The Most Liberal Senator? Not Even!

The GOP is singing a song this year that Obama is "The Most Liberal Senator"... Interestingly, 4 years ago, they said Kerry held the title... But is it true? Let's look.

When a real count is made of how often a senator takes "left wing" positions, the winner is...

Dick Durbin! with a 98% liberal voting record!
Frank Laughtenburg is #2
#3 is Sheldon Whitehouse
4. Robert Menendez
5. Chuck Schumer
6. Jack Reed
7. Sherrod Brown
8. Benjamin Cardin
9. Barbara Boxer
10. Bernard Sanders...
.
.
13. John Kerry
.
.
20. Ron Wyden
.
.
43. Barack Obama with 82% liberal voting record.

Number Forty-Three!



"Oh, No"! you say! "I heard Rush Limbaugh say it! It must be true"! Well, let's look at how the National Journal (who came to this "most liberal" conclusion) got their numbers.

They chose 99 votes to use to gather their data. Barack Obama, who was campaigning at the time, was absent for a third of those votes, but he managed to make it to the floor for the votes that were most important to him (of those 99). Of the 66 votes he attended, he voted liberal on 65 of them (65/66 = 98%). But he missed 33 votes used in the "study", many of which he holds a more central position on.

So, the data is flawed.

“Obama voted the liberal position on 65 of the 66 votes in which he participated, while Clinton voted the liberal position on 77 of 82 votes.” So, Clinton voted for the liberal position 77 times, Obama voted for it 65 times, which makes Obama the chamber’s single most liberal member. Got it.

Source

National Journal relies instead on a weird system by which a senator who takes the "liberal" position 95 times out of 100 is somehow less liberal than his colleague who takes the liberal position 48 times out of 50.
...
All of which is to say that this is philistinism masquerading as social science--it's the U.S. News College Guide of Washington politics. Journalists ought to understand that. And those of conscience ought to ignore it, or lay it bare, but certainly not feed into it.

Source

And I'm laying it bare. I've heard this "most liberal senator" crap and I'm calling BS on it!

Progressive Punch.org ranking

Have a nice day.

True. He is not even the most liberal Senator from the state of Illinois. However, he is very, very liberal according to conservative standards and the rating sites that will hold more weight with that crowd bear it out. The American Conservative Union, for instance, gives him a lifetime rating of 7.67, which isn't the worst in the Senate, but it is still decidedly awful if you're a conservative. One thing I am sure of: the ratings of Progressive Punch probably aren't going to carry much weight with the average conservative.

Remember...the conservatives who care about this type of stuff are the same ones complaining about John McCain being too liberal. His lifetime ACU rating? 82.16.

You can pretty much guess how they're going to view Barack Obama.

American Conservative Union Senate Ratings

Additionally, the label of 'Most Liberal Senator' appears to come from the National Journal (EDIT: which you did mention! Like RR, I missed it, too), where he was rated their most liberal senator for 2007:

Article


[edit on 28-7-2008 by vor78]

Obama is even too liberal for many Democrat Senators, including Dodd and others who have publicly stated this.

On the Senate votes he did take a stand on, all but a few differed from Hillary. It is the other 123 he voted "Present" on that no one knows where he stands.

I was looking at Obamas voting record and wondering about all those non-votes. Did he not want to take a position? did he have a legitimate reason for not attending? I can understand if he has a fundamental problem with the way a bill is written or he was out on the campaign trail. However, money is being deducted from my paycheck to pay Obamas salary, gas money, car,...God knows what else. At my job I must make decisions, I must be present to make them. If I'm absent or don't make a decision because I don't like the situation, I will be fired.

Reply to Benevolent Heretic:

The National Journal has him as #1 most liberal. This is the ranking that Rush Limbaugh referred to. So the cheap shot on Limbaugh listeners was totally uncalled for.

nj.nationaljournal.com...

Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was the most liberal senator in 2007, according to National Journal's 27th annual vote ratings. The insurgent presidential candidate shifted further to the left last year in the run-up to the primaries, after ranking as the 16th- and 10th-most-liberal during his first two years in the Senate.

Can you still call BS? Still laying it bare?



EDIT: Sorry vor I didn't see your response, looks like we are on the same wave length on this one!

[edit on 28-7-2008 by RRconservative]

Originally posted by RRconservative
The National Journal has him as #1 most liberal. This is the ranking that Rush Limbaugh referred to. So the cheap shot on Limbaugh listeners was totally uncalled for.

Thanks for repeating what I already said.

In the VERY same sentence that I mentioned Rush Limbaugh, I said that it was the National Journal spreading this nonsense. You must not have read my post OR explored how they came to their conclusions. Which is what my post was about.

When you catch up, we can talk.

Can you still call BS? Still laying it bare?

Yes. That's what I did. Called BS on the NATIONAL JOURNAL.

If you're going to respond, try reading the post first.

Doh!

I did stop reading right after you ripped Limbaugh. Sorry!

I'll stick with the reporting from the National Journal though.

Can we agree that out of the 2 Senators running for President that Obama is the most liberal? With McCain coming in a close 2nd?

I was looking at Obamas voting record and wondering about all those non-votes. Did he not want to take a position? did he have a legitimate reason for not attending? I can understand if he has a fundamental problem with the way a bill is written or he was out on the campaign trail. However, money is being deducted from my paycheck to pay Obamas salary, gas money, car,...God knows what else. At my job I must make decisions, I must be present to make them. If I'm absent or don't make a decision because I don't like the situation, I will be fired.

It's because Obama doesn't have an interest in serving you as an American. If it won't lend to his image or feels it could negate some votes in his run for President, then he didn't stand on it.

He's only been a US Senator for three years and the whole time knew he was running for President.

Now, if Africa or Muslims were somehow part of the bill he was voting for, he was in like Flynn. Look up those votes and you'll see that is true.

Originally posted by RRconservative
Can we agree that out of the 2 Senators running for President that Obama is the most liberal? With McCain coming in a close 2nd?

Ok, I will go for that!

Actually, I don't know if Rush said that or not, I was just making the case of those who would disagree.

Thanks for reading further and I'm sorry I was snippy. It's been one of those days.... (I'm such a bitch sometimes!)

Why the Most Liberal Title is a Crock

Just another source to support what the OP stated.

That reality, of course, won't stop conservatives from trumpeting the "most liberal" label throughout the fall campaign. There's one problem, though: The public already believes Obama is a liberal, and he's winning nonetheless. According to a June Rasmussen poll, 67 percent of the public views Obama as liberal (Pew's numbers, from May, were similar). By contrast, in May 2004, only 45 percent viewed Kerry as liberal, and not until October did that figure crack the 50 percent mark. As Nate Silver has put it, the public's reaction to the charge that Obama is liberal appears to be, "Well, no #! We're voting for him anyway." When the electoral fundamentals are as favorable to the Democrats as they are in 2008, conservatives have a steep hill to climb. And so they're working to convince the public not just that Obama is an ordinary liberal, but that he's the single most liberal senator in America. National Journal gave them a great gift. It would be a pity if facts got in their way.

Why such a big deal if he is liberal or not? I see a lot of this as trying to take Obama apart piece by piece on petty non-important issues. He beat Hillary so he should get respect. People voted for him. Take him apart on the real issues. Even if he is liberal, I hardly see him getting legislation through Congress, which as a whole is not liberal.

Originally posted by jetxnet
It's because Obama doesn't have an interest in serving you as an American.

So says you Jetnex, one of the most anti-Obama members on this forum.

If it won't lend to his image or feels it could negate some votes in his run for President, then he didn't stand on it.

He's only been a US Senator for three years and the whole time knew he was running for President.

Obama could be smack in the middle Jetty and people like you will always come up with something else. The very fact his democrat makes him the most liberal senator in the US. As said before, they used this on Kerry and even had the nerve to mock the fact he served his country, something people cry about every time McCain gets criticism. You can’t satisfy everybody.

Now, if Africa or Muslims were somehow part of the bill he was voting for, he was in like Flynn. Look up those votes and you'll see that is true.

BS, just more fear mongering here. The man is proud of his heritage, can’t help but be born to a partly Muslim father and all of sudden his all kinds of things. Oh the intolerance from some people....



[edit on 30-7-2008 by southern_Guardian]

The man is proud of his heritage, can’t help but be born to a partly Muslim father

So says you, Obama is a proud Muslim and anti-American indeed.

Which lends itself to the truth more - his words? or his actions?

With Obama, it really is "just words". It is because his words never match his actions.

lol.... Only 87%? Hell, what were we thinking? I like how all your sources are blatantly partisan sites.


Tell me something BH, how many times has Obama crossed the isle to be bi-partisan? McCain is known for it, but I don't think I've ever heard of Obama doing such a thing.

[edit on 30-7-2008 by Dronetek]

reply to post by Dronetek


While I'm not trying to make a case for him being conservative, he has worked "across the aisle" plenty of times.

Federal Funding Accountability & Transparency Act (with Tom Coburn and John McCain).

Nuclear Weapons Threat Reduction Act (with Chuck Hagel).

SR 25, Bill regarding Zimbabwe (with Chuck Hagel).

Iran Sanctions Enabling Act (with Sam Brownbeck, Tom Coburn, Susan Collins, Gordon H. Smith, Trent Lott, David Vitter, John Thune, Pat Roberts, Elizabeth Dole, Norm Coleman, Mel Martinez, Olympia Snowe).

Global Poverty Act of 2007 (with Chuck Hagel, Richard Lugar, Richard Durbin, Olympia Snowe).

Deceptive Practices & Voter Intimidation Act of 2007 (with Tom Coburn).

SR 1817, regarding proper discharge methods for servicemen with disorders (with Christopher Bond).

National STEM Scholarship Database Act (with Susan Collins, Norm Coleman).

Prevention Through Affordable Access Act (with Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe).

Source

Not to mention his votes for the compromises on the FISA bill and the Patriot Act.

My argument is that he is NOT the "most liberal Senator". He is number 43.