Ed Case has continued to attack Senator Akaka as a member of the political "fringe." On Wednesday, at a luncheon sponsored by the Hawaii Publishers Association, Ed said of Akaka:
I am a moderate: not far left or far right. I reject the politics of extremism. I believe in moderate and reasoned approaches to tough issues like Iraq, or Social Security, or the tax-spending balance.
Yes, part of our Hawaii constitutes the far left 1% of America's political spectrum that Sen. Akaka represents, and they and their national counterparts are working for him, hard.
This odd assertion raises several important questions, not the least of which is "What's Ed been smoking?" And "Can I get some, too?."
Look, I'm a man of the left and make no apologies for it. I worry that the Case campaign will learn from the CT race and produce a button that shows me kissing Senator Akaka, ala Bush and Lieberman!
But a dispassionate review of the Senator's voting record would reveal that the Senator's views are "safely" in the middle of the pack. Case relies upon the National Journal rankings, so he IS aware of the facts. For 2005, Akaka was ranked as the 23rd most liberal Senator, tied with Sen. Kohl of Wisconsin. 20 Democratic Senators were rated less liberal than Akaka:
National Journal Senate Rankings 2005.
In 2004, Akaka WAS ranked as the most liberal. But a review of his scores from other years also place him in the middle of the pack, demonstrating that the 2004 ranking was not representative of Akaka's overall voting record. In 2003, the NJ DID give Akaka a lifetime score: he was ranked the 19th most liberal Senator then serving.
What does it say about Ed's political views that causes him to view Akaka's ideas as "fringe" and "far left"? By implication, he thinks the Senators ranked as "more liberal" than Akaka are even more "fringe" and even more "far left"?
What intellectual "world" does Ed inhabit? It strikes me that Ed now lives in the world of Fox News. He celebrates his presence on the national stage, but Clear Channel talk radio is NOT a good way of understanding public opinion, in Hawaii, or back in America.
I would ask the few of you who might support Ed Case to defend this recent rant of his.
I DID kinda like his reference to the "far left" "national counterparts" who are apparently working hard to re-elect Akaka. Clearly, he has been watching the CT race race and fears the same thing happening to him in the blogosphere. The only "national counterpart" I can see to date is schutzy. (A shout out to you!)
I suspect that the DK crowd will start waking up to the importance of this race. So far, the "national counterparts" in MoveON have not become involved. The Progressive Democrats of America affiliate, PDH, HAS endorsed Akaka very publicly, but the national PDA has not given it any attention. DFA has been silent.
I guess that leaves the massive effort of schulzy!
Ed fancies himself a bit of a "Big Picture" futurist. Maybe he recognizes that a national swell of support for Akaka is building up over the horizon.
I'll keep my board waxed and on the beach. The water's fine. Come on in!