Reply #23: Avoiding difficult votes. Is that supposed to be a good thing?

[Dogmudgeon]

The presidential equivalent would be missing the State of the Union address or failing to draw up a US Annual Budget.

One of the biggest and most puzzling issues in which Obama has been let off the hook is his habit of missing important votes. Nearly all the ratings organizations penalize a congress member if they are absent for a vote -- they count them as having voted against the interests of the organization. Ergo, the organizations promoting the interests of Democrats and liberals count him as assenting to Kyl-Lieberman.

I can't understand this. Missing votes, especially the big ones, has never been dismissed as no big deal in any election I can remember.

--p!