For With What Judgment Ye Judge…The Congressional Version

Majorityap points out a mixed message from CT. Congressman Chris Murphy (D-CT.) who used a lame excuse for missing a vote on a key lobbying bill:

Murphy later told the New Britain Herald that he missed the vote because he “got caught up in conversation off the floor,” even though he told the Hartford Courant “he did not remember where he was.” Murphy told both papers that missing the vote was merely an “oversight.”

Last year of Former Congresswoman Nancy Johnson missing a vote on an Amendment, Murphy declared:

Murphy blasted then-U.S. Representative Nancy Johnson in March 2006 for missing a vote on a Democrat amendment to increase federal spending on port security. Like Murphy’s June 8 excuse to the Hartford Courant, Johnson’s office said at the time she was off the floor during the vote. That explanation wasn’t good enough for Murphy, then a Connecticut state Senator.

“It is simply inexcusable for her to fail to cast a vote either way on this vitally important issue,” Murphy told the New Haven Register. “(Johnson’s) vote matters to the people of this district.”

A clear case of glass houses and a good reason why one has to be careful criticizing members of Congress for missing votes if you’re running against one. Certain votes are going to be missed. Most of us miss a day of work every now and again and nearly everybody ends up late. Congressmen are critical. Most of us don’t have a one strike and you’re out policy at work, so one has to look at more than missing vote to whether a person’s record is marked absenteeism.

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