'Skip' Schaffer?

The other night I was being haunted by attack-ad memories, and out of pure frustration and lack of sleep I couldn't help but revisit one of the most irksome, launched by now all too familiar 501 (c) Freedom's Watch.




To recap: Udall was only "seconds" away from being able to cast his vote on whether or not to go to recess, and despite having called the clerk to ask that the vote be kept open, and having gotten the earliest possible flight back to Denver the vote was closed. He then went on the congressional record to say that this,

I was not present for the vote on this resolution (H. Con. Res. 398), despite my best efforts
to reach the House floor in time to do so. Had those efforts been successful, I would have
voted ``no,'' because I think we should not adjourn or recess this week until completing
action on legislation to revise our national energy policies--something that has not yet occurred.
(Full text available here)

Then when the vote came up as to whether or not to enact said resolution and go to recess,
he was present and voted to NOT go to recess, so upholding his infamous debate promise.

When I looked into it a little bit more, it turns out that Big Oil Bob was the real congressional slacker.
The Rockey Mountain News reported in March that,

In 2002, when Schaffer's self-imposed, six-year term limit was running out, he missed about one in every eight votes, starting with the first "quorum call" of the year. Schaffer's 13 percent absentee rate that year was more than two times his career average - about 5 percent. His rival in this year's U.S. Senate race, Rep. Mark Udall, missed 2.5 percent of the 484 votes scheduled in the House in 2002.

Apparently, these included final votes on promoting peace in war-torn Sudan, making payments to fallen soldiers exempt from taxes, and one regarding the moratorium on oil drilling off the coast of California.

Now I get why he wouldn't care about peace in an oil-rich conflict ridden country

And I appreciate that saying they support the troops then abandoning them once they have served their purpose is pretty standard fare for the GOP.

But really? Skipping the vote on the whether or not to ban drilling off the coast of California? He didn't even vote on the very issue that has become the hallmark of his campaign, the very issue that he has been blasting Mark for having accidentally missed a vote on?

Come on now Skip, I knew most of your rhetoric was hallow, but for some reason I figured as an oil exec you'd have the myopic self interest to stand behind at least this one bit of advocacy.