Senator Dole left the Senate to run for president - "No class" Kerry is "AWOL" from the Senate voting only IF it helps his campaign

Posted by: Fritz ^Ž

06/22/2004, 18:00:53

Excerpt from the NY Times and the Associated Press - not a parody

June 22, 2004

Kerry Cancels Trip to New Mexico For A Senate Vote

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry canceled a campaign swing to New Mexico and returned to the Capitol on Tuesday to vote on a Senate measure requiring mandatory funding of health care for military veterans, a constituency he has courted since the beginning of his bid.

Campaigning for president has made Kerry a rare figure in the Senate for most of the year. He has participated in just 16 of 134 votes since January, according to an Associated Press tally.

However, Kerry said the veterans health care amendment to the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill drew him back to Washington.

``It's a particular issue that's been very critical to me,'' Kerry told reporters as he walked into the Capitol. ``It's central to something I want to get done.''.............

And now for an Assorted Press article in a related matter:

John Kerry Insists He Is Really a Senator From Massachusetts

By THE ASSORTED PRESS

June 22 (TAP) -- Dismissing the complaints of some Massachusetts citizens as "Nothing but Bushies out to get him", John Forbes Kerry today said that participating in just 16 of 134 votes since January is normal for him. "I'm just as effective casting only 16 votes out of 134 as I've ever been in all my time in the Senate."

Rejecting calls to resign from the Senate in order to campaign for president as Bob Dole did in an earlier campaign, the patrician Kerry scoffed at the idea, "Hey, if standing around in Senate chambers wasting time doesn't contribute to my election why do it? If you examine my 16-year record in the Senate, you'll see that I'm just as effective when I'm not there as I was when I was there."

Mr. Kerry said, "If I have to waste precious campaign time for a vote on a Senate measure it had better be something that will result in votes for my presidential candidacy."

"Also," Kerry added, "I'm going to get those votes from former Conservatives who would rather have me in the White House than big spender Bush and that's going to help."

Copied Right 2004 The Assorted Press