McCain the Uniter, Obama the Partisan

The legislative records of John McCain and Barack Obama reveal that McCain has shown dramatically more bipartisanship than Obama.

From the Washington Times:

Sen. John McCain's record of working with Democrats easily outstrips Sen. Barack Obama's efforts with Republicans, according to an analysis by The Washington Times of their legislative records.

Whether looking at bills they have led on or bills they have signed onto, Mr. McCain has reached across the aisle far more frequently and with more members than Mr. Obama since the latter came to the Senate in 2005.

In fact, by several measures, Mr. McCain has been more likely to team up with Democrats than with members of his own party. Democrats made up 55 percent of his political partners over the last two Congresses, including on the tough issues of campaign finance and global warming. For Mr. Obama, Republicans were only 13 percent of his co-sponsors during his time in the Senate, and he had his biggest bipartisan successes on noncontroversial measures, such as issuing a postage stamp in honor of civil rights icon Rosa Parks.

With calls for change in Washington dominating the campaign, both Mr. Obama, the Democrats' presidential nominee, and Mr. McCain, his Republican opponent, have claimed the mantle of bipartisanship.

But since 2005, Mr. McCain has led as chief sponsor of 82 bills, on which he had 120 Democratic co-sponsors out of 220 total, for an average of 55 percent. He worked with Democrats on 50 of his bills, and of those, 37 times Democrats outnumber Republicans as co-sponsors.

Mr. Obama, meanwhile, sponsored 120 bills, of which Republicans co-sponsored just 26, and on only five bills did Republicans outnumber Democrats. Mr. Obama gained 522 total Democratic co-sponsors but only 75 Republicans, for an average of 13 percent of his co-sponsors.

The numbers speak for themselves.

McCain's record of working in a spirit of bipartisanship, putting country before party, puts Obama's record to shame.

On a related note, Joe Biden is campaigning in Michigan and lying about John McCain.

ST. CLAIR SHORES, Mich. (AP) -- Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden says the once independent-minded John McCain has adopted serve-the-rich policies of President Bush and the divisive tactics of ex-Bush strategist Karl Rove.

In remarks prepared for delivery Monday in the Detroit suburb of St. Clair Shores, Biden says a McCain win in November would ensure four more years of Bush administration policies.

Biden can blather on and on, (and he will), but McCain's record refutes Biden's drivel.

Obama is all talk. His words ring hollow. His promise to change Washington is empty. His record proves that.