Oh Yeah, A Title…
In reality, Dan Lipinski’s voting record has been mainstream Democratic, and certainly not the Bush shill he is portrayed falsely to be by the Floggers.
Lipinski is 100 percent with the AFL-CIO, Children’s Defense Fund, Breast Cancer Coalition, and Alliance for Retired Senior America. He’s 92 percent with the League of Conservation Voters (maybe the Floggers can’t read either and think that’s “Conservative” Voters).
The National Journal analyzed all the voting records and concluded that Lipinski is “more liberal” than 71 percent of other members of Congress, and that puts him in the mainstream of America.
Uh…no. It puts him in the mainstream of an incredibly conservative run Congress. The votes are from the 208th Congress, not the 209th Congress.
It gets better though if you look at the disaggregated ratings which National Journal divides into three categories: Economic, Social, and Foreign Policy.
Going to the generic numbers, one thing to note. Of the 43 below him in overall scores, 21 are Southerners, 9 are from Border states meaning outside of the South, he’s one of the most conservative Democratic Members of Congress. Only four of the 13 are in urban centers, though 2 of those are from Fresno and Bean is the other one.
He’s also in the most Democratic seat percentage wise compared to the rest of those below him.
In other words, not only is he a conservative Democrat, he’s the most conservative one in a heavily Democratic district. It’s one thing to be conservative in Utah or Mississippi, it’s another to be that conservative in Chicago. Why would a Member of Congress from Chicago vote like one in Mississippi?
Going to the breakdowns, he is the most socially conservative Democrat in Illinois. Costello and Bean are both more progressive.
Foreign Policy? Only Bean is more conservative amongst Democrats. She’s in a Republican +6 District, he’s in a Democratic +10 District.
What raises his overall score to what it is are the economic issues. Otherwise his record is conservative and quite mediocre. Even on economics he’s the 4 most conservative with Bean, Rush, and Costello below him.
It’s more than that though–it’s not just his overall voting record, but his voting record on key issues. Taking these rating, his record is more troubling. On Patriot Act amendments to restrict records seizures–Lipinski voted with Republicans. He voted against extending non-discrimination rights against Telecoms. He voted to bar the federal government from enforcing a court ruling regarding prayer in Indiana government. He didn’t just disagree, he voted to stop the spending of money to enforce the law. He couldn’t even take a position on a Constitutional Amendment to ban same sex marriage. He voted to remove the authority of federal courts over Pledge of Allegiance cases. So, again, it’s not the point of arguing over whether the Pledge is constitutional, it’s about whether the Courts can hear a case concerning the 1st Amendment. He voted to prohibit the awarding of attorneys’ fees in lawsuits against government officials involving the First Amendment protection of the free exercise of religion. So the government could violate your rights, but it wouldn’t have to pay for attorney’s fees when it loses.
Add to this his hostility to Reproductive Freedom, Stem Cells, and a horrible anti-gay record, he’s an embarrassment. Oh, and he voted for FISA including warrantless wiretaps on Americans.
It gets worse–on a vote to prohibit funds for military operations against Iran unless Congress has declared war, he voted against it. He wants to give George Bush more blank checks.
On two critical bills dealing with our international arms reduction treaties, he voted with Bush–in one case he voted to approve a deal with India on nuclear energy despite India’s violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty which is itself a violation of the NPT. And he has voted to fund the deployment of the space based anti-missile system which violates the ABM treaty. Of course, that system doesn’t even work so it’s hard to figure what he was voting for deploying other than a neat idea.
Lipinski votes like a Congressman from the south–not a Member of Congress from a solid Democratic district in the Midwest. Oh, and his entire apparatus is corrupt.