Harry Reid on Senator MIA

John McCain is the loudest voice on the Senate supporting George Bush on Iraq. But he's just a voice, unmatched by deed, because when it comes time to actually vote, McCain has other priorities:

Sen. John McCain (R-Campaign Trail) missed another vote today on a resolution related to the Iraq war, skipping a procedural move on a war funding measure in favor of hitting the campaign trail in New York.

In fact, McCain's missed vote today marked his fifth straight week without casting a vote on the Senate floor, with this morning's vote marking the 42nd straight roll call that he has missed.

Since the first-quarter fundraising period for presidential candidates ended March 31, McCain has made just three floor votes. He hasn't cast a single vote since the full details of his wildly disappointing presidential campaign's fundraising report were revealed in mid-April.

If McCain misses the next three votes -- the $2.9 trillion fiscal 2008 budget is likely to be voted on this afternoon -- he will officially have been absent for 50 percent of the more than 170 roll calls held in the chamber so far in the 110th Congress.

There are other Senators running for President - Clinton, Obama, Dodd, Biden, Brownback - and somehow they've managed to show up to vote. I think this is less about McCain wanting to be out on the campaign trail and more about him not wanting to be tied to a bunch of votes about Iraq next year.

Harry Reid said the exact right thing on this today.

Liz Oxhorn, a spokeswoman for Reid, told The Hill, “Sen. McCain has spent considerable time defending the president on Iraq and catering to the Republican base on immigration, but has only managed to show up for four of the last 14 Iraq votes and parachute into [yesterday’s] immigration press conference at the last minute. Who is the real John McCain?”

In fact, the other 5 Senators have made every single one of those 14 roll calls. All the candidates in the House have made the Iraq votes as well. Only McCain is AWOL. This is about him not wanting to vote on the terrible policy in Iraq he endorses, because he knows it's so unpopular.