McCain will not vote in Saturday Senate Iraq resolution--He's off kissing babies!

My apologies. I've been off the blog for a week while I've been busy with other things. It has been somewhat refreshing to get away from the blog for a little while. So now let's get back into things.

This is one fun little story regarding the McCain campaign. The Senate is planning a rare, Saturday vote today on a resolution expressing opposition to the Bush troop surge plan. The House has already voted yesterday on another resolution opposing the Bush troop surge. This Saturday vote has caused Senators to revamp their weekend plans in order to accommodate this vote.

But where is Arizona Senator John McCain? He's off kissing babies:

Most presidential candidates are trying to get people to say "yes." Republican Sen. John McCain will be encouraging South Carolina students to say "no."

The Arizona lawmaker is scheduled to speak Sunday night to about 1,500 middle and high school students about abstaining from premarital sex. Abstinence and abortion loom large as issues in this first-in-the-South primary state in the heart of the Bible Belt.

"Senator McCain has a long legislative record of supporting abstinence-based initiatives in his record in the U.S. Senate," said Trey Walker, McCain's South Carolina campaign director. "He thinks that abstinence is healthier and should be promoted in our society for young people."

The event is to follow McCain's appearance at a hot dog and ice cream social.

I love it. McCain thinks that premarital sex is an even more important issue than the vote on the Iraq war resolution. McCain doesn't give a crap about serving the interests of the people of Arizona regarding this Senate vote on the Bush troop surge--again, he's placing his crass personal ambitions of becoming president over the interests of the Arizona people. McCain is a staunch Bush supporter of the troop surge. The last thing he wants is to go on record regarding any of these congressional resolutions, especially if the war really goes sour next year and McCain will have to scramble his PR-position on the Iraq war. McCain did not participate on the February 5, 2007 vote to end the filibuster on the Warner Resolution. And now McCain is in South Carolina preaching the evils of premarital sex to children, rather than making his voting position known regarding the war in Iraq, and the Bush troop surge.

Of course, the McCain campaign has their stock answer as to why their Fearless Leader is skipping this vote:

(AP) Republican presidential hopeful John McCain, a staunch supporter of sending more troops to Iraq, will skip a Senate vote on the war Saturday to campaign in Iowa while other candidates rearrange their schedules.

In control of the Senate, Democrats called the rare Saturday session for the procedural vote. They need 60 votes to advance a nonbinding resolution criticizing President Bush's plan to boost the number of U.S. forces in the nearly four-year-old war.

McCain, R-Ariz., has derided the Democratic move as political trickery. He backs Bush's plan, and his presence or absence would make no difference in the outcome of the vote. So, he plans to stick to his itinerary of three town hall meetings in Iowa, the early voting state in the primary process.

"He thinks it's a political stunt that Harry Reid is pulling instead of having actual open debate on Iraq," said Eileen McMenamin, a McCain spokeswoman.

It is a political stunt by those heathen Democrats in order to avoid an actual, open debate on Iraq. In reality, it is the McCain campaign that is playing this political stunt game in avoiding any vote on the Iraq war resolution that will come back to haunt them in 2008. All the other Senate presidential candidates have changed their political plans in response to this vote:

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., had planned to spend a full day in New Hampshire. Instead, she will host a town hall meeting in Dover, N.H., in the morning and then return to Washington to vote. Two events in the afternoon and evening had to be canceled.

Another hopeful, Sen. Joe Biden, D-Del., campaigned in Iowa on Friday and will return to Capitol Hill on Saturday. He will head back to Iowa after the vote to attend a dinner in Davenport.

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., was supposed to be in South Carolina on Saturday, but his campaign was considering sending a surrogate.

On the Republican side, Sen. Sam Brownback of Kansas had planned to be in Florida to attend the National Religious Broadcasters' convention but is cutting short his visit _ even though he doesn't plan to side with Reid.

Democratic Sen. Barack Obama will be able to fit the vote into his campaign schedule. The Illinois lawmaker was scheduled to appear at a Virginia Democratic Party dinner in Richmond on Saturday night.

That is the simple fact--McCain does not want to go on record regarding any vote on Iraq. He is using his support of the Bush troop surge in order to gather hard-lined conservative votes to become the Republican nominee, at the expense of any moderate or independent votes. The campaign knows that Americans are opposed to the Bush troop surge, as reported in this latest Feburary 12, 2007 CBS News poll:

(CBS) Two-thirds of Americans say the fighting in Iraq may be beyond the U.S. military's ability to control, according to the latest CBS News poll. Just 25 percent say the military can be effective in lessening the violence between Iraqis.

The war continues to take a toll on opinions about President Bush – his approval rating for handling Iraq is just 27 percent, and his overall job approval is just 32 percent – but the public is divided when it comes to what Congress should do about the war.

While 63 percent disapprove of the president's plan to send more troops to Iraq, there's a nearly even split on whether Congress should pass a nonbinding resolution expressing disapproval of the troop buildup: 44 percent favor passage of the measure and 45 percent are opposed.

The last thing that the McCain campaign would want is for Senator McCain to explain his vote on any Iraq war resolution during the presidential campaign, especially if McCain starts to reverse himself with criticism against the Bush administration's prosecution of the war. If American opposition to the war increases, then McCain can also shift his position on the war, without having to explain his votes on these war resolutions. It is all about presidential politics now. And John McCain will do anything in order to achieve his crass, personal ambition of becoming president.