KERRY RANKED 'MOST LIBERAL' IN SENATE ROLL CALL VOTES, TOPS KENNEDY, CLINTON

[Inmate Trump]

"NATIONAL JOURNAL on Friday claimed Democrat 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," NATIONAL JOURNAL reports.

Developing...

[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.]"


And you Democrats think he's the best guy to beat Bush........

[Mr. Fresh]

Wow...I thought he would beat out Clinton, but Kennedy?  That's some hard core liberalism, it's funny though how he voted for the war.  His record doesn't add up that way...

[Inmate Trump]

Wow...I thought he would beat out Clinton, but Kennedy?  That's some hard core liberalism, it's funny though how he voted for the war.  His record doesn't add up that way...

Yea.  He voted for the war...and then almost as soon as he cast his vote, he denounced the war.  Then voted against the money to fund the war.  (as did John Edwards, btw)

Sounds like a guy I'd like to lead my country...............

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Although I agree that both Kerry and Edwards are now among the more liberal Senators in the Democratic caucus, I somewhat disagree with the methodology of the annual survey:

1.) It ranks based on a handful of votes, with a position opposing the President rated as "liberal" no mater what the reasons.   As noted in the companion article in National Journal, the right-wing reps who voted against Bush's prescription drug bill because they thought it was creeping socialism were rated as "liberal" on this issue b/c they cast the same vote as most Democrats, although for totally different reasons.   This vote was given enough weight in the survey to make the most coservative congressmen seem like party moderates.

2.) It's a little inaccurate to call Kerry the most liberal Senator based on one year of votes when he has been in the Senate for 20 years, especially since he missed so many votes this year.

It would be interesting if National Journal (or anyone else) published some sort of weighted average of each Senator's votes over his entire career and also ranked them that way.  Or they could at least rank them over a complete two-year cycle.

[Wakie]

Who is ranked as the most conservative?

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Believe it or not, Dennis Hastert is ranked the most conservative House member.

There are about 11 senators tied for most conservative, including Frist.  As I mentioned before, it seems to be mostly based on how much you vote with the president.

[Nym90]

That's why it is inaccurate. When they say conservative, they really mean "supported the President" and when they say "liberal" they really mean "opposed the President". So by that criteria, Bush would be as conservative as the most conservative members of the Senate. They are just assuming that Bush's positions are the definition of conservative. Likewise, Kerry was rated most liberal when Reagan and Bush 41 were in the White House, for the same reasons.

So what the headline should read is that Kerry opposed Bush more than any other Senator. Although that doesn't make any sense either, since he voted for several of Bush's initiatives.

[classical liberal]

He probably voted with Bush 3.5% of the time, as his rating was 96.5.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

He probably voted with Bush 3.5% of the time, as his rating was 96.5.

The rating just means that he's more liberal than 96.5% of Senators, not that he opposed Bush 96.5% of the time.  I'm not sure why Kerry is ranked first but doesn't get 100%, but it probably has to do with all the ties and fact that Kerry missed so many votes that he was not ranked along Social or Foreign Policy dimensions.

[Bandit3 the Worker]

If he's the most liberal, then I'd hate to see what the most conservative senator is like. Kerry really isn't all that liberal.

[Nym90]

Well, Kerry missed several votes as you say, and since this is the National Journal's ratings, I wouldn't be surprised if they are counting those the same as votes against Bush would have been.

The National Journal is generally viewed as a conservative publication as far as I know.

[Inmate Trump]

That's why it is inaccurate. When they say conservative, they really mean "supported the President" and when they say "liberal" they really mean "opposed the President". So by that criteria, Bush would be as conservative as the most conservative members of the Senate. They are just assuming that Bush's positions are the definition of conservative. Likewise, Kerry was rated most liberal when Reagan and Bush 41 were in the White House, for the same reasons.

So what the headline should read is that Kerry opposed Bush more than any other Senator. Although that doesn't make any sense either, since he voted for several of Bush's initiatives.

Yea, it's all one big conspiracy, isn't it?  And once again, it's the Republians' fault.

[Inmate Trump]

If he's the most liberal, then I'd hate to see what the most conservative senator is like. Kerry really isn't all that liberal.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

If he's the most liberal, then I'd hate to see what the most conservative senator is like. Kerry really isn't all that liberal.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

GWBFan... this is bandit you're talking to... (I'm sure he's a nice enough person and all that, but he seems to think that anyone to the left of Bernie Sanders is a fire-breathing ultra-conservative)

[Inmate Trump]

GWBFan... this is bandit you're talking to... (I'm sure he's a nice enough person and all that, but he seems to think that anyone to the left of Bernie Sanders is a fire-breathing ultra-conservative)

lol  Okay, that makes me feel better then.  I was a little concerned.  I've actually never talked to bandit or really read much that he's posted, so I didn't know that about him!  

[elcorazon]

I agree with Bandit.  I'm not sure there's a single "liberal" in Congress.  [ducks]

[Inmate Trump]

I agree with Bandit.  I'm not sure there's a single "liberal" in Congress.  [ducks]

lol

...Oh my...

[NHPolitico]

If he's the most liberal, then I'd hate to see what the most conservative senator is like. Kerry really isn't all that liberal.

You have GOT to be kidding me.

bandit's not, sadly.

[classical liberal]

The ranking is flawed as is assumes Bush's policies to be entirely conservative.  When conservatives vote against the more liberal points in Bush's agenda they are counted as liberals themselves.

[7,052,770]

Is there a link to this data?

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

Is there a link to this data?

It's on nationaljournal.com, though most of the site is restricted to subscribers.  I'm not sure how much of this data is.