Chris Matthews: Montana's Sen. Tester Just 'Regular Guy,' Not Liberal; ADA, ACU, NARAL Scores Show Otherwise
Apparently MSNBC's Chris Matthews judges the political ideology of elected officials by inconsequential cosmetic matters such as their style of clothing or haircut. During a segment handicapping the tough reelection campaigns of a handful of Senate Democrats, the Hardball host described Sen. Jon Tester (D-Montana) as, "another guy who's got a crew cut, looks like a regular guy... [who] works on his tractor on weekends." Tester is "no Northeastern liberal, that's for sure," Matthews remarked to the University of Virginia's Larry Sabato.
Well, he certainly is no Northeasterner, but Tester most certainly is a liberal, judging by his low rating from the American Conservative Union (ACU), his high marks from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action, and his 100 percent rating by the abortion-on-demand lobby NARAL Pro-Choice America. [MP3 audio available here]
Tester's lifetime ACU rating is a puny 15.06. The Montana Democrat has gotten MORE liberal the closer he's come to his November reelection. Tester had a 20 percent rating in 2010 but halved that to a 10 percent rating in 2011.
The liberal ACU counterpart, ADA, doesn't do lifetime scores, but here are Tester's year-by-year scores in reverse chronological order from 2010 (the last on record) to 2007 (his freshman year): 85, 90, 85, 95. That would be an average score of 88.75, meaning Tester is only conservative on 11.25 percent of the issues he voted on in his Senate career.
And last, but not least, Jon Tester is a NARAL-endorsed 100 percent pro-choice politician who attended the abortion-rights lobby's 39th annual dinner this winter.
Sure, Tester has received an A grade from the NRA on gun rights, but his conservatism on gun rights hardly offsets his staunch liberalism on most every other issue.
But to Chris Matthews, apparently, Tester is a good ol' "regular guy" Democrat facing reelection in a reliably red state in a presidential election year.
- Ken Shepherd's blog
- Login to post comments
Comments
Good Luck With That Chris!
Submitted by Samaritan01 on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 7:30pm.
Matthews is hoping that people are dumb enough to believe that a politician's location may equal normality. Unfortunately for America leftist insanity has spread, even unto the normally conservative, and sane, countryside.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...
Submitted by Mary Louise Turner on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 8:57pm.
If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, then it IS a duck, Matthews, you moron! Mr. Tester is right up there in liberal la-la land with our two idiots (Chuckie and Kirsten)! There isn't a single Democrat in the Senate that could even come close to the term "moderate". They all march to Ears' radical drum, some more rabidly than others.
According to the media, there
Submitted by motherbelt on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 9:03pm.
According to the media, there are no liberals, only "regular (normal) people and right-wing extremists.
So Tingles likes tractor-driving guys with crewcuts.
Submitted by SickofLibs on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 9:08pm.
Suddenly, everything has become crystal clear to me...
Matthews is shilling for Tester
Submitted by Texndoc on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 9:21pm.
Tester voted ObamaCare and I thought polls showed he was going to be Blanche Lincolned in a big way back home. Bye.
David Byrne's "Stop Making
Submitted by forest on Wed, 04/18/2012 - 11:58pm.
David Byrne's "Stop Making Sense" suit discovered in Montana.