On Wed, 22 Sep 2004 09:00:45 -0500, Al Spohn wrote:

In article , lid
says...
Dan White wrote:

"Al Spohn" wrote in message
news:MPG.1bb8d7cc493fd7a49896f7@mayonews...

I'd be curious as to what the normal rate of absenteeism is in
Washington, particularly for those running for the Presidency. His
behavior in this regard only marks him as a politician in my book, and
doesn't rule him out as a viable candidate for the presidency.


I see you're setting the bar pretty high there for electing our next
president...leader of the free world. With that attitude it is no wonder
we are getting what we deserve in politicians.


As would I, but I hope you'll hold Bush to the same standard regarding
his vacation time.


You keep saying it is vacation, but to anyone with an objective viewpoint,
it is not. Why do you keep calling it vacation? It just isn't.

FWIW, I used to work for a company whose CEO spent half his time skiing in
Europe. And every time he came back he came back with millions of dollars
worth of new business. He died. The company died shortly after. So was
he working or vacationing? Or does it make a difference?

Your point is well taken. And in the context of this thread, I think
anyone involved with bureaucracy can site tons of meetings where showing
up 10% of the time and getting real work done in meantime makes more
sense than a consistent attendance record. I don't know enough to say
that this is the case with the meetings Kerry is missing (although my
experience with the Defense Dept bureaucracy surely makes this a
believable possibility,) but I'm saying the concept at least warrants
investigation before condemning him.

- Al

While what you say may have merit regarding useless meetings, more
telling is attendance to cast votes during normal Senate business. One
cannot argue that attendance at Senate votes is bureaucracy or "useless"
meetings -- it is what these Senators were hired to do. Both before and
following their announcements of candidacy, both Kerry and Edwards had
absentee rates far higher than most of their peers. As a matter of fact,
Kerry's absentee record following his announcement actually improved after
he announced. Before he announced, his absentee record was 57% (yep, he
missed more votes than he cast).

http://www.mwilliams.info/archives/001349.php
http://www.rapp.org/archives/2004/03/vote_dammit/ Just a couple links
found in a google search for "kerry senate voting attendance"