After selecting presidential hopeful Barack Obama as the most liberal person to ever walk the face of the earth, the very serious and very non-partisan National Journal relished its rankings as the right wing talking heads salivated at "insurgent" Obama's first place finish. But what exactly qualifies a person as the most liberal to ever be born? Well, finally NJ has opened their secret votes and the rankings at which they selected them to be either liberal or conservative. And surprisingly they only released the information for Obama and Hillary. According to NJ, these issues are what make people liberals.
- Vote No. 24: on an amendment to "[r]epeal the federal minimum wage by giving states the authority to set minimum wages," according to the Journal. The magazine determined that the liberal position was to vote against the amendment, as Obama did.
- Vote No. 56: to "[t]able an amendment that would require the Homeland Security Department to screen 100 percent of cargo containers entering the country within five years," according to the Journal. Obama voted against tabling the amendment to the Improving America's Security Act of 2007, which the magazine considered to be the liberal position; the conservative position was to kill the amendment.
- Vote No. 73: on passage of the Improving America's Security Act of 2007 itself, which the Journal described as "a bill implementing the 9/11 commission's homeland-security recommendations, including a provision extending collective bargaining rights to federal security screeners." The liberal position, according to the magazine, was to vote for the bill, as Obama did.
- Vote No. 127: on passage of the Stem Cell Research Enhancement Act of 2007, which the Journal described as "[s]upport[ing] embryonic-stem-cell research." The liberal position, according to the magazine, was to vote for the bill, as Obama did.
- Vote No. 307: concerning "legislation reauthorizing and expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program," as the Journal noted. The liberal position, according to the magazine, was to vote for the bill, as Obama did.
The changing of the rules allowing the Republican nominee John McCain to be exempt from this years rankings was also just a minor oversight that NJ was aware of in 2003 when the new rules would have also exempted John Kerry from being ranked as the most liberal person in the galaxy but NJ decided not to change the rules then only after "...we learned Kerry's ranking." It's so nice to see such upfront talk from very serious and manly tough politicos.
For those who haven't read my first reaction to the NJ rankings, here you go. Maybe before the general election in November, NJ can do another ranking on who is the most likely to show up for work, or would they have to change the rules again to actually include John McCain?
Tags: Obama, National Journal, Most Liberal, lost, women
2 comments:
I would never consider Obama to be the most liberal senator, but from what I can tell there is no doubt that he is a liberal.
He's for drivers licenses for illegal immigrants.
Isn't he also for in state tuition for illegals like his buddy Deval Patrick?
Obama wants to pull American troops out of Iraq about as fast or faster than any other political figure except maybe Denis Kucinich.
He has explained that it is "an investment in our future" when asked to explain why it may be necessary to raise taxes in order to pay for the social programs that he wants to bring about.
He wants to get rid of the Bush tax cuts, which amounts to a tax hike.
These are just a few of the liberal positions that I think of right off the bat when considering Obama.
Now I'm not making a positive/negative judgement on his stance on these issues, but he clearly holds the liberal position on them and a wide range of issues down the line.
Stem cell research.
Global warming.
Abortion.
Entitlement programs.
I can't think of an area in which he doesn't hold the quintessentially liberal position. Most liberal? No. Classic liberal? Yes.
Classic liberal, yes. But that is very different than the liberal NJ and Rush Limbaugh and Fox News want to represent. You comment is noted, but I don't see it changing my opinion that the NJ rankings are a joke.
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