Posted on 02/23/2012 7:00:12 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Here’s another view of Santorum’s OVERALL Senate record. Instead of focusing on a few trees, let’s see the overall FOREST of his votes.
Remember, if we focus on some of the TREES of what Ronald Reagan did as governor ( and even as President ), e.g. He signed a pro-abortion bill, he raised taxes in California, and as President, he gave us AN AMNESTY LAW, we would then conclude that Reagan is no conservative ( missing the overall forest ).
Excerpts From the Weekly Standard:
http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/was-santorum-senate-spendthrift_629850.html?page=1
TITLE : Was Santorum a Senate Spendthrift?
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So, is Romneys claim true? Was Santorum a spendthrift in the Senate? Fortunately, credible third party analysis is available to help us answer this question, so we need not merely accept the Romney campaigns verdict as the final word on the matter.
The National Taxpayers Union (NTU) has been rating members of Congress for 20 years. NTU is an independent, non-partisan organization that per its mission statement mobilizes elected officials and the general public on behalf of tax relief and reform, lower and less wasteful spending, individual liberty, and free enterprise. Steve Forbes serves on its board of directors.
For each session of Congress, NTU scores each member on an A-to-F scale. NTU weights members votes based on those votes perceived effect on both the immediate and future size of the federal budget. Those who get As are among the strongest supporters of responsible tax and spending policies; they receive NTUs Taxpayers Friend Award. Bs are good scores, Cs are minimally acceptable scores, Ds are poor scores, and Fs earn their recipients membership in the Big Spender category. There is no grade inflation whatsoever, as we shall see.
NTUs scoring paints a radically different picture of Santorums 12-year tenure in the Senate (1995 through 2006) than one would glean from the rhetoric of the Romney campaign. Fifty senators served throughout Santorums two terms: 25 Republicans, 24 Democrats, and 1 Republican/Independent. On a 4-point scale (awarding 4 for an A, 3.3 for a B+, 3 for a B, 2.7 for a B-, etc.), those 50 senators collective grade point average (GPA) across the 12 years was 1.69 which amounts to a C-. Meanwhile, Santorums GPA was 3.66 or an A-. Santorums GPA placed him in the top 10 percent of senators, as he ranked 5th out of 50.
Across the 12 years in question, only 6 of the 50 senators got As in more than half the years. Santorum was one of them. He was also one of only 7 senators who never got less than a B. (Jim Talent served only during Santorums final four years, but he always got less than a B, earning a B- every year and a GPA of 2.7.) Moreover, while much of the Republican party lost its fiscal footing after George W. Bush took office although it would be erroneous to say that the Republicans were nearly as profligate as the Democrats Santorum was the only senator who got As in every year of Bushs first term. None of the other 49 senators could match Santorums 4.0 GPA over that span.
This much alone would paint an impressive portrait of fiscal conservatism on Santorums part. Yet it doesnt even take into account a crucial point: Santorum was representing Pennsylvania.
Based on how each state voted in the three presidential elections over that period (1996, 2000, and 2004), nearly two-thirds of senators represented states that were to the right of Pennsylvania. In those three presidential elections, Pennsylvania was, on average, 3 points to the left of the nation as a whole. Pennsylvanians backed the Democratic presidential nominee each time, while the nation as a whole chose the Republican in two out of three contests.
Among the roughly one-third of senators (18 out of 50) who represented states that based on this measure were at least as far to the left as Pennsylvania, Santorum was the most fiscally conservative. Even more telling was the canyon between him and the rest. After Santorums overall 3.66 GPA, the runner-up GPA among this group was 2.07, registered by Olympia Snowe (R., Maine). Arlen Specter, Santorums fellow Pennsylvania Republican, was next, with a GPA of 1.98. The average GPA among senators who represented states at least as far left as Pennsylvania was 0.52 or barely a D-.
But Santorum also crushed the senators in the other states. Those 32 senators, representing states that on average were 16 points to the right of Pennsylvania in the presidential elections, had an average GPA of 2.35 a C+.
In fact, considering the state he was representing, one could certainly make the case that Santorum was the most fiscally conservative senator during his tenure. The only four senators whose GPAs beat Santorums represented states that were 2 points (Republican Judd Gregg of New Hampshire), 10 points (Republican Jon Kyl of Arizona), 25 points (Republican James Inhofe of Oklahoma), and 36 points (Republican Craig Thomas of Wyoming) to the right of Pennsylvania in the presidential elections. Moreover, of these four, only Kyl (with a GPA of 3.94) beat Santorum by as much as a tenth of a point. Its an open question whether a 3.94 from Arizona is more impressive than a 3.66 from Pennsylvania.
So, if Santorum was among and perhaps even topped the list of the most fiscally conservative senators during this period, who were the least fiscally conservative? That prize would have to go to the two North Dakota senators, who despite representing a state that voted 23 points to the right of the national average in the presidential elections, managed to achieve GPAs of 0.08 (Democrat Kent Conrad) and 0.00 (Democrat Byron Dorgan). Honorable mentions would have to go to Max Baucus (D., Mont.), who got a 0.84 GPA in a state that was 18 points to the right of the national average; Harry Reid (D., Nev.), who got a 0.08 GPA in a state that was 4 points to the right of average; and Utah Republicans Bob Bennett and Orrin Hatch, who each barely cleared a 3.0 (3.11 for Bennett, 3.08 for Hatch) despite representing the state that, in the presidential elections, was the nations most right-leaning (38 points to the right of average).
As for Santorums potential opponent in the fall, Barack Obamas three years in the Senate (2005 through 2007) overlapped only with Santorums final two years. (In 2008, Obama effectively left the Senate to campaign for President and therefore didnt cast enough votes for NTU to score him that year.) In both of the years that the two men overlapped (2005 and 2006), as well as throughout Obamas three years worth of preparation for the presidency, Obamas GPA was 0.00 a rock-solid F.
Now thats acting like a Democrat something Santorum has never done.
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