Party Unity Less of a Sure Thing for House GOP Minority

CQPolitics ^ | July 10, 2007 | Greg Giroux

[youthgonewild]

One of the ironies of the sea-change 2006 elections is that House Democrats made significant gains at the expense of the segment of the Republican Party most likely to compromise with them: the GOP’s already dwindling faction of moderate lawmakers. Among the 30 seats taken over by Democrats last fall were those that had been held by Republican centrists such as Connecticut’s Nancy L. Johnson and Rob Simmons, New Hampshire’s Charles Bass and New York’s Sue W. Kelly.

But a CQPolitics.com “party unity” study for the first half-year of the Democratic-majority 110th Congress shows that there still are a number of House Republicans seeking to strike independent postures — which contrast with the still-strongly conservative demeanor of their overall caucus.

And the analysis shows that these members appear more and more willing to distance themselves from President George W. Bush and other Republican leaders who are suffering from very low public approval ratings.

For example, the leading House Republican dissident over the year’s first six months, Wayne T. Gilchrest of Maryland, voted with most of his fellow Republicans against most House Democrats on just over half of the votes that broke mainly along party lines (the measure used in CQ’s long-running party unity studies).

[youthgonewild]

Here are the RINO's listed, in order of lowest party unity with the #1 person voting the least with Republicans. All my threads lately have chronicled the RINOing of the Republican party in Congress, I feel these guys need some fire from conservatives.

1. Wayne T. Gilchrest, Maryland’s 1st (52.3 percent).
2. Christopher H. Smith, New Jersey’s 4th (61.0 percent).
3. Christopher Shays, Connecticut’s 4th (62.6 percent).
4. Frank A. LoBiondo, New Jersey’s 2nd (65.1 percent).
5. Mike Ferguson, New Jersey’s 7th (66.1 percent).
6. Mark Steven Kirk, Illinois’ 10th (66.7 percent).
7. Michael N. Castle, Delaware’s At-Large (68.3 percent).
8 (tie). Walter B. Jones, North Carolina’s 3rd (68.6 percent).
8 (tie). Timothy V. Johnson, Illinois’ 15th (68.6 percent).
10. James T. Walsh, New York’s 25th (68.9 percent).
12. Steven C. LaTourette, Ohio’s 14th (70.3 percent).
14. Dave Reichert, Washington’s 8th (72.0 percent).
15. Tim Murphy, Pennsylvania’s 18th (72.7 percent).
18. Jon Porter, Nevada’s 3rd (73.6 percent).
20. Charlie Dent, Pennsylvania’s 15th (73.9 percent).
21. Jim Gerlach, Pennsylvania’s 6th (74.7 percent).
23. Phil English, Pennsylvania’s 3rd (76.0 percent).
25. Heather A. Wilson, New Mexico’s 1st (76.3 percent).
26. Thomas M. Davis III, Virginia’s 11th (76.4 percent).

[billybudd]

CQ can’t fathom why anyone would choose to be conservative. Even after the 2006 elections, they exclaim, most Republicans are “still” conservative! Liberal Republicans on the other hand, are “independent”. Just like McCain is a “maverick” in the mainstream press. And of course, the Democrats are simply the good guys. No need to put any labels on them.