In former Vice President Al Gore?s new book, “The Assault on Reason,” he quotes Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd, a bitter critic of the Iraq war, as observing from the Senate floor shortly before the invasion:
“This chamber is, for the most part, silent ? ominously, dreadfully silent. There is no debate, no discussion, no attempt to lay out for the nation the pros and cons of this particular war. There is nothing. We stand passively mute in the [U.S.] Senate.”
Gore used the Byrd quote to launch his lament on the erosion of serious discourse based on fact and reason about the origins of the war and other Bush administration policies. He suggested a contrast with the sort of serious debate that had traditionally unfolded in the Senate in the past.
“Those of us who have served in the U.S. Senate and watched it change over time could volunteer a response to Senator Byrd?s incisive description of the Senate prior to the invasion,” Gore wrote. “The chamber was empty because the senators were somewhere else.”
He noted that “many of them were at fund-raising events they now feel compelled to attend almost constantly in order to collect money ? much of it from special interests ? to buy 30-second TV commercials for their next reelection campaign.”
Gore said “the Senate was silent because senators don?t feel that what they say on the floor of the Senate really matters that much anymore ? not to the other senators, who are almost never present when their colleagues speak, and certainly not the voters, because the news media seldom report on Senate speeches anymore.”
His indictment may come as a surprise to C-SPAN watchers unaware that its cameras are limited by Senate rules to focusing on the senator speaking except in certain circumstances. But it is supported by a recent story in The Washington Post on the absence from the Senate of 2008 presidential candidates of both parties.
It reported that Republican Sen. John McCain, who trailed rivals Mitt Romney and Rudy Giuliani in campaign fundraising for the first quarter of 2007 and was intensifying that effort, had missed 87 or half of all roll-call votes in the Senate this year.
The other GOP senator in the presidential race, Sam Brownback, was the second-leading Senate truant, with 52 roll-call votes missed. Close behind on the Democratic side was Joseph Biden, with 50 missed, and Christopher Dodd, who was absent for 33. Barack Obama missed only 13 and Hillary Clinton only 4; each is already doing well in campaign fund-raising.
It?s not unusual for members of both the House and Senate to play hooky from their day jobs during reelection campaign season. But the unusually early start by most of the 2008 presidential candidates reflects the expectation that some will seek unlimited funds by turning down the federal subsidy that goes to those who agree to spending limits.
Even in the absence of obligations to raise huge amounts of money for House and Senate races as well as for presidential runs, Gore?s point on the relative paucity of well-attended debate on the floor of each body is incontrovertible, except on the most critical issues.
Rare anymore is the example of a full-throated, serious colloquy between two opposing legislators on Capitol Hill on the fine points of a particular issue, bill or amendment. More often, members of Congress speak for the C-SPAN cameras in a lightly populated chamber, or field soft, supporting questions or comments from like-minded colleagues.
The advent of the Internet, along with programless cable television filling time with talk shows, offers a desired alternative to dramatic old-style oratory for busy legislators, particularlythose seeking mass audiences in pursuit of a presidential nomination.
So the outlook for Sens. McCain, Brownback, Biden, Dodd and the others is for many more missed roll-call votes in the months ahead, leading to the 2008 primaries and caucuses in which their political ambitions will be met or lost.
Jules Witcover, a Baltimore Examiner columnist, is syndicated by Tribune Media Services. He has covered national affairs from Washington for more than 50 years and is the author of 11 books, and co-author of five others, on American politics and history.
