“Do these rating organizations also follow Democrats?
I’d be interested to see if any Democrats actually rank higher than some of our RINOs.”
Yes they do, but I’m not aware of a case where the best democrat is better than the worst republican. There might be one or two in the House, but not in the Senate, where I focus. There are no liberal republicans anymore, that would be more liberal than any democrat. Specter was the last. When push comes to shove, the democrats in the senate toe the liberal line.
“All of this helpful, but unavoidably subjective.
Since so much legislation is specifically designed to give political cover to our elected representatives, “grading” their votes is often an impossible goal.”
You are correct, but the point of my average is to take all that into account, so that absolutely everything is covered over all the rating agencies, so we can reasonably compare one senator with another, comparing apples to apples.
And it helps to clearly see who should be removed when primary and election time rolls around.
I've published a number of independent data analyses here at Free Republic on immigration, employment, and USA elections.
It often takes a lot of research and a lot of time to get it right.