AP debunks McCain spin

I’m late in posting this, but for those who are truly interested in the facts instead of simply taking half-truths at face value, the AP debunked the false spin the GOP has been making on Obama’s experience. Read it all at the link, there’s a lot, but I’ll excerpt this popular lie by implication that voting present 130 times in 8 years indicates that Obama was shirking his duties in the Illinois legisature. As the AP notes, he made thousands of other votes in that time frame and they explain the present votes here:

Often, Obama voted "present" with large groups of other Democrats to protest what they saw as Republican trickery or abuse of power. Other times, voting that way sends a message that a lawmaker supports a bill's intent, but has concerns about how the legislation is drafted. Voting this way also can be a way to duck a difficult issue, as McCain charged, although that's difficult to prove.

There are also cases where legislators vote "present" as part of a strategy. Obama did this on some abortion measures, voting "present" to encourage some wavering legislators to do the same instead of voting "yes". Their "present" votes had the same effect as "no" votes, so getting them to vote present helped defeat the bills.

What would be really useful would be for our media to tally up the time McCain didn’t show up at all for important votes in his years in Congress, but it’s probably too much to ask for the ‘liberal’ press to fact check Republican candidate’s records.