Bert Bishop <bert_bishop@eudroamail.com> wrote in message
news:<404349FA.87D3DA60@eudroamail.com>...

Papa Jack wrote:

Bert Bishop <bert_bishop@eudroamail.com> wrote:

Papa Jack wrote:

On Feb 27, 2004, National Journal reported
Democrat frontrunner John Kerry has the "most
liberal" voting record in the Senate. Go to:

"The results of Senate vote ratings show
Kerry was the most liberal senator in
2003, with a composite liberal score of
96.5 -- far ahead of such Democrat stal-
warts as Ted Kennedy and Hillary Clinton.

"NATIONAL JOURNAL's scores, which have been
compiled each year since 1981, are based
on lawmakers' votes in three areas: eco-
nomic policy, social policy, and foreign
policy.

"'To be sure, Kerry's ranking as the No. 1
Senate liberal in 2003 -- and his earning
of similar honors three times during his
first term, from 1985 to 1990 -- will prob-
ably have opposition researchers licking
their chops,' NATIONAL JOURNAL reports.

Papa Jack smiled:
Just what the Culture of Death deserves, a
wrinkled gigolo who is more liberal than
Kennedy and Clinton.

Bert Bishop wrote:
This information is misleading.

Papa Jack asks:
How so? You never do explain why this specific
rating system is misleading -- other than to
claim it isn't the same as the ADA system.

Bert Bishop wrote:
The rating system is not misleading. I don't think
any of the rating systems are misleading. After all,
most of them take a number of key votes and rank a
legislator on whether or not they agreed with the
sponsoring group. If the group is conservative, say,
then those who get relatively high ratings can fairly
safely be considered conservative and those who get
low ratings could be considered liberal. There is
almost no way to bias the system or any reason to
do so.

Bert Bishop wrote:
What is misleading is the interpretation? It is
clear that Drudge is an unreliable conservative
gossip columnist.

Bert Bishop wrote:
...He has recently been spreading lies about one
of the Democratic candidates....

Bert Bishop wrote:
...He takes just one of many -- and maybe the single
best -- rating scales, and only one year of many to
make his hyperbolic claim. "more liberal than Kennedy...".

Bert Bishop wrote:
Sorry, one year's voting record doesn't make more
or less liberal than another, comparable but slightly
less liberal voting record.

Bert Bishop wrote:
Anyone who quotes Drudge rather than the original
source, when they have access to it, besmirches
their own name....

Bert Bishop wrote:
Papa Jack to his credit does copy some rele-
vant parts of the original article below.
They make my point clear.

For example:

" "Kerry has compiled a generally more liberal

voting record. After winning election to the
Senate in 1984, he ranked among the most-lib-
eral senators during three years of his first
term, according to National Journal's vote
ratings.

So, what about the other 3 years, and the other 12
years from 1991-2002 when Kerry didn't make this list?

Kerry is more liberal than the moderate Rodham Clinton.
But that is not news to anyone who follows politics.
Kerry is not more liberal than Kennedy. Suggesting
that he is is misleading.

(Perhaps I shouldn't have responded to the original
post. Kerry is a liberal, and there is not question
about that. So all we are discussing here is a matter
of degree. Admittedly there is a lot of crap on
newsgroups and Papa Jack's article is not more
misleading than many to which I will not respond).

Bert Bishop wrote:
There are a lot of these rating systems. The ADA,
of which I am a member, is a liberal group with such
a list. In 2002 Kerry was no more liberal than a
lot of Democratic Senators, and less so than quite a
few. For example he had the same 85 rating that Joe
Liberman had, and everyone know that Liberman is the
most conservative northern Democrat in the Senate.

Papa Jack comments:
Go to:

"National Journal's vote ratings rank members
of Congress on how they vote relative to each
other on a conservative-to-liberal scale in
each chamber. The scores, which have been
compiled each year since 1981, are based on
lawmakers' votes in three areas: economic
policy, social policy, and foreign policy.
The scores are determined by a computer-
assisted calculation that ranks members from
one end of the ideological spectrum to the
other, based on key votes -- 62 in the Senate
in 2003 -- selected by National Journal repor-
ters and editors....
[...]

"Kerry has compiled a generally more liberal
voting record. After winning election to the
Senate in 1984, he ranked among the most-lib-
eral senators during three years of his first
term, according to National Journal's vote
ratings. In those years -- 1986, 1988, and 1990
-- Kerry did not vote with Senate conservatives
a single time out of the total of 138 votes
used to prepare those ratings.
[...]

"To be sure, Kerry's ranking as the No. 1 Senate
liberal in 2003 -- and his earning of similar
honors three times during his first term, from
1985 to 1990 -- will probably have opposition
researchers licking their chops. ...Kerry had a
perfect liberal rating on social issues during
10 of the 18 years in which he received a score,
meaning that he did not side with conservatives
on a single vote in those years. That included
his 1996 vote, with 13 other Senate Democrats,
against the Defense of Marriage Act, which pro-
hibited federal recognition of states' same-sex
marriage laws. Along the campaign trail, Repub-
licans likely will remind voters of Kerry's
stance on that issue.
[...]

Papa Jack comments:
This poll is prepared by a group of neutral
political analysts -- not by a partisan group
like the ADA.