Kerry Most Liberal 2008 Candidate

[Dr Ron]

From The Democratic Daily. See original post for links:
http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2053


Rankings based upon votes are not the most accurate way to evaluate a member of Congress, but they are interesting to look at. The National Journal’s rankings are out based upon 2005 votes. Edward Kennedy is most liberal member of the Senate with a score of 96.7. John Kerry is number 8 with an 86.7% score.

Kerry beats other potential Democratic candidates in liberal score. Russ Feingold is # 14 this year at 85.2%. My initial impression is that it might have been particular votes this year which placed Kerry ahead of Feingold this year, but Kerry beats Feingold with a lifetime average of 85.7% compared to 80.6% for Feingold. Kerry also beats Feingold in the majority of years in which both were ranked. Hillary Clinton has a liberal score of 79.8% (80.5% lifetime). Joseph Biden has a score of 80.2% (lifetime 76.8%). Evan Bayh, as expected, is the most conservative 2008 Democratic candidate from the Senate with a score of 70.7% (63.2% lifetime).

Joe Lieberman is towards the liberal edge of the center with a score of 65.7% for 2005. Harry Reid has a liberal score of 78.2% and Richard Durbin falls at 86.8%.

[Mass]

1. Happy to see that, but at the same time, I would not put too much stock in

it.

I was shocked to see that voting for Ms Rice was considered less important than voting for funds for Radio Marti, for example, and that the vote for CAFTA was less important when determining who was liberal than giving funds for a new prison in Guantanamo (I certainly think the prison should be closed, but if it stays, a pragmatic senator like Kerry would certainly want to see the prisoners in a better situation).

These are the two votes that place Kerry so low in foreign policy, behind people like Carper or Lincoln, who both voted for CAFTA and Rice. So, I have not yet looked at the 41 votes in economic issues, but if this is of the same stock, I reserve my judgement on the National Journal survey.

This said, Kerry ends up more or less where he should be, tied with Durbin and with people before him that are, IMHO, more liberal than he is.

[Dr Ron]

2. Meaning questionable

Note I start out the post questioning the value of this.

It is of use if the Republicans claim Kerry is the number one most liberal--we can show that while liberal he is not the number one liberal as they claim. It is also of use for those who claim Kerry is Bush lite.

There are many flaws in using a survey such as this. There is plenty of room for disagreement over which vote is really more liberal. Reasons behind a vote are lost. The classic case is the IWR vote. I'd place Kerry just as liberal on this as those who voted no when taking into account Kerry's many statements not to go to war, but such statements don't play a role in such a survey.

Another major limitation is that they are based upon what came up for a vote, but this might not really show how liberal someone is. Theoretically someone could be extremely far left on certain issues, but such views wouldn't enter into the calculation if there was no votes which differentiated them from the rest of Congress.

[FreedomAngel82]

3. Good!

I'm glad to hear all this good news with Kerry still. :D