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1oregonobsessionz
Over on this thread, beatles1964 was opining about Obama:
I have to agree with what the Media is saying about him that he is too inexperienced, he was the #1 Liberal in the Senate, he talks a lot without really saying anything. And if he wasn't an African-American he wouldn't have won all the Souhern States by such large margins like he did. He also pissed off a lot of the White Voters when he said they cling to Religion and Guns. Plus he also attended the Church in Chicago with Reverend Wright for 20 years.
BGP has ably addressed the Southern states, the pissed off voters, and the unfortunate religious connections in the original thread. Those who have seen my posts during the primary season will know I am not a great Obama fan, but I thought I might say something about that "#1 Liberal in the Senate" designation.
Interesting how often the National Journal and Fox News award that rating to a likely Democratic presidential candidate in an election year, whatever their actual voting record may be. That tends to turn the issue into a standard talking point that is less than compelling because of its outright predictability. Does anyone actually believe that Obama is more liberal than Robert Menendez? Bernie Sanders? That favorite "most liberal" whipping boy, Ted Kennedy? Barbara Boxer? Richard Durbin?
Among others, the fact checkers at Media Matters* say no. Interestingly, McCain did not vote often enough to receive a rating from the National Journal.
Edited to add this footote:
* I prefer to use FactCheck.org or other nonpartisan site, but they have not addressed this bogus "most liberal" issue. They are kept more than busy, just running down the quantifiable facts on false claims made by both sides.
I have to agree with what the Media is saying about him that he is too inexperienced, he was the #1 Liberal in the Senate, he talks a lot without really saying anything. And if he wasn't an African-American he wouldn't have won all the Souhern States by such large margins like he did. He also pissed off a lot of the White Voters when he said they cling to Religion and Guns. Plus he also attended the Church in Chicago with Reverend Wright for 20 years.
BGP has ably addressed the Southern states, the pissed off voters, and the unfortunate religious connections in the original thread. Those who have seen my posts during the primary season will know I am not a great Obama fan, but I thought I might say something about that "#1 Liberal in the Senate" designation.
Interesting how often the National Journal and Fox News award that rating to a likely Democratic presidential candidate in an election year, whatever their actual voting record may be. That tends to turn the issue into a standard talking point that is less than compelling because of its outright predictability. Does anyone actually believe that Obama is more liberal than Robert Menendez? Bernie Sanders? That favorite "most liberal" whipping boy, Ted Kennedy? Barbara Boxer? Richard Durbin?
Among others, the fact checkers at Media Matters* say no. Interestingly, McCain did not vote often enough to receive a rating from the National Journal.
Edited to add this footote:
* I prefer to use FactCheck.org or other nonpartisan site, but they have not addressed this bogus "most liberal" issue. They are kept more than busy, just running down the quantifiable facts on false claims made by both sides.
2oregonobsessionz
According to one progressive rating group, Obama's lifetime Senate voting record ranks him 26th most progressive among the current Senators, and his votes in 2007-2008 put him in 43rd place for the current session. (They are using the word “progressive” rather than liberal; I am not sure exactly how much overlap one would find between the two.) The same group ranks McCain 60th most progressive based on his lifetime voting record, and 81st for 2007-2008. Considering that the Senate is almost equally divided, that puts each candidate roughly in the middle of the road for his party, although both have shifted to the right this year.
Here are a few more Senators with lifetime Senate voting records are more “progressive” than Obama (skipping those in their first term): Frank Lautenberg, Carl Levin, Tom Harkin, Chuck Schumer, Patrick Leahy, Daniel Akaka, Patty Murray, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Mikulski, and Russ Feingold.
Interestingly, some Republican Senators facing tough races have moved left – in some cases more than doubling their progressive voting records this year – while most of their Democratic colleagues are breezing to re-election.
Susan Collins (ME) – 33.74% lifetime progressive record, 49.45% for 2007-2008
Norm Coleman (MN) – 19.67% lifetime, 35.29% for 2007-2008.
Gordon Smith (OR) – 19.09% lifetime, 42.66% for 2007-2008 (he is not fooling us)
Ted Stevens (AK) – 13.69% lifetime, 27.04% for 2007-2008
Not that anyone would call most of these Senators “progressive” – not by a long shot – but they do seem to be trending a bit in that direction.
Here are a few more Senators with lifetime Senate voting records are more “progressive” than Obama (skipping those in their first term): Frank Lautenberg, Carl Levin, Tom Harkin, Chuck Schumer, Patrick Leahy, Daniel Akaka, Patty Murray, Hillary Clinton, Barbara Mikulski, and Russ Feingold.
Interestingly, some Republican Senators facing tough races have moved left – in some cases more than doubling their progressive voting records this year – while most of their Democratic colleagues are breezing to re-election.
Susan Collins (ME) – 33.74% lifetime progressive record, 49.45% for 2007-2008
Norm Coleman (MN) – 19.67% lifetime, 35.29% for 2007-2008.
Gordon Smith (OR) – 19.09% lifetime, 42.66% for 2007-2008 (he is not fooling us)
Ted Stevens (AK) – 13.69% lifetime, 27.04% for 2007-2008
Not that anyone would call most of these Senators “progressive” – not by a long shot – but they do seem to be trending a bit in that direction.
3Lunar
When I first read that, I could have sworn that you could switch the names of Obama and McCain around and still have a paragraph that makes "sense." But it's mostly political gibberish. It's not supposed to make sense.
As for the right-wing media, I try to stay away. But sometimes I'm curious. I think they used to regard Russ Feingold as the #1 liberal in the Senate. That was probably more a reaction to his censure of the president than any honest account of his positions. Just today they were spooking up the audience about "Oh no! Obama's going to Europe! People are going to be disgusted by this and you should be too." It's so transparently manufactured.
As for the right-wing media, I try to stay away. But sometimes I'm curious. I think they used to regard Russ Feingold as the #1 liberal in the Senate. That was probably more a reaction to his censure of the president than any honest account of his positions. Just today they were spooking up the audience about "Oh no! Obama's going to Europe! People are going to be disgusted by this and you should be too." It's so transparently manufactured.
