress should meet again if it would benefit people that are out of work.
We are paying them to do a job and they should be able to schedule any bill for "us" if if benefits the unemployed, disabled, etc.

[forgethell]

14. Why are you surprised?

This is what politicians do.

[Andy_Stephenson]

17. Did the good Senator miss another vote?

If so the Republicans are pulling a shrewd move. Kerry should be in Washington voting...I know he needs to campaign...but he has missed more votes than any other Senator in history...they will use it against him. He should have his butt there voting. The "it wasn't an important vote" excuse won't wash anymore.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

21. Your glee at Republican attacks is apparent.

Different strokes, as they say.

[blm]

23. So YOUR campaign advice is to let the Repubs pull his strings

throughout this campaign?

That's exactly what they would be doing on EVERY vote. They wouls stick things in each vote crafted to demagogue the public.

[Andy_Stephenson]

24. No I am not suggesting he do that...

but he has missed some pretty important votes lately. If he does not want the attacks he should be there voting.

[blm]

26. If it was NECESSARY he would have been there.

Those Rs only changed their vote to make it close because he was NOT there.

What part of this is such a mystery to you?

[Andy_Stephenson]

28. How do you know they changed votes because he was not there?

did they say so?

[blm]

36. What the heck do you think the leaders do?

They take counts before votes. It's part of the "whip" process. If the count was the same then Daschle would have called Kerry and told him to be there.

Surely you know something as fundamental as this, Gbnc.

[Bread and Circus]

19. Get the fuck out of here, you mean to tell tell me they rigged the...

vote to make it look like Kerry could have been the deciding
vote had he been there?

That's utterly outrageous if true. Playing with our Democracy
like that is abhorrent.

It's time to throw all these fucking bums out of office.

[AussieInCA]

34. they did the exact same thing last time this came up

lost by one vote then and guess what...more than kerry missed it. It is an orchestrated political ploy. RNC has a policy of losing by one. They have enough votes to do it easily.

[robbedvoter]

30. Rigged it the second time - Kerry should have known by now (fool me twice)

A similar situation happened back in December/January I think. He should have expected it.

[QC]

37. And if he had been there, they would have switched another vote.

This is an old game.

[hughee99]

31. Calling their bluff?

If Kerry was really calling their bluff, he would have been there for the vote. We all know the were bluffing, and that Kerry's presence wouldn't have changed the outcome, but this was still a political mistake for Kerry.

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Old and In the Way]

39. Republicans could have passed it...and they didn't.

They had plenty of votes to push the legislation through. I'm sure they'd love to tie up Kerry in Congress by using these tactics. But, the bottom line is, it's a Republican Senate who voted down the legislation.

[wicket]

40. kick!

:kick:

[liarliartieonfire]

43. Lou Dobbs just stated the obvious..

Dobbs' final statement of his show mentioned that Kerry missed the vote and the Republicans played politics with it.
Its not a big secret that this shit goes on. Kerry's absence didn't lose the unemployment benefits, it was the one person that was there, who chose to vote NO when they could have voted Yes.

Kerry's been in the House long enough to know how the game is played. Thats why he challenged them, to hold another vote but each one of them vote exactly as they had today.

Kerry's not a fool.
The republican party caused the benefit extension to go down. Or, maybe our loyal dem, Zell. How did Zell vote?

Get a list of all who voted NO and you'll have an answer as to why the benes weren't extended.

Thats how much this has to do with Kerry. nada

[Emboldened Chimp]

44. Gee, didn't see THIS coming..

:eyes:

[Crachet2004]

45. Kerry needs to get his ass in there and VOTE the next time this comes up..

And it will. Why give them a political point? He's not THAT damn busy! People need the extension, and playing political football with these kinds of votes are why a lot of common people are disillusioned with politics in general.

The next time it comes up, VOTE...and put this thing to rest. It either passes or it does'nt, but IF it does'nt, the blame should land squarely on the GOP, not John Kerry! Make the GOP vote against it...but I'll bet they won't have the guts. The minute EVERY Democrat is present and votes for the extension, twenty Republicans will.

All most people who need the extension know, is that it came to a vote, and John Kerry was absent for the second time. And he was. Bush is winning this one, IMO.

Besides which, if it counts for anything, a lot of people still need the damn extension!

If you want to be President, LEAD!

[turiya]

46. Kerry should show up either way

the people of Mass. deserve to be counted in every vote.

[wicket]

47. anyone got any links on this?

[Generator]

48. I heard Kerry was on one of them there planes that hit the Pentagon

ah ha! He's the missing 20th hijacker!

What percentage of the American people would believe that?

35% with 15% "unsure"


I saw Zahn going it at telling how "wishy washy" Kerry is and Joe Klein saying, "Well yeah he could use one word where six are?"

WE HAVE A FUCKING INCOMPETENT MORON for President. Where's that Question Zahn,

"Does it seem we have an incompetent, barely literate President, or is half of America wrong?"