Bush makes right call: “Bush has announced he will forgo his Texas governor’s salary while he campaigns for the Oval Office. That means he will not collect the $316.01 he would be paid if he were in Texas performing his official duties as governor.”

Office of State Senator Jeff Wentworth: “If the governor is out of state for 24 hours or more, the lieutenant governor becomes acting governor and receives the governor’s salary, pro-rated on a daily basis.

“According to House Bill 1, the appropriations bill passed by the 76th Legislature this year, Governor George W. Bush is paid an annual salary of $115,345 in addition to his residence in the Governor’s Mansion. When Governor Bush is out of state, Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry receives $316 per day, instead of his regular salary of approximately $20 a day.”

Bush, Cheney Report 2000 Earnings: “Bush reported earning $70,554 in salary. Bush was governor of Texas until resigning in December.”

Now, these politicians on both sides of the aisle are independently wealthy. Are Kerry and Edwards are still collecting their salaries while missing votes? Should Kerry or Edwards resign? Not necessarily, but they should answer for the pay they are collecting while NOT representing their constituents in the Senate. And they should be held responsible by their constituents for being, effectively and this is a loaded term rhetorically, AWOL for a year or more during the campaign season. Cline says the argument is bogus. Fine, but then let’s be intellectually honest enough to remember the bogus arguments used when Dole ran in 1996, and Bush and Cheney were candidates in 1999-2000. Heck, Democrats are still making hay over Halliburton, so that pretty much puts the Kerry-Edwards billionaire ticket and the job they’re collecting tax-payer salaries to do less bogus, yes? Interesting that Lynn Cheney’s finances and work was scrutinized in 2000, but Teresa’s been able to keep her tax returns and finances secret, or is that private?

Do executives get special discompensation? No.

And while President Bush and Vice President Cheney may not have missed any votes in the present campaign, you can be sure than neither one is devoting his full attention to his elected office. Should a president have to resign his office to run for re-election? Texans weren’t getting their money’s worth from Bush in 1999 and 2000, as he devoted substantial time and energy to the primaries and general election. Should he have resigned then? Or do executives get a special dispensation?

There was a kernal of a point to Cheney’s attack: Edwards does not have all that much experience in government. Neither did Bush in 2000. But the argument that Edwards’s failure to be present for Senate votes while he is running for president (or vice president) should somehow disqualify him is specious.

Why wait until 2008? Was the Republican presidential candidate in 1996 from the Senate? Why, I believe he was!!

What would Dole do? What didn’t Lieberman do? What hasn’t Kerry or Edwards done?

Is this so difficult to understand, indeed.

Figures I read in today’s paper demonstrate that Edward’s missed no more votes than usual before he started campaigning. Since he began, he’s missed 45 straight votes. Is this so difficult to understand? I look forward to 2008 when Republicans will have the opportunity to run for president and attend to business in the Congress. Yeah, right.

Much ado about nothing…unless you can “fool the rubes” and make it stick.

You mean Edwards will show up for a free breakfast but not for work? That seems like a problem that can be fixed. Just put out a tax funded buffet on the Senate floor during business hours and maybe Edwards will show up.