By Jason Rosenbaum | CQ’s Presidential Support studies try to determine how often a legislator votes in line with the President’s position:
CQ tries to determine what the president personally, as distinct from other administration officials, does and does not want in the way of legislative action. This is done by analyzing his messages to Congress, news conference remarks and other public statements and documents.
So, these studies only track votes when the President has an explicit, stated opinion on a bill.
According to CQ, Senator John McCain has voted with President Bush 100% of the time in 2008 and 95% of the time in 2007:
| Presidential Support |
CQ’s Presidential Support numbers do not include votes that legislators miss – in other words, missing a vote on an issue Bush supported did not lower McCain’s score. Now, it is a well known fact that Senator McCain misses the most votes in the Senate. In fact, he was crowned the most absent Senator in 2008. Therefore, when John McCain even bothered to show up and vote in the Senate – which wasn’t often – he voted with Bush 100% of the time.
John McCain and George Bush believe the same things on virtually every issue – the list of their agreements goes on for pages. But a better judge of a politician’s views is not how he talks, but how he votes. John McCain – when it counted and when he showed up in the Senate to do his job in 2008 – never deviated from George Bush’s position. Not once. 100%.
It’s all there in black and white. John McSame – just like Bush.