For months, we’ve been hearing that Senate Republicans were preparing to set a series of “traps” for John Kerry on the Senate floor. Initially, the idea was to schedule votes on controversial issues in which Kerry’s vote could be held against him.
It was, from the outset, an unusually foolish plan. Kerry wasn’t there to cast controversial votes and the GOP looked misguided for pursuing a culture war agenda.
Last week, however, the Republicans finally figured out the flaw in their plan and tried the inverse. Instead of getting Kerry to vote the wrong way on controversial measures, the GOP realized it’s better (for them) to have Kerry miss votes on popular measures.
This month, for example, hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans were faced with the end of their unemployment benefits. Dems, noting the weak job market, fought to extend the benefits, while the GOP opposed the move. The Senate voted last Tuesday, but supporters came up one vote short — and Kerry wasn’t there because he was on the campaign trail.
It looked, at the time, like Kerry’s absence was the difference and his vote could have extended the benefits for the unemployed. The vote, under rules in place on the floor, needed 60 votes to pass. The final tally was 59-40.
The Republicans, who opposed the measure anyway, had a field day. In a statement, Bush’s campaign said Kerry was “too busy playing politics” to do his job. The media played up the story and Kerry’s absence got plenty of attention.
Looking just beyond the surface, however, showed a scenario that smelled funny. Senate leaders had a projected vote count ahead of time which showed the proposal failing by a wider margin. Worse, some GOP senators who were prepared to oppose the plan suddenly voted with the Dems. What was going on here?
It turns out it smelled funny because the whole thing stunk. It was a GOP-orchestrated scam from the beginning.
No matter what, the proposal was going to fail; the Republican majority had arranged for every contingency. If Kerry was on the floor, GOP senators would have voted against it and killed the bill. But with Kerry on the campaign trail, they carefully choreographed the vote to make sure the final tally was 59-40 so Kerry would appear to be responsible.
In other words, the GOP simply turned Senate business into a campaign stunt on Bush’s behalf. They have no real interest in governing; their top priority is always partisan games.
The extension needed 60 votes to pass in the Senate, and 12 Republicans made sure the final tally was 59-40, with only one absentee, presidential candidate Kerry.
At least one Republican senator, Elizabeth Dole (N.C.), was prepared to switch to a “no” vote to make sure the measure was defeated even if Kerry returned to cast his vote, a Democrat charged.
Even if Dole had stood firm, observers on both sides believe the GOP leadership would have been able to turn other Republicans to ensure defeat.
But by calculating the vote to a nicety, the GOP managed to make Kerry appear to be responsible for the defeat because he was a no-show.
Even the GOP leadership isn’t really denying their silly scheme.
Asked whether Republicans manipulated the outcome of the vote, Eric Ueland, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist’s (R-Tenn.) deputy chief of staff, flashed a smile and replied: “I have no comment — and that’s on the record.”
So the public saw the front page articles about Kerry’s alleged negligence, but the GOP scam will be a well-kept secret.
What’s worse, Senate Republicans have figured out how to lay effective traps for Kerry. Watch for this to happen again in the coming weeks.