Anatomy of a Right Wing Myth part II: Obama is the most liberal Democratic Senator
By John Amato Sunday May 18, 2008 1:00pm
Howie and I have been talking about one of the RW talking points that will be used against Obama with the much needed help of our very lazy media. " Obama is the most liberal Democratic Senator." The National Journal should issue a retraction and an apology to the Obama camp. You would think that the media could at the very least look at his voting record instead of blindly quoting a right wing leaning publication or maybe---cough---cough---fact check the report. Maybe Howard Kurtz will check into this story. He does online chats on the WaPo occasionally so go ask a question if you have the chance and see when he's doing one. Anyway, to back up Howie's point from earlier today, here's an example of a right wing propagandist using the GOP's lie to go after the independent voters. I give you The Weekly Standard's: Fred Barnes. You go Fred and lie, lie, lie.
Barnes:...and never mentions that he has a completely...has the number one liberal voting record in the Senate.
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In fact, Barack Obama led the Russian Revolution of 1917! That's how liberal he is! And the librul media don't tell you that!
How much do you think the repubs had to pay to get these "newsmen" to spew the talking points. DO you think Brit gets a paycheck directly, or does his boss? Can't we "follow the money" and expose these hacks? Feels like "good news in Iraq" stories written by the Lincoln Group
Wait, so what exactly was the error in the National Journal study?
Fred Barnes is the alpha dog of bush butt boys. I think he is the only one to have written a positive book about george bush. Of course he will repeat anything negative he has heard or has made up about Obama.
Hell, having the most liberal record would be a welcome to me if it were true about Obama.
There is an excellent video over at Kos that tells some of the many lies McCain has told and shows how he backtracks on each of them.
And a "liberal voting record" is bad because ...?
Time to reclaim that word and trumpet it proudly ...
Perhaps JFK's definition of liberalism should be circulated ...
This is why I support Hillary rather than Obama. His voting record has consistently been rated more conservative than hers, and rates at about the 35th percentile in terms of progressive issues among Democratic senators. Her vote is something like 45 percent progressive. Why liberals fawn all over him is beyond me.
If you think the National Journal ( a right wing publication) is going to print a retraction, you're sadly mistaken. The only way to get the correct message out is to have all the progressive talking heads, get the lie exposed. A retraction won't be read by anyone.
Motto of the Right Wing: Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.
How did that conservative thing work out for America for the past almost eight years? If liberal is the opposite of conservative, seems everyone should be for it.
While I'd never feel like I was owed an apology for being called liberal, these hacks definitely owe the public an apology for trying to manipulate our opinions and the dialog by feeding us false information. Maybe they can also apologize for masquerading as journalists in the first place.
Just the facts, man. Just the facts. Not the storylines they are payed to disseminate.
I'm a little scared. If the public thinks he's a liberal and stands for things like equality, peace and a great quality of life - we're screwed come November!
Bonkers Hussein @ 10:
D'oh!
*paid
Obama's liberalism allowed the Russians to get nukes on Cuba.
candideinnc @ 6:
Just a guess, but because he ISN'T Hillary?
It's the fine print what's tripping up Barnes, Ignoble & Co. the tiny disclaimer "of the candidates running for Prez. Obama's record is MOST liberal."
They call it journalistic license. Since they sold their journalistic ethics, their license is invalid.
Obama is so liberal, he ____________.
Let's play fill in the blank! I'll start:
Obama is so liberal, he's black!
Obama's liberalism is the primary cause of spreading "teh gay".
Wait a tick!
Wasn't that John Kerry's record in 2004?!
How did Obama take the title so quickly?
Amazing. And all the while America was sleeping.
Being liberal means never having to say, it was Bill Clinton's fault.
I think everyone is believing the talking points they want to believe.
If you actually go back and look at voting record... there are some measures that he didn't vote... so it looks as if according to the ones on the Left that don't care for Obama penalize him for the no-votes as a vote against the progressive issue. The Right takes the same votes... knocks off those no-votes and thus inflate his voting record as being more liberal (or progressive) than the others.
Looks as if both sides are spinning this as a negative towards Obama.
Never forget that a big part of the reason for the legs this myth has grown is the Hillary Clinton campaign.
Recall that before February Clinton worked tirelessly to "distinguish" herself from her chief rival by reminding us how conservative and "Republican Lite" he was. But obviously that strategy failed. So beginning in late February the Clinton campaign shifted strategy by attacking from the right and started parroting many of the Right-Wing-Lie-Machine™ myths.
This sort of flip flopping may reveal some deeper philosophical weaknesses in Clinton and her campaign (and the DLC), but more than anything it validates the lies. The media pin-heads feel perfectly comfortable repeating them once the lies have been validated by a prominent "Democrat". And the Clinton campaign is only too happy with that, since they now are depending on the lies for their campaign's survival. It's a disgrace to the Clintons and their legacy that they should be willing to serve the GOP in this regard. And it's the primary reason why ego-maniacal, self-serving, tin plated demagogues like Clinton and Lieberman have to be retired permanently.
liberal = necrophiliac
or so you'd think to hear the word in the mouths of these fucking nutbags on the right.
they just screech and screech and screech and eventually it becomes true. i have no doubt that by november, they'll make obama gay and his wife lesbian, george bush will be a world hero and john mccain the great white hope.
i want out of this fucking country. these people make me sick.
D.G. Bowman @ 5:
Good call:
Obama is so liberal he's half African American and half white
Scherzo @ 3:
This might help. I think the basic problem is the inherent subjectivity of ranking people by "liberalness."
sitemonitor, last two comments didn't go through, any reason why?
[We have a very active spam filter. If the first one goes in there and it's not rescued soon enough, it just starts collecting all your comments. I think I have fixed its appetite for yours-Sitemonitor]
i wish he was!!!!
I thought the most liberal senator was Ted Kennedy.
emphasa @ 15:
...doesn't employee prostitutes or solicit sex in bathrooms!!
.
The only thing holding the Republican go-cart together in this bumper car race is their sticker slogans...
.
Rusty Shackleford @ 23:
I just want to know why they don't rate Officials by their Fascist tendancies...
.
No, wait! Wasn't it John Kerry?
Hey waaaiiit a minute. Do you think this is just because he's running for president?
It seems to me that "the most liberal senator" title moves around an awful lot.
Now wait a minute...I thought the National Journal said John Kerry was the # 1 liberal in the Senate.
Mr. Obama is sooooo librul in that he has the audacity and hope to see a peaceful planet. The nerve!!!!!
Obama is so liberal, he will probably get our country back on the right path and win back the respect from the rest of the world.
Peoples Front of Judea @ 27:
Wow! That's scary. lol
D.G. Bowman @ 5:
... Because THEY(sic) hate us for our freedoms...
Just like the Nazi Party did in Germany circa 1930.
.
This is really a stupid tactic. Most moderates or independents remember well the 2006 election, in which every Democrat running was branded "extremely liberal" all the way up to the day that they were elected. Despite the desperate GOP attempt, the majority were still elected. To demonstrate how mindless their labeling was, the GOP then re-labeled the Democrats as "actually very conservative," the day after they won. On Monday they were liberal and by Wednesday, they were conservative.
The GOP has beat the word liberal to death so that it really has no meaning any longer. All that the word means is that it is non-GOP, which most seem to feel is a good thing.
Distant Replay @ 19:
You are talking about the same Lieberman that Obama endorsed in the primary against the progressive, Lamont, aren't you? That would be the progressive, Lamont, that Hillary offered campaign cash to for his senate run.
D.G. Bowman @ 5:
I agree. They have slandered liberals in the media so effectively for the past 20 years that some seem ashamed to admit to it. Wear it proudly. Liberals are for Government by the people for the people. With Conservatives, it's government by Corporates over the people. Wake up America, and reclaim your country! Be liberal, and be proud.
Obama is so liberal that he would not have voted to invade Iraq. Plus Obama is so liberal that he married a black lady.
They say that about every Democratic politician they're trying to attack.
"(insert name here) is the most liberal (insert official title here) in the (insert name of body person is a member of here).
Every Dem is the most liberal whatever....
ashton @ 33:
You beat me to it. I was about to post the same thing. That desperate rhetoric started with Faux and Savage. The reich-wing talking head twits went out of their way to claim conservatism wasn't defeated, just some reich-wingers from the GOPigs.
Peoples Front of Judea @ 24:
No, he is the most hated liberal Senator.
Freddy's never met a rethug lie he didn't like & perpetuate.
LOL! Insane Christofascist traitors. Every time there's a Democrat running for any office, the hate filled Christian extremists and traitors will come out and insanely proclaim that they're "liberals." These insane piles of traitor shits have no idea what a liberal is and what a liberal isn't. These Christian terrorists are still stuck in the 1960's screaming about commies hiding in every bed. Fucking traitors.
And McWobblyBowel is the most radical far-right-wing common-man hating Republican in the Senate.
And compared to Russia, Iran would need to not only get a nucular weapon, they would need to get 10's of thousands of them. And 50,000 war planes gove or take, and 50,000 tanks, give or take, and submarines, battle ships, satelites, and lots more of an army, and the list goes on and on. So, once again, Obama is correct and McDumbass is wrong.....
Maybe it's time for a "Spartacus" moment in the Senate.
One by one, all the Democrats stand and say, "I am the most Liberal Senator!"
If nothing else, by the end of it, the phrase won't have any meaning left.
Wasn't it barnes who recently said working class people were really low class people?
ashton @ 33:
I am reminded of Jon Lovitz doing a guest spot on that mindless braincandy show FRIENDS. He played a stoned-out restaurant owner sampling Monica's tarlet goodies:
"Tarlets? Tarlets? ...*...tartlets? The word has lost all meaning."
Now...I must go hide in a corner and weep for the part of my brain that died in order to have FRIENDS trivia baked into it.
the Jittery and fidgety Fred Barnes is just doing what the right wing have adopted from the neocons or leo strauss, perfectly described by EARL SHORRIS - " Bad writing, unintelligible, contradictory writing, and systematic lying raises a moral question, as Strauss well knew .
Barnes is just part of a long list of ignoble LIARS .
Shorris also points this out , "For the uninitiated, "contradiction" is the key to the Straussian approach, and more than anything else it defines the Bush regime and its circle of influentials." - BINGO
The reason Ronald Reagan was a "great" conservative candidate was that he proudly stated that he was a conservative. When will our candidates get it through their heads that the way to handle a Fred Barnes is to say, "Thank you very much for the compliment, yes, I am a liberal. I don't know if I am the "most" liberal -- probably Madison and Jefferson and our founding fathers deserve that title more, and certainly there is Jesus Christ as a candidate for that title, but, thank you, I certainly strive to be the best liberal I can be."
Being called a liberal is a compliment -- take it as such.
RichStraightWhiteAmericanMale @ 49:
I like the way you think.
Just look at the total disaster the "Conservative Republicans" have made of everything over the last 8 years.
Why should or would anyone want to deny being a "Liberal Democrat"? It's something to be proud of.
how many different dem senators have the number 1 liberal voting record?
If Obama HAD been the most liberal senator, I'd have backed him from Day 1.
I wonder who has the most liberal record in the House? I'm guessing his first name is Dennis.
RichStraightWhiteAmericanMale @ 49:
We've got a long way to go. When Kerry was asked if he was a liberal, he not only denied it, he acted as if he'd been asked if he was a child molester. This kind of shit has to stop.
pissed off patricia @ 54:
http://voteview.ucsd.edu/sen110.htm
here ,check it out.
Every Dem candidate is automatically branded "The most liberal in the ______" without fail. It's just more of the same old tired fear mongering and mud slinging from the ailing GOP.
from fox.
LOL
Last time I checked, Obama and Clinton's voting record differed by two votes, yet Obama is somehow the most librul senator and Hillary is somewhere in the teens (I think she was "ranked" 14 according to the reich-wing GOPig "rating system").
It looks like the Democrats are going to have the kind of candidate the right doesn't know what to make of this time. He doesn't fall for their old tricks. He fires back immediately when fired upon and he doesn't allow them to take him off target and subject.
The only thing they have to work with are labels and lies. I don't think that's going to be enough this time to injure this candidate like they have others in the past.
theWalrus @ 51:
Exactly. Everytime I see a sign for $3.75/gal I think of a "Conservative Republican". Everytime I see one more soldier killed in Iraq, I think of a "Conservative Republican." Everytime I think of Jan 20, 2009, I think of "Liberal Democrats" and Obama.
RichStraightWhiteAmericanMale @ 49:
This is actually the case that the democrats made in 2006. This is their ad (posted on the earlier thread too - apologies for the duplication):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9URLUld91k
Maybe it didn't play nationwide, but I think it's a pretty good case for being "liberal".
They made a "conservative" one too:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GMSSFqWka4
Fred Barnes should thank his lucky stars that the right wing had as long a run as it did. If not for Fox News and the right wing noise machine of which he is a part, he'd be spewing hate on public access tv and selling shoes to earn a living.
they said the same thing about Kerry.
pathetic.
When's the last time you remember a republican telling the truth?
Billy Shears @ 65:
Most of them can get the date correct... and that terrorists attacked the U.S. on 9/11... but that's about it.
marko @ 27:
You guys are killing me :-D
El Cid @ 1:
That`s because he did it in a past life and the librul media doesn`t believe in reincarnation, just the Rapture (or is it the Rupture?).Either way it`s gonna be unpleasant.
RichStraightWhiteAmericanMale @ 49:
I agree completely. If there is one thing I can't stand about the Democratic party its their willingness to let conservatives frame the issue. They're always on the defensive, which just makes them look like apologetic losers, always sorry they're not Republicans.
Liberalism is what America is all about, and as such should be embraced by Democrats and used the batter their conservative historically neutered opponents. All we supposedly hold dear as Americans was fought for and gained by Liberals. Conservatives have been on the losing side of slavery and segregation. And it's liberals who should be ashamed?
The Democrats need to grow a backbone and fight for what they supposedly stand for. Instead they elect a middle of the road candidate who's going to be accused of being a communist regardless of reality. Why not nominate a candidate who's a real lefty and get something done?
Instead we'll putter through another 4-8 years of a kinder, gentler CIA meddling, corporate welfare giving, insurance company scammed health care havin', drug war fighting, terrorist killing, terminal empire.
I am an Obama supporter - and am more than pleased by his liberal record in the Senate. Frankly, I think having a progressive agenda is a badge of honor.
However, in point of fairness, I would like to point out that the National Journal is not in fact a right-wing/conservative magazine. Actually, the National Journal is a non-partisan magazine published as part of the Atlantic Media Company - which also publishes The Atlantic Monthly and Government Executive magazines.
The people attacking this ranking - and the onus behind it - are confusing National Journal with the National Review - the conservative magazine started by William F. Buckley.
This ranking of members of congress was conducted in good faith and was not some hit-piece by the right. That being said, it's not surprising that members of the GOP and conservatives are repeating this ranking - as it feeds their preexisting hatred of all things liberal.
El Cid @ 1:
Barack also led the North Vietnamese against the South Vietnamese and personally directed the interrogation of McLame.
How many of you here actually went to the Progessive Punch website and drilled down to the vote counts to see how BO has voted and why his ranking is what it is?
The only reason Obama ranks where he does is because of missed votes on close calls which are counted against his progressive rating and rightly so.
Frankly, that's a little troubling. I'm sure it's to do with missing votes because of campaigning.
In essence, I don't think there is any point to this 'protest' of labeling Obama as 'most liberal' because if it weren't for the missed votes, he very likely would be. This complaint will be easily brushed aside by the right as disengenous. I'm glad Obama is one of the most progressive members of the Senate; it's one of the reasons I voted for him, and why I will vote for him in the general!
Again, though - I'm a little concerned he was unavailable for so many 'close call' votes that ended up going the other way :-(
From
mudshark @ 58:
I call shinanigans.. There are a few senators not on that list.. Get with the program.
What do you expect from the Crappy News Network and Faux News? They are there to server their corporate overlords, not truth, justice, or the American way.
Didn't the same exact publication use the same exact tactic against John Kerry in 2004?
Last time around it was Kerry/Edwards who were the two most liberal Senators... this time its Clinton and Obama as the two most liberal? Give me a break.
FROM THE WEST WING
(Formatted, this time.)
I didn't cuss, I didn't attack a poster.. Um Why is my comment not showing up??
Fine you don't want me to point out the truth of something I will stop posting here. It's not worth it.
Dennis Kucinich IS a US Senator.
How many of you remember the year the assclowns double-dipped?
When Dukakis was the most liberal governor, and, from the most liberal state, too.
emphasa @ 15:
He picks his teeth with a monogramed toothpick.
Loosely Twisted @ 80:
umm, Congressman.
Loosely Twisted @ 80:
NO he isn't. Dennis Kucinich is a United States Congressman but he is NOT a Senator.
I like Dennis but he is part of the U.S. House of Representatives... not the U.S. Senate.
mudshark @ 83:
ummm, Ohio.
Obama is so librul, he'll make 3 left turns while driving, instead of turning right once.
Obama is so liberal, he believes in the Bill of Rights.