Did CAFTA realy Pass ?

[Spider]

And why in the hell couldnt this ass clown make it to the floor ?
And what in the hell is up with Evoting ? Cant we get anything ****ing right ?
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050730/NEWS01/50730003/1001
By Julie Ball
STAFF WRITER
published: July 30, 2005 6:00 am

ASHEVILLE — Congressman Charles Taylor’s press secretary said Friday that she gave incorrect information to media about Taylor’s vote on the controversial Central American Free Trade Agreement.

The trade bill passed the U.S. House on Thursday by a two-vote margin. In a press release later that day, Taylor said an electronic voting problem prevented his vote against the measure from registering. Taylor’s press secretary, Deborah Potter, said Thursday that Taylor was not on the floor and that he voted near the end of the 15-minute voting period, which was extended to 63 minutes. She said Taylor cast his vote from a terminal outside the House chambers.

But Potter said Friday that Taylor was on the floor of the U.S. House for the vote and cast his vote within the allotted time period for voting.

“When he voted, it was near the end of the original vote (the first 15 minutes),” she said. “He didn’t know. No one knew it was going to be extended. It was near the end of the original vote.”

Potter added, “I think this all came about because I thought the electronic terminals were outside the chambers, and they’re inside the chambers, and I think that’s the only incorrect information I gave. I work out of Asheville, and I’m not familiar with the layout and where things are and where the machines are.

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Taylor, a Republican from Brevard, did not check the board that shows how each member voted and had no idea his vote against CAFTA wasn’t counted, Potter said.

The agreement was

approved, 217-215.

Taylor said Friday that seven other votes by House members failed to record the night of the CAFTA vote, but staffers were able to reach those House members.

Taylor has a pager that notifies him about votes, but he said he wasn’t paged about the CAFTA vote.

“Obviously not, because I never got it,” Taylor said.

But some Democrats aren’t buying Taylor’s explanation.

“I think that after seven terms in Congress, especially on such a crucial vote, one would hope Congressman Charles Taylor might be able to figure out the many ways to vote, and I think his story might be unraveling,” said Schorr Johnson, with the North Carolina Democratic Party.

In a press release, Democrats picked apart Taylor’s explanation of the voting problem.

“In a body of 435 people, very rarely does a vote become so close that every vote matters. In this case, every vote mattered, and he missed it,” Johnson said.

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Taylor’s vote and the vote of a Virginia Republican Jo Ann Davis, who also planned to vote no, could have been the difference in the vote.

Davis’ chief of staff said she was attending an event in her district and couldn’t get back in time for the vote.

The trade agreement, which President Bush strongly supported, sets up free trade with Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.

Taylor has said he opposed the trade deal. He said Friday that he told the White House and House leadership he was voting against the measure.

Taylor issued a statement Thursday saying, “Rep. Howard Coble and I voted “no” together.”

Coble’s chief of staff said Coble, also a North Carolina Republican, did not see Taylor vote, but did speak with him just after voting.

“Howard says ‘Charlie, I just voted.’ And Taylor says ‘So did I,’” said Ed McDonald, Coble’s chief of staff.

The two men then left the floor of the House for an Appropriations Committee office, according to McDonald.

McDonald said the two were watching the C-SPAN closed circuit feed on television, and could not hear the commentary.

McDonald said he watched the vote unfold on television and when he heard commentators say that Taylor had not voted, he tried to call Taylor’s office twice, but got no answer.

What’s still unclear is what could have caused the problem with Taylor’s vote. The deputy clerk in the House Clerk’s Office did not return repeated phone messages from the Citizen-Times.

“Mr. Taylor was always a confirmed ‘no’ (vote) and a public ‘no.’ I am 100 percent convinced he was not trying to duck this vote,” McDonald said.

But Rep. Brad Miller, a Democrat from Raleigh, said given the importance of the vote, “It seems very unlikely that a member would not know their vote had not been recorded.”

“I know that on the Democratic side, there was scrambling to try to locate the small number of Democrats who had not voted. And I assume the same thing was happening on the other side,” Miller said.

Miller watched the vote unfold from the floor of the House.

“I got there (to the floor of the House) about 10 minutes into the vote, and stood and watched the board because everyone was wondering how the vote was going to come out,” he said.

Most North Carolina representatives — Democrats and Republicans — voted against the measure. The only votes in favor came from Reps. Sue Myrick and Robin Hayes, both Republicans. Hayes had voted no, but changed his vote, which also proved crucial to the passage of the trade agreement.

The Senate has already passed the bill.

[L.A. BRONCOS FAN]

What a clusterf_ck.

Well, until the Democrats purge the corporate whores who supported this bill from the party, they can forget about any further support from me. I'll probably continue to plug my nose and pull the lever for their candidates (as they are clearly the lesser of two evils when it comes to the two major parties) but that's as far as it goes for me.

[Spider]

What a clusterf_ck.

Well, until the Democrats purge the corporate whores who supported this bill from the party, they can forget about any further support from me. I'll probably continue to plug my nose and pull the lever for their candidates (as they are clearly the lesser of two evils when it comes to the two major parties) but that's as far as it goes for me.
Democrats did piss all over themselfs on this , but then I dont know if I am against CAFTA or not , what I do stand aganst though is MFN status , that pisses me off ...... Cafta I see alot like NAFTA , I voiced my concerns about NAFTA and the trucking industry on another thread ...... But I dont think CAFTA is the fix all , or will destroy America , CAFTA is just another trumped up Bill so both Party's can say hey we did somthing for the economy next election cycle

[W*GS]

Well, until the Democrats purge the corporate whores who supported this bill from the party [...]

Clinton was a "corporate whore", then.