[dixiechick2000]

While he’s wandered off the reservation a time or two, his lifetime ACU rating is 93.5.

http://www.acuratings.org/2006all.htm#MS

That’s not a perfect score, but it’s conservative enough for me, and more conservative than most.

[The Pack Knight]

I've seen that score, and I would say that's a very good score from the ACU. I don't doubt at all that he's a conservative on a lot of issues.

Unfortunately, last year his ratings were 53 from the National Taxpayers' Union, 52 from the Club for Growth, and 23 from Citizens Against Government Waste. His lifetime records (that I could find) are better, but still below average for a Republican.

I'm not saying Pickering would be a terrible senator. He's certainly better than any Democrat, and I doubt anyone will be mistaking him for a 'RINO'. I just hope he remains part of the rank and file, and isn't given any serious control over the purse strings.

I'll say that while fiscal issues are far from the only issues I find important, I find them especially important when evaluating Republican Congressmen. It's easy to be a conservative on social issues, since 90% of that is just rhetoric at that level, anyway. It's also easy to vote for tax cuts, because no one really pays attention to the national debt. It's not easy, however, to vote against spending, particularly on one's own constituents. That's why I see one's voting record on spending as a much more honest indicator of the depth of a legislator's conservative principles.

There's no doubt that Chip Pickering a conservative, but he seems to have become a pretty serious porker. While red meat and pork are a good meal to serve one's constituents if one wants to be reelected, it doesn't do the country much good. He's just not the kind of Republican leader who is going to make us a majority party again.

I'm not saying Pickering would be a terrible senator. He's certainly better than any Democrat, and I doubt anyone will be mistaking him for a 'RINO'. I just hope he remains part of the rank and file, and isn't given any serious control over the purse strings.