More Unfair Bob Pear: New Republicans on Super Committee 'Among the Most Conservative'
On Tuesday, Times reporter Robert Pear couldn’t describe Nancy Pelosi and Henry Waxman as “liberal Democrats,” only as “influential Democrats.” In Thursday’s Times, Pear displayed no aversion to labeling conservatives named to the new “super committee” created in the debt-limit deal.
Pear even found Democrats John Kerry (lifetime American Conservative Union rating 5) and Max Baucus (ACU lifetime score, 14) would be found in the middle: “If a deal is to be struck in the middle, it is likely to involve Mr. [Rob] Portman, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts and perhaps Senator Max Baucus of Montana, Congressional aides said.” But the Republican list included the “most conservative” Members:
Mr. [Jon] Kyl, the No. 2 Senate Republican; Mr. [Pat] Toomey, a former president of the Club for Growth; and Mr. [Jeb] Hensarling, a former chairman of the Republican Study Committee, are among the most conservative members of Congress and rarely vote with Democrats on issues that split the parties. Mr. Toomey voted last week against the bill that raised the debt limit, saying it did not do enough to cut spending.
In more than two decades in Congress, Mr. Upton, a moderate conservative [ACU lifetime score of 73], has often shown an independent streak. He supported expansion of the Children’s Health Insurance Program, for example. But last fall, under fire from conservatives, he tacked to the right in his successful effort to become chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Liberals who opposed Rep. Jeb Hensarling’s spending caps weren’t liberals, but lobbyists for the old and poor:
In 2004 and 2005, Mr. Hensarling proposed an overall cap on spending for most entitlement programs other than Social Security.
Lobbyists for older Americans, veterans and poor people opposed the idea, saying that it could lead to deep cuts in such programs.
Pear could somehow not describe in his output this week that Kerry, Pelosi, and Waxman are “among the most liberal members of Congress and rarely vote with Republicans on issues that split the parties.”
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Comments
Money Quote
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 7:22am.
among the most conservative members of Congress and rarely vote with Democrats on issues that split the parties. (emphasis mine)
Pear let the cat out of the bag. It's not about compromise, but voting with the Democrats.
compromise
Submitted by DFLower on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 7:25am.
I don't think you understand voting with the Democrats is what they mean by compromise.
Let's see what the National
Submitted by motherbelt on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 8:04am.
Let's see what the National Taxpayers' Union thinks of those Democrats supposedly in the middle
None of these Democrats had voting records that scored even as high as 10 percent in the NTU’s annual rating of Congress for last year. Among the six, Rep. Clyburn earned the lowest score of 2 percent and Sen. Baucus earned the highest score of 9 percent. Rep. Van Hollen earned a score of 4 percent and Rep. Becerra and Senators Murray and Kerry earned scores of 6 percent.
WaPo... How can people not
Submitted by ThatDude on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 9:56am.
WaPo... How can people not see their biases? Yesterday, nearly every article in the paper had blatant and ridiculous liberal bias. They are indeed the PR campaign for the DNC and every other liberal focus group.
no moderate democrats
Submitted by ohio granny on Fri, 08/12/2011 - 11:24am.
Contrary to popular opinion there are no "blue dog" or "moderate" democrats. They are all LIBERAL. Don't believe that, just check their voting records. They all supported Obamacare. They only vote against their leaders if they are given permission.
So the MSM can try to spin all they want. The people who pay any attention to national politics know the truth. THERE ARE NO "BLUE DOG" OR "MODERATE" DEMOCRATS. THEY ARE ALL LIBERAL.