Obama more liberal than Kucinich, analysis reveals

[helderheid]

Obama more liberal than Kucinich, analysis reveals
by Steven Thomma
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
20 March 2007

WASHINGTON—The most liberal member of Congress running for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination isn’t Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

It’s Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois.

And the Republican candidate who’s grown less conservative over his years in Congress? Sen. John McCain of Arizona.

Those are among the interesting findings in a recent analysis of votes by all the members of Congress who are running for president. They cut to the heart of debates going on among activists in both major parties: Can a liberal Democrat win a general election? Which Republican is ideologically pure enough to win support from conservatives?

The study, released this month by the National Journal, a respected inside-the-Beltway research report, will help voters cut through the spin and hype of TV sound bites in coming months and judge these candidates for themselves.


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http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/article/32046/obama-more-liberal-than-kucinich-analysis-reveals/

[skipos]

1. Kucinich was probably weighted down by the fact he was 100% pro-life

until a few years ago.

[Sammy Pepys]

7. Yup...

...I would also guess that's what did it.

[NYCGirl]

2. That report is from the RNC, according to Tim Grieve at Salon:

In an e-mail distributed to reporters this morning, the Republican National Committee's Research Department says that Barack Obama -- and not Dennis Kucinich -- is the "most liberal member of Congress" currently running for the presidency. The RNC cites a McClatchy Newspapers report which relies, in turn, on the most recent "lifetime" scores from the National Journal.

Sort of.

The problem? To come up with its annual and lifetime rankings, the National Journal compares senators' voting records to other senators' voting records and House members' voting records to other House members' voting records. The resulting "liberal scores" and "conservative scores" are percentiles.

Thus, Obama's "lifetime liberal score" of 84.3 means only that, by the National Journal's math, Obama's Senate voting record makes him more liberal than 84.3 percent of senators. And Kucinich's "lifetime liberal score" of 79.4 means only that Kucinich is more liberal than 79.4 percent of House members. As the National Journal's Richard Cohen confirmed for us in a telephone call this morning, you can't do an apples-to-apples comparison of the two. And even if you could, the difference between an 84.3 and a 79.4 would be less than meaningless given (1) Obama's short tenure in the Senate, (2) Kucinich's evolution from center to left over the years, and (3) the sheer number of farther-left liberals in the House.


http://www.salon.com/politics/war_room/2007/03/20/liberal/index.html

[helderheid]

4. Thank you!

[NYCGirl]

8. You're welcome. These are the same band of liars that said Kerry in 2004 was

"the most liberal" in the Senate.

[helderheid]

9. I was sure that was the case - we need to make sure everyone knows that!

[depakid]

12. And surprise! Some so called "journalists" fell for it

and some editors and publisher printed it- as if it were the Gospel truth.

[kath]

22. yep. Liberal media, my ass.

[rman]

14. Why are Repubs so concerned with Dem candidates?

I don't see any dems informing repubs about Republican candidates...

[NYCGirl]

15. The DNC has some information:

http://democrats.org/a/2008_republican_presidential_candidates/rudy_giuliani/

http://democrats.org/a/2008_republican_presidential_candidates/john_mccain/

http://democrats.org/blog.html

[Merlot]

21. "the sheer number of farther-left liberals in the House."

yup, just like the "liberal media"

[Mass]

3. The comparison is absolutely meaningless.

They are comparing the 2 years voting record of Obama in the Senate, to the many years of voting record of Kucinich in the House.

[katmondoo]

5. There has to be something wrong with this

John McCain has been kissing Bush's ass harder amd closer everyday. The spin machine in full swing.

[BayCityProgressive]

6. Hm

I just don't see how this is possible. Kucinich's views on all of the major issues re: healthcare, impeachment, Iraq, education ect seem to be far to the Left of the others..

[pnwmom]

11. I guess you don't consider women's right to control their own bodies

a major issue.

[gatorboy]

10. Oh, come ON! Wasn't there a thread here that Edwards the most liberal just LAST WEEK?

And really, who friggin cares besides a conservative base that wouldn't vote for Obamam anyway?

[NoPasaran]

13. Is this the same study that concluded libertarian nutzoid Ron Paul

Is this the same study that concluded libertarian nutzoid Ron Paul is a liberal? Sounds like bullshit to me.

[Perky]

16. Impossible

The Senate has not voted on anything in the last two years worthy of scoring accept Scotus nominees.

[rman]

17. Obama opposes Chavez, yet voted against CAFTA

and thinks NAFTA should be renegotiated.

He does not seem to realize that opposing capitalist "free trade" policies like CAFTA and NAFTA is pretty darn close to the core of Chavez' policies.


http://blog.zmag.org/node/2945

http://obama.senate.gov/press/061023-senator_obamas_office_responds_to_misleading_harpers_magazine_story/index.html

[ellacott]

18. This is definately skewed

There was a republican strategist on tv who said that Hillary was very liberal. The worst part was that she was debating a democratic strategist who never challenged her on that statement.

[Ron Green]

19. Good!! Does this mean that Dennis is now more electable?

I sure hope so. He's the only one with the right policies.

[NYCGirl]

20. Only if you don't realize that the study is a LIE. NT