Is it just me?
Either someone at The Washington Post took a little nap in the middle of this article on the Democratic debate on Thursday, and woke up writing a completely different article, or there's some perverted logic going on here. Since when do the number of votes cast by a Republican in the Senate have anything to do with post-debate spin?
For posterity, here's the segue:
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio) clasped the hand of his statuesque, redheaded wife as he waded through the assembled press. Sen. Joe Biden (Del.), who drew kudos for his debate performance, flooded the room with aides, including his sister/senior campaign adviser, Valerie Biden Owens.McCain wasn't mentioned up to the point where his name appears, and the debate is not mentioned afterward.The big three candidates -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.), Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.) and former senator John Edwards (N.C.) -- skipped the gathering altogether, calculating that no good could be gained by subjecting themselves to the more than 600 credentialed media people at the debate.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) didn't show up Thursday for the big Senate vote on the Iraq spending bill. The day before, he missed the final passage of education investment legislation, and the day before that, he skipped roll call votes on four amendments and a judicial confirmation. McCain hasn't voted in the Senate since April 12.
Since the beginning of the year, McCain has missed at least seven Iraq-related votes, including the confirmation of the individual whom McCain and other Republicans are counting on to turn the war around, Gen. David H. Petraeus.
