Kerry's Voting Record

[cidliz2004]

or lack therof:

Could someone please explain Kerry not voting for various bills?

Like if a fetus is killed during the commission of a crime the killer would be charged with a crime for the death of the fetus, why did he vote against it?

Why did he not vote for the Medicare Bill?

Why did he not vote for enchancement of the Amber Alert Bil? a bill that would make it a crime to pander or solicit child pornography.

What does the term "ANNOUNCED FOR" mean?

AGAIN.....Senator John Forbes Kerry did not vote and ANNOUNCED FOR the vote.

Vote to adopt the conference report on the bill that would assign a national coordinator for AMBER alerts. for AMBER alerts, an alert system for missing children, within the Justice Department. why?

John Kerry did not vote, and their position was unknown.


Vote to pass a bill that would authorize discretionary spending of $2.3 billion per year to make available for complete federal funding of 40 percent of the average per pupil expenditures for certain programs under the Individuals with Disabilities Act by 2011.

I don't understand why Kerry didn't vote for these. I realize that there is a great deal of strategy in voting, and that sometimes a "NO" vote actually works like a "YES" vote. And that showing up for or not showing up for the vote doesn't necessarily affect the vote either.

Is there some clear cut EASY way to look at voting records without being totally mislead by the "plain listing" of voting? For somebody that is ignorant, if they figure out how to look up voting records and this is the kind of stuff that they pull up....well it doesn't look to good.

don't get mad, and think that this is a Freeper, or a flamer, or anything else like that, I simply want to know how this works.

Thanks in advance.










Again, why on this?

[still_one]

1. distortions

Kerry is running for President. He comes back and votes on issues where his vote makes a difference.

1. fetus is killed during the commission of a crime? This was a republican tact to open the door against a woman's right to choose. Kerry supported a bill which increased penalties against anyone killing a pregnant woman, period, not a politically motivated agenda. Incidently, there already is a penalty on the books for murder of ANYONE!

2. His vote would not have made any difference. He was against the prescription medicare plan, but there were democrats like miller and feinstein where it didn't matter.

I could go on and address the other issues, but I don't care to.

The bottom line is that bush and company are fricking facists, slowing erroding the bill of rights.

bush has shown us his incompentence, and based on his performance he deserves to be fired.

[IronLionZion]

2. He's running for president?

your post count doesn't help with the freeper business.

The real issue at hand with his lack of votes is why the hell can't they vote through teleconference or some other way? Not everyone can be in Washington all the time. Bush is usually on vacation but claims he can work without being in Washington.

And I'm NOT calling you a freeper.


cheers,
Indy

[creeksneakers2]

3. A voting record is an easy thing to spin either way

Issues get buried in parliamentary maneuvers, lumped together, paired against other measures that offer more or less of the same.

Its the same with not voting also. The Bushies have stretched their imaginations to be as misleading as possible about Kerry's voting record.

The bill to punish a person who kills a fetus was opposed by pro-choice groups who felt language in it could be interpreted in a way that would make abortion illegal. Kerry voted for a similar measure without the wording.

It can take forever to sort out a vote, but, if you can get Roll Call Magazine its a big help. They do a good job of explaining some votes.

[mountainvue]

4. Well,

President Bush has never vetoed anything, so theoretically, you could say he's never voted on ANYTHING.:shrug: He merely signs whatever is put in front of him.

[mzmolly]

5. Well though I understand some of his votes, I'd sure like a link

got one?

[zulchzulu]

6. Understanding how votes can be cherry-picked for political gain

I'm not sure what exact votes you are talking about.

If you have a clue about how bills get passed in the Senate, you'd know that sometimes a bill (for instance) for helping farmers get more aid is also tagged with pork bill attachments like allowing for guns to be unlicensed, gays to be declared illegal, prayer to be in public schools...or whatever.

In that hypothetical case, Kerry could be misconstrued for being "against farmers" because he voted against the Farmer's Aid Bill (which also had the pork bill crap added).

Find what specific bills are being fettered about. That's the intelligent, mature way to understand the vote.

[Spiffarino]

7. Read, watch, pay attention.

John Kerry's votes in the Senate are a matter of public record. The fact that Kerry is being pilloried by out-of-context Bush attack ads should not be a surprise, given that Karl Rove and G.W. Bush have no guiding principles save win at all costs. Most of their attacks are so transparent they would be funny were it not that uninformed people seem to take them seriously.

I don't know of any easy way to do what you ask. The best thing is to read periodicals as often as you can. And yes, read conservative, moderate, and liberal publications for perspective and understanding.

Pay attention when bills come before Congress, listen to the arguments both pro and con, and decide for yourself what you like and dislike. Then, judge officeholders by your own criteria based on their stances on the issues you deem most important. The best place to start is C-SPAN. It's boring to watch for long stretches, so pay attention to the listings and check out what interests you. Watching the "sausage makers" debate will give you something newspapers and magazine won't always give you - context.

Think attack ads are a lousy way to learn about candidates? You're damned right they are! So check out www.factcheck.org. It's staffed by real journalists who look at political ads, examine their claims, and analyze them point by point for accuracy and context. It's often surprising - and even disgusting - how far a politician will go to make another politician look bad.

I hope you're serious about this and not just trying out Republican talking points on us. Whatever your political stripe, doing your best to be informed makes you a better voter, citizen, and American. Good luck.

Edited due to lousy proofreading

[PATRICK]

8. I hate to bring this up

But before he became a self partisan Nader began this rating of lawmaker's legislative votes and others of a more obvious partisan stripe took it up as a litmus test scorecard sort of thing.

You really have to pay attention to the groups who are satisfied or not with the complex matter of voting and even then how honest is the vote or the valuation? The mere fact that Kerry has had to deal with legislation poisoned by a GOP Congressional dominance for many years makes it a tough chore to judge.

While senior senators without presidential ambitions from safe, liberal districts have the leisure to be 100% liberal and please the American left with few actual results, there are some trusted to actually winning back the power, the middle and the government itself to the possibility of rationality and liberalism once more.

So, do we want a pure and ineffective voice in the wilderness of the pure left or do we want to really lead the world to a genuine freedom? Looking at the record is the best gauge of Presidential performance. That is why Bush should never have been allowed to run for anything and Kerry is so good we merely pick at a laundry list of issues- because we know he will be strong and take them seriously- if not exactly as various people might wish. What a luxury that is compared to worrying about the Achilles' heel of Clinton's sex life or Gore's political shortcomings. What a wonderful country it would be to really be having a dialogue about honest alternatives to policies and valid critiques holding our values to account!

Not there yet. Not by a long shot.

[sandnsea]

9. Lots of reasons

As others have said, he was running for the Presidency, some of them aren't final passage votes but cloture votes, Medicare was set to pass with or without him. He showed up to vote on a Vet's Bill and then Frist didn't bring it to the floor. Kerry would be in DC all the time if he played into these Republican games.

On the other hand, the fetus bill is the first step to making a fetus a protected human life and outlawing abortion. You saw the lawmaker who wants to give abortion doctors the death penalty, right?

He doesn't believe in mandatory sentencing and has voted against some crime bills because of it. The Amber Alert bill had something in it that was a clear violation of due process, I don't remember what just now.

It's impossible to go through every single thing that has come up in Congress for 20 years and know why he didn't vote or voted a specific way on all of them.

Oh, and he also had cancer surgery in there, so there's always that possibility too.

[cidliz2004]

10. Thank you all for your insight

You have given me several good tips and sights to this question. Believe it or not, I did kind of know some of these things, but hearing them from you solidified what I had known. Also, some of you gave me some good information to do further research.

The freeper thing....well, I have seen other posts where DU'ers really go off on suspected freepers..my thought is that if someone really wants dirt on Kerry, they can go to Bush's sites. I am sure that they can get the best dirt possible at a site like that. Besides, if they want an argument, well, I am sure usually up for a good one aren't all of you? I would hope that the DU site as well as other representative Democratic sites are OPEN for ANYBODY without being slammed unmerilessly.....

Again, thanks for the help!