Friday, February 8, 2008

McCain, Hillary, Obama: All Alike

I don't like what I've seen of Sen. John McCain over the last 4 years. He seems, to me, to be pompous and wear his ego on his sleeve. I don't like it. I prefer quiet dignity every time.



I've heard some pundits and bloggers during the campaign season declare that there is no difference between McCain and the Democrat candidates. This has been said in a variety of ways. I can think of a lot of things I think Sen. McCain has done that I don't like, but "no difference"? Really?



So, I thought I'd take a quick peek to see if the people that care believe this same thing. The question: Is there no appreciable difference between the three remaining candidates?



First, I checked with the standard conservative ratings source, The American Conservative Union (ACA). The ACU has a page devoted to how they rate congress, but it doesn't explain the details. Anyway, this is what the ACU had to say.


ACU Ratings:
9% lifetime, 12% '05, 8% '06 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton
83% lifetime, 80% '05, 65% '06 -- Sen. John McCain
8% lifetime, 8% '05, 8% '06 -- Sen. Barack Obama


Next, I checked with the standard liberal ratings source, Americans for Democratic Action (ADA). The ADA says that each year it picks 20 key pieces of liberal legislation and scores the congressman on whether they voted for it. This is what the ADA had to say. (Apologies, but I didn't find a "lifetime" ratings page.)


ADA Rating:
95% '06, 100% '05 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton
15% '06, 10% '05 -- Sen. John McCain
95% '06, 100% '05 -- Sen. Barack Obama


Finally, to get a liberal lobbyist point of view, I checked with the folks at Electoral Vote. They have a page where they merge the ratings of 8 well-funded liberal groups: ACLU, ADA, CDF, LCV, NAACP, NARAL, PTA, SEIU. I call them the "8Lib" ratings. This is the 8Lib viewpoint as compiled by Electoral Vote, compiled from (mostly) 2005 data.


8Lib Rating:
95% -- Sen. Hillary Clinton
17% -- Sen. John McCain
98% -- Sen. Barack Obama


As you can see, the "no difference" pundits may not be the best judges of reality. You may not like Sen. McCain, but at least he's different.[Ed.: To see the full post, click on the title above, or the timestamp below.]

7 comments:

  1. This reminds me of Arlen Specter, here in PA. We have a saying here: "Arlen is with us, except when it counts!" By that we mean that he'll vote Republican and moderately conservative when it's clear that his vote wouldn't change the outcome anyway, but when he might be the deciding factor in the success or failure of a vote he'll vote reliably against the conservative position. McCain is the same. Sorry, those ratings don't tell the whole story.

    If you look at the individual votes and see which positions were close I'll be you'll see McCain supporting the wrong side.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dougloss,
    You will not vote for McCain because you believe that he will support the other side, yet you know for a fact that Obama and Hillary are the very embodiement of the opposition and are absolutely, positively, going to do so. You have an opportunity to try to stop them and possibly limit the damage. Why will you not take it?
    Colonol Cooper often said "The past is another country. They do things differently there." McCain-Feingold, RKBA, Immigration, Taxes are all issues of the past. They wont matter as much as they did in the future. There may be many unforeseen and potentially disastrous events lurking just beyond the political horizon. Strong leadership will be essential for the years nearly upon us. The democrats do not have what it will take to act in America's best interests. Please do not make a decision that you may come to regret deeply. You can not change the past, but you can help save the future.
    Best Regards
    Svin

    ReplyDelete
  3. Sorry about your problems with Sen. Specter. In looking over his record, it appears that Sen. Specter is twice as liberal as Sen. McCain.

    ACU Ratings: (100% is Conservative)
    83% lifetime, 80% '05, 65% '06 -- McCain
    43% lifetime, 26% '05, 63% '06 -- Specter

    ADA Rating: (100% is Liberal)
    15% '06, 10% '05 -- McCain
    30% '06, 45% '05 -- Specter

    8Lib Rating: (100% is Liberal)
    17% -- McCain
    33% -- Specter

    ReplyDelete
  4. But I've heard over and over, "you have to vote for the stomach-turning Republican because the Democrat is even worse!" If we continue like that as conservatives we'll continue to be given the back of the hand by the party elite, just as the blacks are in the Democrat Party. The only way to have any leverage is if your vote isn't guaranteed unless the party and the candidate are to your liking. You'll need to do more that tell me how bad the Dems are to convince me to vote for McCain.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Well, how much noise have party conservatives made over the past 15 years or so? I haven't heard much, except from a few shrill, fringe, over-the-top types who have been convincingly dismissed as crackpots.

    That's why we're in this situation, in my opinion. And now people are saying essentially that they are going to clam up even more, by not voting at all. To make a change, sitting out is not going to do it. We have to get noisy. We have to push. We have to get involved and drive things in the right direction.

    But it will be harder with Clinton or Obama in the White House than it will with McCain, because he already realizes that he's made people angry.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I never said I wouldn't vote at all. Just that I wouldn't vote for McCain. If anything, I'll work harder to get conservatives in Congress to try to keep a lid on whoever's president. But it'll take an aweful lot of convincing to get me to cast a vote for McCain. He hasn't done just one or two things that bother me, his entire history has been a slap in the face against my principles.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Doug- I won't vote for McCain either. He's a genuine hero, and I respect him, but too liberal and unpredictable to be Pres. I think Specter authored the "single-bullet theory" in '64 as a lawyer for Warren, No? He gives one the creeps.
    I'm independent, w/o Party since '92. I don't have to "win" or "prove" anything, I won't hold my nose to vote for anyone, isn't that what got us into this mess in the first place?

    ReplyDelete

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