McCain's ACU Ratings

The American Thinker ^ | Jan. 29, 2008 | Randall Hoven

[JaneNC]

McCain's ACU Ratings Randall Hoven

Senator John McCain's lifetime rating of 82.3% from the American Conservative Union is often cited as proof that he is conservative. Here is a closer look at that 82.3 rating.

First, a rating of 82.3 is not really that high. It puts Senator McCain in 39th place among senators serving in 2006, the latest year for which the ACU has its ratings posted online. For that most recent year in particular, McCain scored only 65, putting him in 47th place for that year. Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE), for example, scored 64 and 75, respectively, in 2006.

http://www.americanthinker.com/2008/01/mccains_acu_ratings.html

[zeugma]

It is all yours. Wear it well. Remember were is can from.

LOL. Thanks!

 

[Sybeck1]

Were you an amnesty fan?

[HamiltonJay]

82.3% for McCain.. and Fred who was the supposedly “conservative” choice, had an 86% lifetime, with a much shorter amount of time spent in congress.

So if 82.3% is not that good, please explain to me why Thompson was embraced and touted by folks as “the conservatives conservative” when his lifetime was only a few points higher?

Can’t have it both ways folks.

[Gritty]

McCain has a "0" rating on amnesty for illegal aliens...

[Thebaddog]

I'm troubled by McCain's closeness to the insiders and his endorsement by all the leading democrats. Why on earth should they care? Except to create mischief.

Furthermore, after the Gang of 14 episode and CFR and Amnesty, how can you say that he will be predictable as a conservative in future issues? To me its too easy to see what you want to see in a candidate and not to intellectualize the pros and cons. I hate to say it, but I voted for W for reasons other than how he governed. I don't want to do that again and McCain is a real problem to me.

Now I think that Romney will be a more predictable president as a manager of the economy and as a prosecutor of the War on Terror. Those are my main two points of interest and I think that he will do better than McCain on those points and others.

[NeoCaveman]

If you threw out the 1980’s his rating would be lower.

If you threw out the 1980’s and the first half of the 90’s it would be lower.

The trend is disconcerting.

[CharlesWayneCT]

During the time Thompson was getting his 86%, McCain’s average is lower than 82%

If we look at the last 7 years, McCain’s number is about 72%.

Fred did NOT show himself as a solid conservative when he was a Senator. He voted for McCain/Feingold, for example. But he was better than McCain. Fred did have a thing for opposing tort reform, which hurt him in the ratings. He even had a few bad gun votes.

But most everything THompson ever did wrong was swept away by his supporters, because in order to nitpick Romney’s record, they had to pretend their candidate was perfect. If they had to admit their own candidate had flipped on major issues like McCain/Feingold, the “flip/flop” argument would carry less weight.

So when in 1994 Thompson was “pro-life”, but only after viability, and didn’t really think it was an important thing to him, they had to instead insist that he was 100% pro-life from birth.

[JaneNC]

What about the Pubbie endorsements?
Not conservative.....

That being said, I am taken aback that he gets the votes he does. Of course, he will not fare so well in closed primaries.

[Polybius]

First, a rating of 82.3 is not really that high.

Ya mean Fred Thompson was a closet Commie?

Lifetime ACU rating for John McCain - 83
Lifetime ACU rating for Thompson - 86

[DM1]

“Joe Lieberman has an ACU ratining that is consistently in the single digits, and yet you’ve got plenty of Republicans who swear the guy is “conservative” . . . including that moron Podhoretz from the New York Post who swears Lieberman would be an ideal running mate for a GOP presidential candidate in 2008. LOL.”

yeah no kidding
i respect Lieberman for bucking his former party in regards to the war but he is a domestic liberal
always was
always will be
he would add NOTHING to a McCain ticket
if McCain got the nod he would be better served getting a Southern Governor with better conservative credentials

[HamiltonJay]

The point I am trying to make is, folks try to say 82% over 21 years is a not a great rating, and then fawn over themselves over a guy who was about 86% over an 8 year span. Had Thompson had as long of a time in the Senate, I highly doubt his rating would have wound up over 80% lifetime.

Thompson was the Obama of the right this season.. a lot of folks projected onto him things that just weren’t there, they saw what they wanted to see, not what was.

I don’t think there are too many republicans that deserve over 75% over the last 8 years... lets face it, amnesty was fought for and supported by most republicans in the Senate, spending has been out of control for most of the last 8 years, etc etc etc.

[smoothsailing]

Thanks for posting.

[CharlesWayneCT]

I do agree that his rating was not as high as you would have expected given his description on this board. His “on the issues” chart was similarly not as “in the corner” as you would expect for a pure conservative.

[neverdem]

thanks, bfl

[Mr. Brightside]

I wonder how many Republicans would consider nominating Ben Nelson as the GOP candidate.

Who are we kidding? If ACU could score Romney as governor, he would score lower than Hillary.

We are not getting a Reagan conservative this year. Even 50 percent ACU rating is better than Hillary's ZERO percent.

[Digital Sniper]

After McCain-Feingold, I’m surprised McCain’s ACU rating didn’t plummet to zero. McCain-Feingold was nothing but a boon for MoveOn.org and other anti-American liberal groups.

[counterpunch]

Open your eyes. Romney is loyal to the GOP.
McCain is planning on stabbing Republicans in the back.

[Mr. Brightside]

Romney is loyal to the GOP? Since when? Since he decided to run for president?

If the ACU could rate him on gay issues/abortion/guns/spending/etc, he would rank lower than Hillary.

With McCain, we know we are getting an unpredictable pain in the ass establishment Republican.

Who knows what we are getting with Romney. His rhetoric is the complete opposite of his record.

So what are we to believe?

It’s a sh!t sandwich either way.

[counterpunch]

We know what we’re getting with McCain, though.
Someone who is going to switch parties once elected.
He’s also going to take Joe Lieberman as his running mate.

[x]

It may be worth noting that a lot of Republican Senators' ratings went down from 2005 to 2006.

The votes McCain made that they didn't like were for requiring a 60% vote to cut taxes, illegal aliens claiming social security, the path to citizenship for illegals, a constitutional ban on gay marriage, Hawaiian tribal self-government, sanctions on Iran, border fencing and stem-cell research funding.

That's eight out of twenty-five. He missed two votes and agreed with the ACU on fifteen votes.

Apparently the 2007 ratings aren't out yet.