GOP War Candidate McCain To Skip Iraq Vote

[Dracos]

Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, a staunch supporter of sending more troops to Iraq, will skip a Senate vote on the war Saturday to campaign in Iowa while other candidates rearrange their schedules.

In control of the Senate, Democrats called the rare Saturday session for the procedural vote. They need 60 votes to advance a nonbinding resolution criticizing President Bush's plan to boost the number of U.S. forces in the nearly four-year-old war.

McCain, R-Ariz., has derided the Democratic move as political trickery. He backs Bush's plan, and his presence or absence would make no difference in the outcome of the vote. So, he plans to stick to his itinerary of three town hall meetings in Iowa, the early voting state in the primary process.

"It's nothing more than a partisan stunt and an evasion of our responsibilities," McCain told reporters Friday night before a speech in Chicago. "I think it's an insult to the public and our soldiers to pretend we're discharging our responsibilities to them when all we're doing is debating a meaningless, a meaningless resolution."

McCain's decision drew criticism from the Democratic National Committee and one of the party's presidential candidates, Tom Vilsack.

"McCain's refusal to show up for a vote on his own Iraq plan doesn't bode well for his presidential ambitions," said DNC spokesman Luis Miranda.

Reid, the Senate's majority leader, needs Democrats and Republicans who oppose Bush's plan to stand with him to advance the legislation, prompting several other presidential hopefuls to cancel or postpone appearances to ensure they are in Washington.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., had planned to spend a full day in New Hampshire. Instead, she will host a town hall meeting in Dover, N.H., in the morning and then return to Washington to vote. Two events in the afternoon and evening had to be canceled.

Another hopeful, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., campaigned in Iowa on Friday and will return to Capitol Hill on Saturday. "It's just too important," he said during an interview in Ames, Iowa. He will head back to Iowa after the vote to attend a dinner in Davenport.

Full Story :http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=2881257

[rodeodance]

1. recall that he missed the first vote also a few weeks ago

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. Good for Clinton and Biden

They realize the importance of the vote. Even if we don't get 60, McCain's absence can only help us--one less vote for continued bloodshed for oil.

[OneBlueSky]

3. chickenhawk . . . chickenshit . . . all the same to me . . . n/t

[Kolesar]

4. Today's Chuckle: "The straight talk express" ... eom

[global1]

5. This Provides McCain Cover To Go Either Way In The Future....nt

[Lobster Martini]

6. Meaningless?

Did McCain actually use the words “all we're doing is debating a meaningless resolution?”

This is copied directly from McCain’s (along with Senators Lieberman, Graham, Cornyn, Hutchinson, Dominici, Thune, Hatch and Roberts) lame Iraq resolution, proposed on February 5, 2007:

“Congress should ensure that General David Petraeus, the Commander of Multinational Forces-Iraq, and all United States personnel under his command, have the resources they consider necessary to carry out their mission on behalf of the United States in Iraq…” So, what would this resolution change? After almost four years of war, they should now have the resources they consider necessary? Sounds like a pretty meaningless resolution, or else it’s pretty late.

It’s also interesting that Sen. McCain isn’t going to vote against a resolution that directly contradicts his own Op-Ed piece in the Washington Post on January 7, 2007, in which he specifically said “send more troops.” His more recent Iraq resolution is pretty close to a blank check, but it doesn’t use the words “send more troops.” Today, he has better things to do than to “debate a meaningless resolution.” He will be campaigning in Iowa.