BS. The ACU ratings are not meaningless. They are computed on a basket of critical votes. The votes selected fall into three categories: (1)economic and budget matters; (2) social and cultural issues; and (3)defense and foreign policy. Votes are selected on the basis of whether the vote refelcts a "clear ideological distinction among Membes of Congress." As a member of the ACU, I find your claim without substance. The amnesty bill is just one of 25 votes that are used to compute the rating.
Specter's lifetime ACU rating is 45, Imhofe and Coburn 98. Clinton's is 9, Kennedy's 2, and Obama's 8.
Seriously, it is just like professional wrestling - it's staged, it's theater.
Look, I am not a political neophyte. I understand "I voted for it before I voted against it." That said, voting records are indicative of where people stand on the political spectrum. As Sessions said about John Kyl, someone I admire and have always believed was a true conservative (ACU lifetime rating: 97), "I would have signed the immigration reform bill without even reading it if John Kyl was the only one writing it."
I put a lot of time and effort fighting the Senate bill thru my local grassroots organization on immigration reform. To me, the future of this country was on the line with that bill, which would have finished us a nation, at least as we know it. That said, I would rather have John Kyl as my representative than Janet Napolitano.
If you understand the first sentence I quoted, then you wouldn't have written the second one. Explain to me how Saxby Chambliss and Johny Isaakson were recorded on the amnesty vote? They were two of the principal architects of the bill and pushed for it hard. They voted against it because their votes wouldn't make a difference so now their ACU ratings will go up.
How about Voinovich who changed his vote after the outcome was known? Another trick is to vote for cloture but then against the bill. That way the senator makes sure the bill gets passed but then can say he tried his hardest to stop it.
Do you think the amnesty debacle was the only time that the senate has decided to do whatever the hell it wanted?
I know the ACU tries to do good work with it's rankings but they are being played as patsies since they are so easily manipulated.
Again, all Kennedy and Lott have to do is hammer out a bill that they know they can get 51 corrupt senators who would not take a political hit at home by voting for it. It's theater.