posted on Feb, 28 2004 @ 07:17 AM
As the Republican propaganda machine swings into action for the upcoming election we are greeted with reports that Sen. John Kerry has the most
liberal voting record in the Senate, as per usual they haven't provided and scores or formulae but rather ask us to trust them, yes, lets trust the
people who are pushing america towards a $3 Trillion deficit.
The National Journal on Friday 27/2 claimed that Democratic candidature frontrunner John Kerry has the "most liberal" voting record in the
Senate.
The results of Senate vote ratings show that Kerry was the most liberal senator in 2003, with a composite liberal score of 96.5 -- far ahead of such
Democrat stalwarts 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: economic 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 probably have opposition researchers licking their chops," NJ reports.
The ratings system was first devised in 1981 under the direction of William Schneider, a political analyst and commentator at CNN, and a contributing
editor to National Journal, who continues to guide the calculation process. Data processing and statistical analysis were performed by Information
Technology Services of the Brookings Institution. A panel of National Journal editors and reporters initially compiled a list of 140 key congressional
roll-call votes for 2003 -- 63 votes for the Senate and 77 for the House -- and classified them as relating to economic, social, or foreign policy.
Roll-call data was drawn from the Congressional Record.
More liberal than Ted Kennedy (D-MA) or Hillary Clinton (D-NY), i sincerely doubt that.
[Edited on 28-2-2004 by Nerdling]