McCain: I'll Come Back To Senate For Oil

On Monday, John McCain lambasted Congress for adjourning without passing an energy bill, saying he'd be willing to "come off the campaign trail" and return to Washington if Democratic leadership would simply "come off of vacation" and go to work on off-shore drilling.

"The Congress, doing nothing, decided to go on a five-week recess,'' said McCain. "Congress should come back into session... and I'm willing to come off the campaign trail."

If he follows through on his threat -- and it seems incredibly unlikely -- it would mean that the promise of more oil did what equal pay for women, greater veterans benefits, and a bevy of environmental and energy issues have not: mainly, persuade McCain to actually return to the Senate. Indeed, by this point in time, the nation's capital is likely foreign land for the presumptive Republican nominee. In all, McCain has missed 63.3% of votes in the 100th Congress: 399 votes all together.

Here are a few of the most notable issues that, unlike off shore drilling, couldn't persuade the Senator into legislative action:

-Medicare Reimbursement Cuts, 7/9/08

-The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, 7/9/08

-The New GI Bill, 6/28/08

-A $44 Billion Stimulus Package (McCain was in D.C. at the time) 2/7/08

-Equal Pay Legislation, 2/23/08

-All 15 Key Environmental Votes, according to the League of Conservation Voters

Comments

[LillianB]

Tells a LOT about "the Maverick"'s loyalties.......................

[Annette]

He would come back to the senate to vote for off shore oil drilling. He wouldn't come back to vote for the GI Bill. Big oil giving him 1.3 million, I guess that the troops havent given enough to him. "McCain will vote for money." if you don't give him enough he won't vote.

Is the man drawing a senator's salary? He hasn't shown up for a single vote this year.

[drblack]

Americans followed republicans in 1980 and got Reagan.
Reagan destroyed the Alternative energy movement.
If Americans want to solve the Energy problems once and for all they will elect Obama.
If Americans want to put off the final reckoning on energy ,give money to bad people and continue to pay lots of money to big Oil while polluting the enviroment then Mccain is the man.
McCain = the Past
McCain and Republicans destroy American Freedom and Prosperity.
Obama and Democrats will restore American Freedom and prosperity.
The US followed Reagan and we Still have an energy crisis...will the US be smart and vote Obama and solve the energy crisis once and for all?

[jazzer]

"Obama should counterpunch as aggressively as possible ."

He can't do it. If he does, then he will be right where they want him. They will paint him as the angry black man. And nothing frightens people more than that. My question is, where is the DNC. There has been ample documentation about McCain's shifting and pandering positions. McCain HAS to keep the spotlight on Obama because he doesn't want a critical examination of his record. There are people who will never vote for Obama. The problem is that some of these people are intellectually dishonest. They conjure up reasons. They talk about kool-aid while spending six hours a day listening to Rush and Sean. The rest of the day they blog, blog, blog. I guess it makes them feel better. I would be okay if they took an issues and held both candidated to a critical test but no .. .. I did not think it would be possible to spin that European trip into something negative but they did it. Now it's the properly inflated tire thing (of course Time.com has a article which proves that Obama was right). The right wing bloggers excuse gaff after gaff from their candidate but play gottcha on every word that comes out of Obama's mouth. Reflections on issues are not going to change their minds. Winning the game is all that matters to them.

The absolute worst thing Obama can do is get too angry. Where's the DNC.

[uvymopkq]

Congress won't come back from their little vacation for nothing (except to vote for a pay raise).

[ThunderclapNewman]

You do realize that Congress adjourns every single August?

[IowaKid]

He can go back to vote for offshore drilling but yet he couldn't show up for a vote on the GI Bill in June. So you sell out our troops for big oil.

[MickyD10]

Your commment would be a great line in an Obama attack ad. You should send the comment to his communications people.

[JackND]

Mc'Cain is pretty slippery.

He only shows up to the Senate to vote for what he wants to; he's got one helluva nerve to demand that everyone come back to vote for his pet issue.

Plus, he long holds an opposition to offshore drilling, and the one day he decides to flip flop, and now that he has, he demands that everyone else does too.

The sheer audacity to think that your own change of heart on an issue should be THE turning point for everyone else, and now that you've "seen the light", everyone else should come around immediately or else is quite repugnant.

[theone718]

This one is a GIMMMIE. COME ON, the dems should be making an attack ad about this IMMEDIATELY but will they, no.

[vippy]

McCain made 1.4 million off oil in June alone. Will he shoot himself in the foot and do anything
to upset his oil buddies - don't think so. He has shown more times that he is not our friend
but votes on the side of money.

[DaOne]

Mc Cheese, 30 years of putting OPEC first.

[Celldumceen]

People need to read this Time Magazine article about Obama rightness! Obama says something he gets attacked for it and then it turns out he was absolutely right!

http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1829354,00.html?cnn=yes

[mamacat]

Interesting, that a long-time Republican backer like T. Pickens says we can't drill our way out of this problem. Maybe if Pickens was running for office, like McCain, he would, like McCain, be more interested in the appearance of substance than actual progress on the issue of energy independence.

For me, the most glaring inconsistency of all, and the absolute proof that McCain is totally unqualified to be a Senator or a President, is that he still maintains that going to war with Iraq was the right thing to do. Why can't he admit that he was misled by Bush, like many of us, and that in hindsight it was the worst foreign policy decision in the last 100 years, if not longer?

[Ajegunle]

Like O says, McCain is in Big oil's pocket. When they say jump, McCain asks How high?

[saltysea]

Woo-hoo! Wish the MSM would talk about THIS for a few days.

[demfriend]

Considering the ovr 1.3 million the oil companies have paid him to do the "drill offshore now" chant it would only make sense he would go to the senate to do the job he was elected for He hasn't done an lot of good there for a while. MSM has forgot to actually see what he has or has not voted for and what he actually has supported or not. The vets have also lt him slide on what he has voted on or not and his lack of support for the recent new GI Bill was obvious but still no one bothers to call Mac on the negatives...

[U4IA]

Quite simply, Mc Can't is incapable of holding any public office, much less the POTUS. Take away the T & U and that is where his true measure lies.