The Federalist Phoenix

Comprehensive Senate Voting Records - The Truth About RINOs

I've been working on this for a while, and will continue to work on it.  I have put together an Excel spreadsheet (download here) that records virtually every single roll call vote in the Senate this year.  I have excluded certain "token" votes - like the Resolution expressing condolences on the death of John Paul II and other such non-binding resolutions that have no political effect and are virtually always unanimous.

I have taken each vote and assigned a "conservative" vote position.  And have then sought to rate each Senator's conservativeness.  This goes farther than most ratings as they take into account only certain "major" votes.  But there are many amendments and procedural votes that are quite important.

Finally, I have also sought to give Republican Senators "loyalty scores" indicating how often they vote with the Republican caucus.  In order to do that, I considered a "loyalty vote" any vote in which at least 47 Republicans vote on the same side.  I chose the number because it is about 85%, and it also sounded about right.  As we know there are 4 or 5 "moderates" in the caucus - so a number like 50 would have left few votes to count.  Where the caucus loses 9 members however, it seemed fair to say there was more than just RINOism going on.

I will be regularly updating the votes.  I encourage those reviewing the info to give me feedback - are the parameters right, do you think I mischaracterized a particular vote, is there a vote on which I missed the "conservative" position?

Please see below for some of the findings and some conclusions on those numbers.

Federal Financial Aid to Students

So today I read what has to be an awful job of coverage by the Washington Post on the issue of federal student aid.  The article addressed efforts to repeal provisions of the 1998 Higher Education Act that prevent those convicted of drug crimes from receiving federal student aid.  The awful coverage job is that the article made the story into some sort of "rich vs. poor" issue - as if the law was passed to oppress the poor because rich people don't need financial aid.

In reality, the issue is government responsibility to its citizens and taxpayers.  I grant that the law doesn't affect "rich kids" who don't get financial aid - but the simple answer to that is - the government can't do anything to them, and rightly, because the government is doing anything for them in the first place.  Most of these "rich kids" attend private institutions by using private dollars (from parents and relatives).  If little Johnny's parents are still willing to pay $40K a year so they're little druggie can go to Princeton, good for them.  But I, as a taxpayer, should not have my tax dollars go to support the education of a half-baked kid who can't manage to go to class because smoking up is more important.

Mind you, I don't claim the law in question is flawless.  I think there are many things "wrong" with it, but I do strongly disagree with the alleged answer of repeal.  The answer is not to eliminate the provisions, it's to make them real restrictions.  The underlying principle - that taxpayers should not support the education of kids who are twice (twice!) convicted of possession (or once convicted of selling drugs; and both possesors and sellers are at first only suspended from receipt for two years - a ban only activates on additional convictions) - is a good one, and should be one that receives broad support.

That said, read on below the fold for some of my "corrections" that might make the law better - and more equitable.

A Little Schadenfreude on Jimmy Carter

I always take a little bit of joy when people who act morally superior get hit with something like this.

The always "morally superior" Jimmy Carter now has a convicted criminal in the family.  Grandson Jeremy Carter (a mere 18 years old - son of Jeff Carter - Jimmy's youngest son) plead guilty to stealing a video game console.  He was arrested after being found in a friend's home but the burglary charge was reduced to a misdemeanor "theft by taking" charge.  That was because the victim did not want young Carter to go to jail (burglary would carry a three-year prison sentence).  Jeremy will only suffer 30 days of house arrest and 36 months probation thanks to the victim's generosity.

Maybe old Jimmy should get his own house in order before he tells the rest of the country how to run its business.

Frist's Logic on Stem Cells

So the one of the Senate's M.D.s has gone ahead and endorsed expanded funding of stem cell research.  Bill Frist, came out in favor of a limited expansion in a floor speech today.  I am not shocked.  I am also not all that bothered by the suggestion. 

We have seen the Bush Administration's policy in action for 4 years.  In 2001, the very notion of funding stem cell research was new (Clinton provided no money for such research).  Bush put federal money where none was before.  It has been successful, but it is not perfect, and scientist realize it may lead to an end to the very lines permitted for experimentation.

Thousands, if not millions, of embryonic cells are destroyed every year as couples undergoing fertility treatments become pregnant and choose to discard embryos that remain frozen or otherwise stored.  Frist's support is for the use of funding for research on those embryos where the parents consent to that use without compensation.  If for no other reason, I would support this because it does not actively seek to create and/or destroy embryos that would not otherwise be expended.  If a couple is going to discard embryos, why shouldn't there be an option to use those embryos for scientific purposes.

More (along with election '08 analysis) below the fold..........

The 12 Sane Vermonters

Looks like not everybody in Vermont has gone off the liberal deep end.  Yesterday, a 12-member jury sitting on a federal trial, recommended the death penalty for a convicted kidnapper who accosted a 58-year-old grocery worker, took her over the border to New York and then bludgeoned her to death.

Vermont has no state death penalty, making this the first capital case in Vermont in almost 40 years.  Former Attorney General John Ashcroft refused to accept a plea from the defendant in 2001 and insisted on seeking the death penalty.  The trial judge is now required to impose the death penalty, as recommended, under federal law.

So maybe not everyone in Vermont has been corrupted by liberalism.

Cheney Heart Healthy

FoxNews reports that Vice President Cheney's heart is in stable condition and that he is "heart healthy" (as healthy as a vicitim of multiple heart attacks can be).  This is actually interesting news - some have speculated that Cheney, who is not running for President in 2008, will step down due to "health issues" in the run-up to the 2008 elections in order to allow President Bush to appoint a new vice-president, and in effect his preferred successor.  While today's news certainly doesn't rule out this possibility, one would think that the White House would look to make the decline gradual and pave the way by preparing the public for the possibility.  There has not been a vice-presidential appointment since 1974 (when Ford assumed the presidency and named Nelson Rockefeller to serve as VP) - and there hasn't been a vice-presidential resignation since Spiro Agnew in 1973.  People need to be anestitized for this before it happens.

Hillary Clinton - Counterterrorism Hawk

Hillary Clinton has decided that it is George Bush's fault that we don't spend enough money on counterterrorism and security.

The good Senator should look in the mirror and look around her own Caucus for the real reason that we do not spend enough.  The Democrat Party would rather spend our tax dollars to redistribute income, to send checks to the poor, and to pay for health care for the uninsured, then to send that money into proper governmental functions like defense and security.  These are the same Democrats who complain that all of this war spending has created unsustainable deficits.  Yet, they are not willing to cut a single dollar from their precious social engineering programs.

George Bush and congressional leaders need to lean on the Republicans in Congress to get tough on spending.  Eliminate non-essential functions - I'm not talking about cuts, I'm talking elimination - zero out funding for the NEA, public broadcasting, Amtrak, and other governmental boondoggles - areas that the federal government has no business being involved in.

Senator Clinton and her Democrat colleagues need to face up to the fact that they are as much, if not more, liable to blame for any security deficiencies that they might want to highlight.

Minnesota Shut Down

It appear that the Minnesota State Government has been shut down due to an inability of state leaders to agree on the budget.  From what I can tell from news reports, it would appear that Gov. Tim Pawlenty has drawn a line in the sand and refuses to agree to tax increases.  Likewise, it appears that Democrats (who control the Senate) are not looking to make cuts in spending to come up with a budget.

Looks like Gov. Pawlenty is definitely looking to solidify his reputation for economic conservatism - possibly for a run in 2008 (be it for President or to position himself for a selection as the VP).  Whether or not that's the case, I applaud his willingness to see things through to insure that Minnesota does not run itself into the ground to satisfy liberal-socialist utopian policy preferences.

We can only hope that and backlash in the public eye does not fall on the governor but on the Democrats who seem to consider hard-working Minnesotans as their personal ATMs - paying for failed policies demanded by liberal interest groups.