Battletard wrote:
2). Does ANYONE with an (R) before their name or on their voter ID card have any idea how a 'present vote' works?
Quote:
Because bills need "yes" votes to pass, "present" translates to "a soft no," as Deputy Republican Senate Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont put it.
"One use for it is when you favor an idea, but you think the bill has a fatal flaw of some sort," she said. "Another is when you have a conflict of interest. And another is when you want to play both sides of the fence . . . or to avoid casting a vote that your next opponent will try to take out of context."
Across the aisle, Sen. John Cullerton, a Chicago Democrat, defined "present" as "no with an explanation."
Cullerton said another use of the seemingly squirrelly vote is to "signify displeasure with the process, but not the concept." He added that you'd be hard-pressed to find members of the General Assembly--including key allies of John McCain--who don't use it from time to time for various reasons.
Apparently some do understand, but it's a nuance thing. Instead of doing some research into a term they don't recognize, they just decide it means something bad about Obama. The typical republican voter is only slightly more intellectually evolved than a dark ages peasant burning witches at the stake.
