McCain has missed 57 percent of Senate votes this session, being absent or voting "present" for 8 out of 10 children-related votes. McCain voted "no" on SCHIP reauthorization on Aug. 2, 2007:
McCain has missed four of 14 Senate roll calls on the war this year (2007). All the other presidential candidates adjusted their schedules to facilitate voting; votes, which, in fact, they all cast.
September, 2007, McCain voted against the Webb amendment that would have provided all troops in Iraq have at least as much time home and in training as in theater. (S.Amdt 2909, 2910, 2910; 9/19/2007, 5:30 pm) http://senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=110&session=1&vote=00341
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May, 2006, voted against an amendment that would have provided the VA with an additional $20 million for healthcare facilities. (S.Amdt 3704; 5/4/2006, 11:34 am) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00111
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April, 2006, McCain was one of 13 Republicans to vote against $430 million for VA outpatient care and facilities. (S.Amdt 3642; 4/26/2006, 5:55 pm) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00098
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March, 2006, McCain voted against increasing VA medical services funding. (S.Amdt 3007 to S.Con.Res 83; 3/14/2006, 4:22 pm) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=2&vote=00041
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March, 2004, McCain voted against establishing a VA reserve fund to treat veterans. (S.Amdt 2745 to S.Con.Res 95; 3/10/2004, 9:34 pm) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=2&vote=00040
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October, 2003, McCain voted to table an amendment by Senator Dodd (D-CN) that called for an additional $322 million in safety equipment for soldiers in Iraq. (S.Amdt. 1817 to S. 1689; 10/2/2003, 7:36 pm) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00376
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April, 2003, McCain voted to table a senate vote to provide more than $1 billion for National Guard and Reserve equipment in Iraq. (S.Amdt 452 to S. 762; 4/2/2003, 5:35 pm) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=108&session=1&vote=00116
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August, 2001, McCain voted against increasing the amount available for medical care for veterans by $650 million. (S.Amdt. 1218 to S.Amdt. 1214; 8/1/2001, 6:02 pm) http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=107&session=1&vote=00263
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WHAT OTHER REPUBLICANS SAY ABOUT McCAIN
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"The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."
Senator Thad Cochran, R-MS
"I decided I didn't want this guy anywhere near a trigger."
Senator Pete Domenici, R-NM
"If either [John McCain or Mike Huckabee] gets the nomination, it's going to destroy the Republican Party, it's going to change it forever, be the end of it."
Conservative talk show host and author Rush Limbaugh
"There's nothing redeeming about John McCain...he's a hypocrite."
Former House GOP Whip Tom DeLay
"He is a vicious person. Nearly all the Republican Senators endorsed Bush because they knew McCain from serving with him in the Senate. They so disliked him that they wouldn't support him. They have been on the hard end of his behavior."
Former Representative Charles LeBoutillier, R-NY
"John was very rough in the sandbox. Everybody has a McCain story. If you work in the Senate for a while, you have a McCain story. He hasn't built up a lot of goodwill." Former Senator Rick Santorum, R-PA
"There would be a lot of people who would have to recalibrate their attitudes toward John."
Senator Bob Bennett, R-UT
"His temper would place this country at risk in international affairs, and the world perhaps in danger. In my mind, that should disqualify him."
Former Senator Bob Smith, R-NH
"I heard about his temper more from others. According to them, he really unleashed on some of them, and they couldn't figure out why...It happened enough that it was affecting his credibility with some people."
Grant Woods, McCain's former Chief of Staff, former AG of Arizona, and current McCain staffer
An "embarrassment to the party."
Arizona GOP State Senator Susan Johnson
"What happens if he gets angry in crisis in the presidency? It's difficult enough to be a negotiator, but it's almost impossible when you're the type of guy who's so angry at anybody who doesn't do what he wants. It's the president's job to negotiate and stay calm. I just don't see that he has that quality."
Former Arizona GOP Chairman John Hinz
"No dissent, no opinion to the contrary- however reasonable- will be entertained. Hardheaded is one way to say it. Arrogant is another way to say it. Hubristic is another way to say it. Too proud for his own good is another way to say it. It's a quality about him that disturbs me."
Col. Larry Wilkerson, US Army (ret.) and former chief aide to Colin Powell
"It just seems like everything we did, John was someplace else..."
Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-IL
"I think it's his style as much as much as the positions he takes...I think it's his attitude that it's his way or the highway."
Former Senator Tim Hutchinson, R-AR
"I don't like McCain. I don't like him at all."
Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-CO
McCain "has a legendary temper and often uses foul and obscene language."
Focus on Family Founder James Dobson
"What has struck me about McCain is that everybody underestimated the ability of his advisers and him to hypnotize the national media, because most of us in the media in Arizona thought of him as a guy who had a terrible temper, a foul mouth, a guy who whined and pouted unless he got his way. McCain has a temper that is bombastic, volatile, and purple-faced. Sometimes he gets out of control. Do you want somebody sitting in the White House with that kind of temper?"
Pat Murphy, former editor of the Arizona Republic, and a former friend of McCain
"John McCain is Bob Dole minus the charm, conservatism, and youth. Like McCain, pollsters assured us that Dole was the most electable Republican. Unlike McCain, Dole didn't lie all the time while claiming to engage in 'straight talk.'"
Ann Coulter, conservative columnist and author
