McCain vs. Obama on Bipartisanship and Women: It's What you DO, Not What You Say

As the saying goes "talk is cheap" and another cliche suggests that "actions speak louder than words."

Both these come in handy as we compare the records of Senators John McCain and Barack Obama.

On Bipartisanship McCain 55, Obama 13:

Records show McCain more bipartisan
Stephen Dinan
Washington Times
Monday, September 15, 2008

...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.
...
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.

Who Values Women More? McCain $1.04, Obama 83 cents!

DICK MORRIS' '08 PLAY-BY-PLAY
Volume 1, #36
September 15, 2008

Obama has never gone out of his way to relate to women. Only seven of his top twenty Senate staff positions are filled by women (McCain has thirteen of twenty) and women on Obama’s staff earn 83 cents for each dollar his male staffers are paid. (McCain pays his female staffers $1.04 for each dollar he pays to his men).

Obama Talks. McCain Acts!