Previously: High Broderism (February 24, 2012)

We repeat ourselves, but so does Senator Claire McCaskill.

High Broderism – Also frequently seen as merely “Broderism.” A fetishistic attachment to bipartisanship for bipartisanship’s sake; reflexive adherence to false equivalencies, regardless of whether what one side says is patently insane. The result of forty years of believing that Dirty Fucking Hippies may be hiding under your bed. Whereby a center-right pundit, often Broder himself, decrees that bipartisanship is a good thing and can be achieved if only everyone would agree with the center-right pundit. For the last ten years or so, High Broderism has been the shorter version of virtually every op-ed from David Broder.

Today, from Senator Claire McCaskill:

Nonpartisan Rankings: McCaskill Maintains Moderate Course in Senate

On scale of conservative-to-liberal, National Journal ranks McCaskill 50 out of 100

February 7, 2014

WASHINGTON – The nonpartisan news magazine National Journal has released its annual rankings of members of Congress from liberal-to-conservative-and U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill has again landed exactly in the moderate middle, ranking #50 out of 100.

[….]

“I haven’t made folks on either extreme of the political spectrum happy, and I’ve stepped on a lot of toes since I came to the Senate, but that’s okay,” McCaskill said. “Because I wasn’t elected to make friends. I was elected to get results for Missouri families-to expand job opportunities, cut wasteful spending, and help clean up Washington so folks can have confidence in their federal government.”

Since joining the Senate, National Journal has consistently ranked McCaskill in the ten most moderate U.S. Senators-and also ranked her as #50 out of 100 in its 2012 rankings.

McCaskill has been criticized by some in her party over her strong support for the Keystone XL Pipeline, her bipartisan work to cap federal spending, and her longstanding battle against Congressional earmarks. McCaskill has also been targeted for criticism over her support for the Affordable Care Act, her work to end huge taxpayer handouts to big oil companies and multi-millionaires, and her success in bolstering accountability in government contracting.

From National Journal’s website: “For the 2013 ratings, National Journal examined all of the roll-call votes in the first session of the 113th Congress-641 in the House and 291 in the Senate-and identified the ones that show ideological distinctions between members. Many votes did not make the cut-those that involve noncontroversial issues or that fall along regional lines, for instance. In the end, 117 votes in the Senate and 111 votes in the House were selected and were categorized as economic, foreign, or social.”

[….]

This is precious: “….McCaskill has been criticized by some in her party over….her success in bolstering accountability in government contracting….” Is that really an article of faith view expressed from the extremist left? Just asking. How about on that earmarks thing? Just asking.

Update: Okay, that is from two sentences. We’ll chalk that one up to less than stellar press release writing… [end update]

Uh, Senator McCaskill, you’re not in the middle. From two year ago:

[….]That is, ignoring the reality that the Overton Window has been moved so far to the right that what once was “moderate” is now considered extreme left and:

….the GOP knows that the middle DOES matter.  They know that by playing to their base in very well-crafted ways, they can shift the very definition of what the middle is. By introducing radicalism into the public discourse (and taking initial heat for it), whatever used to be radical within this context becomes moderate by comparison….

[….]

Senator McCaskill’s recent ranking among all senators from the National Journal:

The 2013 liberal/conservative rankings in the United States Senate by the National Journal. Higher liberal rating is on the left, higher conservative rating is on the right. Senator Claire McCaskill’s ranking is indicated by the green mark. Democratic Party and Independent (2) Senators are to the left of the red vertical line, Republican senators are to the right of the red vertical line. The middle of the Democratic Party caucus in the Senate is indicated by the blue vertical line and mark.

The four Democratic Senators to the right of Senator McCaskill in the National Journal rankings are Senators Kay Hagen, Joe Donnelly, Mark Pryor, and Joe Manchin. The six closest Democratic Party senators to the left of Senator McCaskill in the rankings are Senators Heidi Heitkamp, Mark Begich, Jon Tester, Mark Warner, Max Baucus, and Mary Landrieu. Mary freakin’ Landrieux. These individuals are not considered “moderates” in anyone’s book. And immediately to the left of Senator Landrieu is Senator Angus King, an Independent who used to be a republican.

“….I haven’t made folks on either extreme of the political spectrum happy….” Spare us the “both sides do it” inside the beltway conventional wisdom, please.

As for the batshit crazy republicans in the Senate? Senators Michael Enzi, Ted Cruz, James Inhofe, John Barrasso, Mike Lee, Pat Roberts (does he actually live in Kansas anymore?), and twelve more positions before we get to Senator Rand Paul.

The sixth most liberal Senator? Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.

We rest our case.

Again, from two years ago:

….In our present environment a true moderate would be in the middle of their own party, not to the right of it.