How Kay Votes On: Supporting Bush

Background

Of course Senators vote with their party - that's what political parties are all about. But there's a difference between toeing the line and charging headlong over a cliff.

As Wikipedia explains, "the Senate is regarded as a more deliberative body than the House of Representatives; the Senate is smaller and its members serve longer terms, allowing for a more collegial and less partisan atmosphere that is somewhat more insulated from public opinion than the House." But you wouldn't know that from this Senate, and you sure wouldn't know it from Sen. Hutchison's support of President Bush's every blunder, misstep and tax-cut for the ultra-rich.

Rubber Stamp Statistics

The Hill Monitor website has issued rankings on how closely members of Congress have supported the White House position. These rankings show what a faithful backer Sen. Hutchison has been of nearly everything the Bush Administration could ask for:

	109th Congress (2005-present)  93.06%
	108th Congress (2003-2004)     96.39%
	107th Congress (2001-2002)     97.39%

As you can see, she's been a staunch supporter since President Bush came into office. And even in the current session of Congress, as his policies have started to fall apart at every turn, Sen. Hutchison has loyally stood by him more than 93% of the time. She only cast dissenting votes five times in seventy-two votes. If you average out her support over Bush's tenure so far, it comes out to a solid 96%. She's been in the most supportive quarter or third of all Senators in every session.

Bottom Line

President Bush's popularity and job-approval ratings are now among the lowest of any President in U.S. history. And they've fallen there from the amazing peak of nearly unanimous, bipartisan support thrown behind him in the wake of the 9/11 attacks. Since then, his administration has squandered that support by leading our country into record debt, a disastrous quagmire in the Middle East and a bold, unconstitutional power grab by the Executive Branch. Judging from the 2005 federal response (or lack thereof) to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and from accounts in 2006 that federal disaster preparedness isn't much better, the Bush Administration hasn't even managed to improve basic homeland security in all that time. It is openly and seriously wondered if George W. Bush may be the worst President in U.S. history.

Yet Sen. Hutchison must not see that. She has voted along with the Bush White House every single step of the way. (Well, to be strictly accurate, 96 out of every 100 steps of the way.) Shouldn't partisan support take a back seat to common sense? Shouldn't the Texas Senate delegation support the interests of all Texans, and all Americans, more than the right-wing ideology of the Bush Administration?