Most liberal voting record?

[Luftpilot9]

Apparently, John Kerry has the most liberal voting record and john edwards has the 4th most liberal voting record...

And apparently this is being criticized heavily by the republicans....

What does this mean? what is a liberal voting record? and what are the advantages and disadvantages of it? both for and against republicans?

does anybody know?

[Dionysos]

This was mentioned in another thread:

http://washingtontimes.com/national/...1241-3716r.htm

[Satchel]

How scientific can rankings like that be? First they would have to actually define what liberal is. Then they would have to examine every nuance of every bill, and even then it most likely can't be done with any kind fo accuracy.

[JAM_IN]

Originally posted by Dionysos
This was mentioned in another thread:

http://washingtontimes.com/national/...1241-3716r.htm

THNX

[Dionysos]

Originally posted by Satchel
How scientific can rankings like that be? First they would have to actually define what liberal is. Then they would have to examine every nuance of every bill, and even then it most likely can't be done with any kind fo accuracy.

My implication from the article is they used traditionally 'liberal' & 'conservative' stances to rank each candidate.

Originally posted by Satchel
How scientific can rankings like that be? First they would have to actually define what liberal is. Then they would have to examine every nuance of every bill, and even then it most likely can't be done with any kind fo accuracy.

Well - I think they can. And, when you've got 100 Senators and the Dem ticket has #1 and #4 even if you disagree with the rankings - you may still fairly describe them as quite liberal in their voting habits. Now, if that is good or bad depends on who you're asking. Of course the Reps are going to use it as a point of attack. Will the Dems use it as a point of pride?

[bfp]

There is a liberal think tank out there that comes up with the statistics. Forgot what the name was though.

[Luftpilot9]

Ok would someone give me examples of a liberal point of view? like what kind of decisions did kerry and edwards make that are considered liberal/extremely liberal?

[Satchel]

Originally posted by xiannaix
Well - I think they can. And, when you've got 100 Senators and the Dem ticket has #1 and #4 even if you disagree with the rankings - you may still fairly describe them as quite liberal in their voting habits. Now, if that is good or bad depends on who you're asking. Of course the Reps are going to use it as a point of attack. Will the Dems use it as a point of pride?

Of course not, but it seems to me the current description of liberal is just going against what the conservatives want. I don't see that as an ideology. For example, people were being called "too liberal" for being against the war. I don't see how liberalism would even relate to the topic of war.

Originally posted by Satchel
Of course not, but it seems to me the current description of liberal is just going against what the conservatives want.

hehe - a definition of exclusion.... it's the opposite of what "those guys" stand for?

Classic Liberalism has fairly well defined concepts but they run into conflict with the way the term is construed today.

click

Originally posted by Satchel
I don't see that as an ideology. For example, people were being called "too liberal" for being against the war. I don't see how liberalism would even relate to the topic of war.