John McCain Vote Skipping Leads to Laughable Hypocrisy

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Everyone knows that John McCain skips more votes in the Senate than just about anyone, once going five straight weeks without voting.

The media doesn’t make that big of a deal out of McCain’s habit of skipping out on his day job, but this newest development can’t be ignored. McCain went before a Philadelphia town hall today and called for action on law enforcement, worker education, and VA health care. But just yesterday he missed votes in the Senate that remedied problems in these three areas. See the details, after the jump:

McCain TODAY: Will Support Law Enforcement: McCain called the spike in murders in Philadelphia area “tragic and terrible” and said “I can commit that I will provide whatever support I can to law enforcement agencies.” [Town Hall in Springfield, PA, 3/14/08]

McCain LAST NIGHT: Skipped Vote to Increase Funding for COPS Program. McCain skips vote on amendment “To increase 2009 funding for the COPS program…” [2008 Senate Amendment 4164 to S.Con.Res.70, agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote; Thomas.loc.gov]

McCain TODAY: Educate Displaced Workers. “We have to have education and training programs that work….America has got to give these people a second chance.” [Town Hall in Springfield, PA, 3/14/08]

McCain LAST NIGHT: Skipped Vote to on Worker Training Program. McCain skips vote on amendment “To improve the training of manufacturing workers…” [2008 Senate Amendment 4155 to S.Con.Res.70, agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote; Thomas.loc.gov]

McCain TODAY: Complained About Wait Times at VA Hospitals. [Town Hall in Springfield, PA, 3/14/08]

McCain LAST NIGHT: Skipped Vote to Help Veterans Get Veterans the Care They Need. McCain skips vote on amendment “To provide the Veterans Benefits Administration with additional resources to more effectively meet their increasing workload and to better address the unacceptably large claims backlog.” [2008 Senate Amendment 4194 to S.Con.Res.70, agreed to in Senate by Voice Vote; Thomas.loc.gov]

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GREAT JOURNALISM, SLOW FUNDRAISING

Our team has been on fire lately—publishing sweeping, one-of-a-kind investigations, ambitious, groundbreaking projects, and even releasing “the holy shit documentary of the year.” And that’s on top of protecting free and fair elections and standing up to bullies and BS when others in the media don’t.

Yet, we just came up pretty short on our first big fundraising campaign since Mother Jones and the Center for Investigative Reporting joined forces.

So, two things:

1) If you value the journalism we do but haven’t pitched in over the last few months, please consider doing so now—we urgently need a lot of help to make up for lost ground.

2) If you’re not ready to donate but you’re interested enough in our work to be reading this, please consider signing up for our free Mother Jones Daily newsletter to get to know us and our reporting better. Maybe once you do, you’ll see it’s something worth supporting.

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