How come there's no way to measure a politician's SPINE?

The post on ACU's rating for 2001 ^ | Feb. 6, 2002 | BillyBoy

[BillyBoy]

Sorry for the vanity, folks, but...

The latest ratings from the American Conservative Union prompted questions from freepers who once again confuse RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) with RINOS (Republicans In Need Of Spine)

If I hear one more person say "Gee...Trent Lott voted the conservative position 100% according to these guys...what's so bad?", I'm going to scream!

Let's face it folks. LEADERSHIP ablities and IDELOGICAL beliefs are two different things.

We really oughto have a "ratings" system that measures spine the way the ACU rates conservativism. Ideology does not effect Spine. Some liberals have a ton of arrogant, pompous "my way" skills in Congress (see Dasshole for more info.), others have none and flip-flop every which way. Ditto with conservatives.

I'd like to get freepers opinions on this. Let's take..say...just the 100 Senators, and rate them by SPINE.

* Someone who scored 100% who be the type of person who ALWAYS stands up for their beliefs and vigorious goes out to do WHATEVER it takes to get it passed, unconcerned about ramifications with voters or anything else. They wear the phrase "lone dissenter" like a badge of honor, but they'd sure do ANYTHING to get other people to support their view.

* Someone who scored 0% would have no "set" beliefs at ALL! They'd be completely driven by pressure from others in congress or the latest polls. They would NEVER speak up for what they want, instead, they'd cave into any demand requested of them. This type of person would be a complete empty suit, useless in a position of power.

Here's my hunch on how our current Senators would stack up under such a ratings system. Most of these are rough guesses at best. A few freshmen Senators I had NO clue on how their leadership skills are.

WHAT'S YOUR ASSESSMENT??

[BillyBoy]

AK
Murkowski, Frank (R) SPINE—92%
Stevens, Ted (R) SPINE—100%

AL Sessions, Jeff (R) SPINE—90%
Shelby, Richard (R) SPINE—55%

AR
Hutchinson, Tim (R) SPINE—90%
Lincoln, Blanche (D) SPINE---68%

AZ
Kyl, Jon (R) SPINE—85%
McCain, John (R) SPINE—100%

CA
Boxer, Barbara (D) SPINE—100%
Feinstein, Dianne (D) SPINE—95%

CO
Allard, Wayne (R) SPINE—85%
Campbell, Ben Nighthorse (R) SPINE—70%

CT
Dodd, Christopher (D) SPINE—75%
Lieberman, Joseph (D) SPINE—30%

DE
Biden Jr, Joseph (D) SPINE—75%
Carper, Thomas (D) ??

FL
Graham, Bob (D) SPINE—88%
Nelson, Bill (D) ??

GA
Cleland, Max (D) SPINE—60%
Miller, Zell (D) SPINE—80%

HI
Akaka, Daniel (D) SPINE—70%
Inouye, Daniel (D) SPINE—95%

IA
Grassley, Chuck (R) SPINE—92%
Harkin, Tom (D) SPINE—75%

ID
Craig, Larry (R) SPINE—96%
Crapo, Mike (R) SPINE—78%

IL
Durbin, Richard (D) SPINE—90%
Fitzgerald, Peter (R) SPINE—98%

IN
Lugar, Richard (R) SPINE—62%
Bayh, Evan (D) SPINE—40%

KS
Brownback, Sam (R) SPINE—95%
Roberts, Pat (R) SPINE—55%

KY
McConnell, Mitch (R) SPINE—95%
Bunning, Jim (R) SPINE—80%

LA
Breaux, John (D) SPINE—92%
Landrieu, Mary (D) SPINE—90%

MA
Kennedy, Edward (D) SPINE—100%
Kerry, John (D) SPINE—82%

MD
Mikulski, Barbara (D) SPINE—90%
Sarbanes, Paul (D) SPINE—78%

ME
Collins, Susan (R) SPINE—65%
Snowe, Olympia (R) SPINE—80%

MI
Levin, Carl (D) SPINE—95%
Stabenow, Debbie (D) ??

MN
Dayton, Mark (D) ??
Wellstone, Paul (D) SPINE—95%

MO
Bond, Christopher (R) SPINE—92%
Carnahan, Jean (D) SPINE—45%

MS
Cochran, Thad (R) SPINE—60%
Lott, Trent (R) SPINE—20%

MT
Baucus, Max (D) SPINE—65%
Burns, Conrad (R) SPINE—95%

NC
Helms, Jesse (R) SPINE—85%
Edwards, John (D) SPINE—70%

ND
Dorgan, Byron (D) SPINE—92%
Conrad, Kent (D) SPINE—92%

NE
Hagel, Charles (R) SPINE—60%
Nelson, Ben (D) ??

NH
Gregg, Judd (R) SPINE—75%
Smith, Bob (R) SPINE—100%

NJ
Torricelli, Robert (D) SPINE—95%
Corzine, Jon (D) SPINE—90%

NM
Bingaman, Jeff (D) SPINE--40%
Domenici, Pete (R) SPINE---90%

NV
Reid, Harry (D) SPINE—95%
Ensign, John (R) ??

NY
Schumer, Charles (D) SPINE—95%
Clinton, Hillary (D) SPINE—100%

OH
DeWine, Mike (R) SPINE—80%
Voinovich, George (R) SPINE—90%

OK
Inhofe, James (R) SPINE—98%
Nickles, Don (R) SPINE—85%

OR
Smith, Gordon (R) SPINE—75%
Wyden, Ron (D) SPINE—75%

PA
Santorum, Rick (R) SPINE—90%
Specter, Arlen (R) SPINE—25%

RI
Chafee, Lincoln (R) SPINE—95%
Reed, Jack (D) SPINE—90%

SC
Thurmond, Strom (R) SPINE—68%
Hollings, Ernest (D) SPINE—95%

SD
Daschle, Thomas (D) SPINE—98%
Johnson, Tim (D) SPINE—52%

TN
Frist, William (R) SPINE—90%
Thompson, Fred (R) SPINE—80%

TX
Gramm, Phil (R) SPINE—92%
Hutchison, Kay Bailey (R) SPINE—67%

UT
Bennett, Robert (R) SPINE—78%
Hatch, Orrin (R) SPINE—58%

VA
Warner, John (R) SPINE—90%
Allen, George (R) ??

VT
Jeffords, James (I) SPINE—95%
Leahy, Patrick (D) SPINE—95%

WA
Murray, Patty (D) SPINE—65%
Cantwell, Maria (D) ??

WI
Feingold, Russell (D) SPINE—95%
Kohl, Herb (D) SPINE—82%

WV
Byrd, Robert (D) SPINE—15%
Rockefeller IV, John (D) SPINE—90%

WY
Enzi, Mike (R) SPINE—95%
Thomas, Craig (R) SPINE—90%

[BillyBoy]

So, by my count, the two extremes in leadership skills would end up like this:

MOST SPINE
Kennedy, Edward (D) SPINE—100%
McCain, John (R) SPINE—100%
Smith, Bob (R) SPINE—100%
Boxer, Barbara (D) SPINE—100%
Clinton, Hillary (D) SPINE—100%
Stevens, Ted (R) SPINE—100%
Daschle, Thomas (D) SPINE—98%
Inhofe, James (R) SPINE—98%
Fitzgerald, Peter (R) SPINE—98%
Craig, Larry (R) SPINE—96%

LEAST SPINE
Byrd, Robert (D) SPINE—15%
Lott, Trent (R) SPINE—20%
Specter, Arlen (R) SPINE—25%
Lieberman, Joseph (D) SPINE—30%
Bayh, Evan (D) SPINE—40%
Bingaman, Jeff (D) SPINE--40%
Carnahan, Jean (D) SPINE—45%
Johnson, Tim (D) SPINE—52%

[BillyBoy]

BUMP

[sauropod]

Lott also personally deep-sixed the Impeachment Trial of His Slickness.

'Pod's Conservative Rating ---> 0

[Kermit]

Trent Lott has ZERO spine, the first human know to survive without a spine. I noted this years ago. Any group of people, say the Republican Senatorial Caucus, who elects a man as LEADER, who has no spine, have themselves no spine.

I've also said while the Republicans held 57 Senate Seats, that they'll have the choice, replace Lott as MAJORITY Leader or replace him as MINORITY Leader. Under Lott's "leadership", the Senators lost their majority. Still they move not. Still they keep Lott. Not one Republican Senator has Spine, unless you count McCain, but he's not a Republican.

[willieroe]

Any Republican who said, in so many words, "While serious, Clinton's misdeeds do not rise to the level of high crimes and misdemeanors," needs to have his SPINE rating sliced in half. (Thompson of TN was one of these!)

[francisandbeans]

I have always hated the ratings system. They wreak of political shammery. No one agrees with me 100% of the time (well laz does, because he's my b*tch). Why would I care about the rating of some group's agreement rating?

For the record, Ron Paul has possesion of Lotts spine. How else could you explain a 184% rating?

[francisandbeans]

and just to make sure everyone sees this quote:

"To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists," --John Ashcroft 12/6/2001

I'll defer comment to anyone who wishes to give it.

[Gunner9mm]

You can't measure what isn't there.

[BillyBoy]

I gave Lott twenty points out 100 and you guys want to put him down to zero based on impeachment. Wow, and I thought I was tough... ;-)

[Kermit]

Heck, I wasn't even thinking of impeachment. Add that factor into the analysis and you'll have to give Lott a negative SPINE rating. That means his weakens the spines of his fellow GOP senators. Hey, I think we're hitting the right number with a -37 SPINE.

Somewhere back in the bad old Clinton days, Lott wrote a letter to Clinton on how Lott stabbed his base in the back on the Chemical Weapons Convention and that Clinton should do the same to his base on some budget issue. Clinton of course took and pocketed Lott's betrayal and kept his own cards on the budget issue. Lott weakened screwed his base and weakened the GOP Senate position on the stupid Chemical Weapons Convention. QED

[Twodees]

Don't waste your time looking for spine among politicians. They're an invertebrate species.