Tag Archives: Clinton

Senator Barack Obama More Liberal than Dennis Kucinich?

Senator Obama also has a higher liberal rating than any other Senator running for President this year. The National Journal has just released its 2006 annual ratings of Congress based on roll call votes on key economic, social and foreign policy issues.

When the New York Times political blog compared their lifetime scores they came up with the following ranking:

Senator Barack Obama………………….84.3
Representative Dennis Kucinich……..79.4
Senator Christopher J. Dodd ………….79.2
Senator Hiliary Rodham Clinton ……78.8
Senator Joseph R. Biden, Jr……………76.8

Former Senator John Edwards, who is also running for President was not included in this analysis but I came across the following written by Richard Cohen of the National Journal in Feb 2004:

“Judging by National Journal’s congressional vote ratings, however, Kerry and Edwards aren’t all that different, at least not when it comes to how they voted on key issues before the Senate last year. The results of the vote ratings show that Kerry was the most liberal senator in 2003, with a composite liberal score of 96.5. But Edwards wasn’t far behind: He had a 2003 composite liberal score of 94.5, making him the fourth-most-liberal senator. ”

“Edwards … had a moderate voting record during the first four years following his election to the Senate in 1998. The results positioned Edwards comfortably apart from Senate liberals, but not so far to the right that he locked arms with centrist Republicans. His consistent moderation placed Edwards among the center-right of Senate Democrats. But once Edwards decided to run for president and abandoned his bid for a second Senate term, his record moved dramatically to the left in 2003.”

I do not have access to the National Journal’s archives but maybe someone else can find and calculate Edward’s composite ratings. It would appear that he and Obama probably would come out pretty similar. The ratings vary year by year. Note below that Kerry scored much lower in 2006, coming in 12th in the ratings

On the 2006 composite liberal scores in the US Senate released by the National Journal today, Senator Richard Durbin (D) of Illinois received the highest score of 95.2 followed by Senator Barbara Boxer (D) of California with 95. The scores rank from 1 to 100, with 100 being the highest liberal ranking.

Washington State’s Senator Patty Murray (D) came in 8th highest at 89.3. Our other Senator, Maria Cantwell (D) came in 22nd with a score of 79.9.

Comparing the current Democratic Presidential candidates with a few other notable 2006 Democratic Senators, we get an interesting list:

1. Senator Richard Durbin (Illinois)…………………..95.2
2. Senator Barbara Boxer (California)………………..95
3. Senator Edward Kennedy (Massachusetts) ……..93.7
8. Senator Patty Murray (Washington) ………………89.3
10. Senator Barack Obama (Illinois)………..86 …Presidential Candidate
11. Senator Ron Wyden (Oregon) ……………………..86
12. Senator John Kerry (Massachusetts)…………… 85.7
15. Senator Russell Feingold (Wisconsin)………….. 84.5
17. Senator Christopher Dodd (Conn.)……..84 …Presidential Candidate
22. Senator Maria Cantwell (Washington) ………..79.7
23. Senator Harry Reid (Nevada)………………………78.2
24 Senator Joseph Biden (Delaware) ………77.5 …Presidential Candidate
25. Senator Dianne Feinstein (California)………….76.5
32. Senator Hiliary .Clinton (New York) …70.2 …Presidential Candidate
36. Senator Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut) ……67.5

On a separate listing of House members, Dennis Kucinich came in at #50 0ut of 454 members in the House. He had a liberal composite score of 87 for 2006.

Is Hillary Power Hungry? Is that Bad?

Women who run for President shouldn’t be power hungry. And they should never forgive their husband if he has an extramarital affair, particularly if they want to run for President. Right wing talk radio? Michael Savage? Rush Limbaugh? No, a post by a “progressive” blogger.

I can’t vote for someone who I perceive as so cravenly hungry for power that she’ll do absolutely anything to obtain it.” so says Carla over at Preemptive Karma.

While Carla says ” I can’t pretend to understand the goings on in people’s marriages” she savagely trashes Hillary for sticking with Bill anyway after the Monica Lewinsky affair. Carla ” can fathom no reason for staying in such a dysfunctional situation except to stay next to power.”

The vast right wing conspiracy loves you Carla. The right wing long ago launched a “Stop Hillary Movement” See efforts like Stop Hillary clothes at Cafe Press, Stop Hillary PAC, the Hillary Project -educate yourself on the most corrupt politician in recent history, Blogs Against Hillary, and on and on. The right wing is afraid of Hillary. Such right wing noise and fear mongering makes me suspicious of any anti -Clinton spin and so here’s my response to Carla which I posted on her site:

I truly don’t see that your argument makes sense. Maybe a different perspective is that Hillary leaving Bill would have added fuel and support to the mean spirited partisan right wing Republican power play to impeach Bill Clinton and push him out of office. Maybe it was more an act of courage to stay and deny the right wing satisfaction in their meddling in a family personal matter and trying to use it for their right wing political ends. In fact your link to wikipedia speaks to this – the vast right wing conspiracy.

As some who took after Clinton found out, they had things to hide also. Hillary Clinton was hardly the first person to be married to a straying husband who had sex with someone else.

If you ask me, your comments fall into the Republican game plan to have us buy into this idea that there is something wrong with Hillary both because she stayed with her husband and because now she wants to be President. Why is she being singled out as someone wanting power that we should judge as bad? Could it be that this is parroting back one of the Republican talking points to stop Hillary? Tell me the name of one candidate for President that doesn’t want power?

You have to want power to be able to reach your goals and implement your visions. Remember the event that did in Ted Kennedy’s 1980 attempt at running for President – the CBS Roger Mudd interview where he couldn’t explain why he wanted to be President?

If a candidate doesn’t have the drive and ambition to be President, do you think they’re going to run a strong campaign or be a strong President? Would you vote for a Democrat that didn’t have the passion to want to be President and that couldn’t persevere through adversity – including an extra marital affair of a spouse?

How about judging Hillary and the other candidates on what they say they want to do as President and whether they have what it takes to get elected and take this nation forward after the dismal Bush years? Let’s not buy into Republican spin mongering. That’s what this Hillary “power” trip thing is. It’s also a sexism thing because it supports the image that women wanting power are not O.K while men wanting power are OK.

Let’s not buy into Republican spin mongering. That’s what this Hillary “power” trip thing is. It’s also a sexism thing because it supports the image that women wanting power are not O.K while men wanting power are OK. Why is this discussion only about Hillary wanting power? Seems to me that this is what the Republican spin machine wants us to talk about. Its part of their stop Hillary campaign.

I looked up John McCain on nndb.com. It said “McCain had an extramarital affair with Cindy Lou Hensley, whose father owned Hensley & Co., a Phoenix-based liquor company that is the nation’s second largest Anheuser-Busch distributor. McCain and Shepp were divorced in 1980, and he married his millionaire mistress the following month” So is John McCain a better candidate for President?

Remember the Kerry criticism by the right wing of marrying into the Heinz family money. It’s all a matter of where you’re coming from politically as to whether it matters or not about the details of ones personal marital life it seems.

Or lets look at Gingrich who pushed for Clinton’s impeachment. “Gingrich has been married three times. In 1962, Gingrich married his first wife, Jackie Battley, resulting in the birth of two daughters. He began to discuss divorce with Jackie in 1981, while she was in the hospital recovering from cancer surgery. Gingrich married his second wife, Marianne Ginther, in the fall of 1981. [4] They divorced in 1999 because of her dislike for Washington D.C. and other difficulties. A year later, he married a House aide, Callista Bisek [5] amid rumors the two had an affair during his previous marriage, even while presiding over Clinton’s impeachment”

Hilliary Clinton Officially Joins Presidential Race

Surprise. Surprise. “I’m in” says Hilliary Clinton. Hilliary Clinton’s website contained the announcement this morning that she is joining the long list of candidates running for President in 2008.

I’m in. And I’m in to win.
Today I am announcing that I will form an exploratory committee to run for president.
And I want you to join me not just for the campaign but for a conversation about the future of our country — about the bold but practical changes we need to overcome six years of Bush administration failures.”


…”Only a new president can renew the promise of America — the idea that if you work hard you can count on the health care, education, and retirement security that you need to raise your family. These are the basic values of America that are under attack from this administration every day.”

“…I believe that change is coming November 4, 2008. And I am forming my exploratory committee because I believe that together we can bring the leadership that this country needs. I’m going to start this campaign with a national conversation about how we can work to get our country back on track.”
“This is a big election with some very big questions. How do we bring the war in Iraq to the right end? How can we make sure every American has access to adequate health care? How will we ensure our children inherit a clean environment and energy independence? How can we reduce the deficits that threaten Social Security and Medicare? “

You can read the full text and also see her video at her website.