Hey everyone! Below are my rankings of US Senators and their placement on the political spectrum. First off though, I should tell you my analysis is based purely on the senators’ actions NOT on their words. For example, some call Warner a conservative democrat because he joined the Evan Bayh “moderate” group in 2009. However, Warner has yet to have ever done anything conservative or even centrist in Congress. So I rate him a “solid liberal”. I try to justify some of my rankings of the senators in parenthesis. Keeping this in mind, here are my ratings on all 100 of them.
Socialist Senators:
1. Sanders
Solid Liberal Senators
34 (all of them take liberal positions almost 95-100% of time)
2. Akaka
3. Inouye
4. Cardin
5. Milkulski
6. Stabbenow
7. Klobuchar
8. Menendez
9. Gillibrand (outspoken liberal hero)
10. Schumer
11. Durbin
12. Shaheen
13. Leahy
14. Franken (outspoken liberal hero)
15. Levin
16. Bennet
17. Uduall (CO)
18. Uduall (NM)
19. Bingaman
20. Blumenthal
21. Boxer
22. Brown
23. Cantwell
24. Coons
25. Harkin
26. Lautenberg
27. Merkley
28. Murray
29. Reed
30. Whitehouse
31. Wyden
32. Warner (hesitant liberal because of their constituencies)
33. McCaskill (hesitant liberal because of her constituencies)
34. Kerry
Moderate Liberals:
Key: * = More of a political positioning then view difference
10 (all of them take liberal positions 83% to 93%)
35. Carper (favored lowering estate tax)
36. Webb (voted against Goodwin Liu)
37. Bill Nelson (favored lowering estate tax)
38. Kohl (voted for 1st bush tax-cuts)
39. Begich (pro-gun, and pro drilling in Alaska Reserve)
40. Feinstein (voted for 1st bush tax-cuts)
41. Casey (liberal on absolutely everything -- except he is pro-life and anti-stem cell research)
42. Rockefeller (friend of big coal)
43. Reid (centrist on gun control, hesitant on gay marriage, centrist on abortion)
44. Tester (conservative on gun control, voted against DREAM Act, against gay marriage)
Centrists with Liberal Tendencies:
4 (all of them take liberal positions at least 45% and take about 30% centrist, 25% conservative)
45. Johnson (favors broadening death penalty, voted for 2001 Bush tax-cuts, voted to confirm Alito, voted to relax gun regulations) (SD)
46. Baucus (MT) (pro-gun, not very supportive of public option, pro-death penalty, anti-gay marriage, pro drilling in ANWR, voted to repeal estate tax, voted for 2001 Bush tax-cuts, supportive of low income tax on wealthy)
47.Conrad (ND) (pro-drilling in sensitive areas, anti-public option, pro-life, voted for Alito, opposed to gay marriage)
48. Hagan (against DREAM ACT, against act weakening tobacco industry, anti-gun-control)*
Centrist (one of a kind):
49. Lieberman (Iraq, endorsed McCain, anti-public option, and numerous other issues)
Moderate Conservatives *:
8
50. Pryor (60% conservative, 30 centrist, 10% liberal)
51. Landrieu (60% conservative, 30% centrist, 10% liberal)
52. Manchin (70% conservative, 25% centrist, 5% liberal)
53. Ben Nelson (85% conservative, 10% centrist, 5% liberal)
54. Brown (85% conservative, 15% liberal)
55. Collins (90% conservative, 10% liberal)
56. Snowe (85% conservative, 15% liberal)
57. Murkowski (85% conservative, 15% liberal)
*I feel it is unnecessary to justify that Nelson and the other democrats are moderate conservative considering their high profile in watering down Obama legislation. Manchin literally shot a rifle at cap-and-trade in one his campaign ads!
Bipartisan Conservatives:
4 (show wiliness to compromise, but are at least 93% conservative)
58. Alexander
59. Graham
60. Lugar
61. Hatch
Libertarian:
62. Paul
Solid Conservatives:
29 (95% to 100% conservative)
63. Ayotte
64. Barrasso
65. Blunt
66. Boozman
67. Burr
68. Chambliss
69. Coats (moderate on gun control)
70. Cochran (pro-stem cell research)
71. Corker
72. Crapo
73. Enzi
74. Grassley (a little bipartisan)
75. Heller
76. Hoeven
77. Hutchinson
78. Isakson
79. Kirk
80. Johanns
81. McConnell
82. Portman
83. Risch
84. Sessions
85. Shelby
86. Roberts
87. Wicker
88. Moran
89. McCain
90. Thune
91. Toomey
Radical or Corrupt Conservatives:
8 (often go to extreme conservativeness and/or are corrupt, half supported by Tea Party)
92. DeMint (informal leader of Senate Tea Party Caucus)
93. Johnson (endorsed by Tea Party and an extreme conservative, called scientists who believe in climate change “crazy”)
94. Lee (Tea Party endorsed)
95. Rubio (Tea Party endorsed)
96. Cornyn (has fought even the most basic and bipartisan regulations on his main campaign supporters: Big Oil and Natural Gas, has outright lied numerous times)
97. Kyl (“not intended to be a factual statement”, need I say more?!)
98. Vitter (is often in a lonely minority of one or three in opposing bipartisan bills or nominees)
99. Coburn (numerous times has single-handedly pulled the entire Senate to a stop so to prevent nonpartisan bills)
100. Inhofe (called global warming the “greatest hoax”, largest contributors are oil and gas, one of only 9 senators to vote against prohibiting “cruel, inhuman or degrading” treatment of prisoners, won’t even hire any one gay, once said he “was proud” that his family had never had any gay relationships)
Any thoughts on these rankings?