LA Times missed its own reporting, didn't note McCain's absence from Congress

Two August 5 Los Angeles Times articles quoted Sen. John McCain criticizing Congress for going into recess without voting on energy legislation, but in neither did the Times mention that McCain has not cast a vote in the Senate since April 8, according to the Times' own reporting.

After describing Sen. Barack Obama's purported "shifts" in energy proposals, staff writers Peter Nicholas and Janet Hook wrote that "Republicans have been staging a protest on the House floor to spotlight Democratic leaders' decision to put off a vote on energy legislation until lawmakers return in September." They then quoted McCain saying, "Congress should come back into session. ... I am willing to come back off the campaign trail." In another article, staff writer Bob Drogin wrote that during a campaign stop in South Dakota, McCain "repeat[ed] his call, first made earlier in the day, for Congress to return from vacation to help solve the energy crisis," saying, "When I'm president, I'm not going to let them take vacation." Neither article mentioned reporting from the Times' own Top of the Ticket blog that despite McCain's criticism, "he cast his last vote on the Senate floor on April 8."

In an August 4 blog post, Don Frederick mentioned that a "break from the road to concentrate on their obligations as lawmakers would be even more unusual for McCain than Obama. As Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada recently was only too happy to note, McCain has become an absentee legislator -- he cast his last vote on the Senate floor on April 8" [link provided in original]. Indeed, according to washingtonpost.com's U.S. Congress Votes Database, McCain last cast a vote on April 8, to end debate on an amendment.

Further, while describing the McCain campaign's reaction to a recent Obama ad that points to energy-industry donations to the McCain campaign, Nicholas and Hook's article went on to quote a McCain spokesperson "accus[ing] Obama of hypocrisy" because the ad does not mention "$400,000 from big-oil contributors that Barack Obama has already pocketed in this election." But the article did not mention that according to the Center for Responsive Politics, McCain has received more than $1.3 million from oil and gas interests.

From Nicholas and Hook's August 5 article:

The political scramble over energy policy has also been evident on Capitol Hill. Even though Congress is in recess for a month, Republicans have been staging a protest on the House floor to spotlight Democratic leaders' decision to put off a vote on energy legislation until lawmakers return in September.

McCain chimed in Monday, calling for Democrats to suspend the vacation until Congress addresses the energy crisis. "Congress should come back into session," he said during a campaign stop in Lafayette Hill, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb. "I am willing to come back off the campaign trail."

[...]

Even as he adjusts his position to account for fast-moving economic and political realities, Obama is taking the offensive. He released a campaign ad Monday criticizing McCain for accepting contributions from oil executives while supporting policies favorable to the industry.

The McCain campaign accused Obama of hypocrisy. "Not mentioned" in the ad, a McCain spokesman said in reply, is the "$400,000 from big-oil contributors that Barack Obama has already pocketed in this election."

The Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan government watchdog group, said Obama's campaign had received about $400,000 in donations from oil and gas company executives and employees and their family members.

From Drogin's August 5 article:

The political theme, to the degree McCain had one, was thanking military veterans in the crowd. But he quickly veered off to complain about $4-a-gallon gasoline and to repeat his call, first made earlier in the day, for Congress to return from vacation to help solve the energy crisis.

"When I'm president, I'm not going to let them take vacation," he vowed, a promise that undoubtedly would surprise many of his Senate colleagues.

From Frederick's August 4 blog post:

But if it were to happen, the break from the road to concentrate on their obligations as lawmakers would be even more unusual for McCain than Obama.

As Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid of Nevada recently was only too happy to note, McCain has become an absentee legislator -- he cast his last vote on the Senate floor on April 8.

Obama also has been otherwise occupied and during the current session of Congress missed far more roll calls than he's made. He did, however, make a point of casting a couple of Senate votes last month -- including one in favor of a compromise bill on domestic wiretapping. What he earned for his troubles was a nasty note from progressives, for whom the measure was anathema.