Unintentional humor: Factcheck.org tries to bash Bush

factcheck.org ^ | 10/19/04 | factcheck.org/unknown

[j. earl carter]

How Liberal is John Kerry? A new RNC ad claims Kerry is "the most liberal man in the Senate." Actually, his lifetime rating is 11th or lower, depending.

October 19, 2004 Modified: October 19, 2004

Summary

A Republican National Committee ad released Oct. 16 claims that Kerry is "the most liberal man in the Senate." It's true that vote rankings by the politically neutral magazine The National Journal rated Kerry "most liberal" in 2003 and in three earlier years during his first Senate term: 1986, 1988, and 1990. But over his entire career the Journal ranks Kerry the 11th most liberal Senator. And by other rankings he's only a bit left of his party's center.

Analysis

The ad's claim that Kerry is the most liberal senator is wrong.

The ad's claim that Kerry is "the most liberal man in the Senate" is based on vote rankings by the The National Journal, a politically neutral magazine focusing on policymakers in Washington. The magazine has been ranking members as "conservative" or "liberal" since 1981 using key votes on economic issues, social issues, and foreign policy.

The Journal rank Kerry the most liberal senator2003, but it's also true that Kerry missed 37 of the 62 votes on which the ranking was based due to his campaign schedule. So the Journal assigned Kerry a score only on economic policy for that year -- "a perfect liberal score," in fact. That was based on 19 Kerry votes, though he still missed 13 others on economic policy. The Journal didn't rank Kerry's votes on social issues or foreign policy for 2003 because he cast so few votes on those issues, but noted that he "consistently took the liberal view within the Senate" when he did vote.

source here

[j. earl carter]

Very funny, it's not fair to call him "most liberal senator" because he didn't cast enough votes to be ranked. As though not showing up is better than showing up and voting the wrong way.

This site is very non-partisan. Factcheck.org seems to be saying that Bush can't claim that Kerry is "most liberal" unless every magazine ranks Kerry the same way.

Obviously factcheck.org is left of non-partisan, I just thought it funny that they defend the guy by saying that he never showed up for work.

[MKM1960]

What could be more liberal than letting someone else do the heavy lifting. LOL

[MNJohnnie]

Obviously factcheck.org is left of non-partisan, I just thought it funny that they defend the guy by saying that he never showed up for work.


This is funny. If the Kerry people read this they should probably call up Factcheck and say "GET OFF OUR SIDE". The AD is LESS damaging to Kerry then Fact Checks DEFENSE!

[Beckwith]

What makes anyone think that Kerry would show up at the Oval Office any more than he has The Senate?

Yachting, wind-sailing, hunting, flying, roller-blading, etc., etc. would always be first.

[hadaclueonce]

bump

[marty60]

Brooks Jackson is the head of this scummy org. He is the political hack from CNN. I would not trust anything he has to say about anything. He had his little spot on CNN, during previous elections calling everything the Repubs did as wrong. I wouldn't even give him the time of day.

[Defendingliberty]

"Wallace then ran as the Progressive Party candidate for president in 1948 advocating equal rights for blacks and higher spending on welfare, education and public works. That would make him a liberal even today, but extremely so for the time."

This also appeared in the article...Translation...Conservatives are racists that want everyone stupid and dead.......and driving on bad roads and drinking bad water..........

[wildbill]

only a bit left of his party's center"

OK--How liberal is that? Pretty far left in the Senate in my opinion.

[Ladysmith]

Yachting, wind-sailing, hunting, flying, roller-blading, etc., etc. would always be first.

Don't forget hunting. /sarcasm