Voting for show?

[spindoctor]

The contraversy over the medicare bill and the voting pattern has caused many Senators (from either party) to apologize with "I voted the way I did because I knew it was going to pass anyway."
Or in the case of Kerry and Lieberman...well, you've seen the other threads.

It reminded me of when Powell was lobbying the UN Security Council to pass a new resolution against Iraq. In the end, we didn't bother with it, because the vote would not be in our favor (by a small margin).

Is this a trend, or something that is simply no longer being kept hidden? Unless you already know the outcome you don't put something up for vote?

I voted yes because I already knew it was going to pass...

What does that say about the voting process? That its all just for show. The deals were made well in advance. The quid pro quos were exchanged before the bill was even published.
This is just another example of what democracy has become and I am rapidly losing faith in the system.

Is there a dictatorialunderground somewhere? I might just go and check it out.

[JI7]

1. entirely different

the senators who didn't vote are not abandoning the issue. they are using other ways to discuss the issue and help get more people aware of it. which is more important. this is why republicans were able to pass the bill in the house by keeping voting open for over 3 hours while while most of the country was asleep.