« BACK  |  PRINT

RS

EDITOR OF REDSTATE

More Data About Squishy Republicans Busts Common Theory on Squishiness

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  June 20th, 2012 at 11:51 AM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

Why do so many Republicans vote like squishes, often siding with Democrats on issues — or at least not voting with conservatives in the House?

The most common theory is that these Republicans are in tight races in swing districts. They have to sometimes cross the aisle. They have to sometimes vote like squishes just to stay elected.

The Madison Project this morning is completely blowing up that common and oft repeated theory.

Today the Madison Project introduced its Hall of Shame.

What they did was pretty simple. They took the Cook measure of the partisan of a district, stacked it with the voting records of members of Congress, and found a startling list of Republican congressmen from solidly Republican and conservative areas who don’t really vote like conservatives.

You will not be surprised to learn that Don Young (RINO-AK) is the worst offender of the bunch.

What’s really surprising is how people like Frank Lucas of Oklahoma and Michael Simpson of Idaho are on the list. Their districts are R+24 and R+17 respectively.

For the tea party, the Madison Project just handed you a list of people to absolutely beat in primaries without having to deal with the “but . . . but . . . you’ll hand the seat to a Democrat” line so many want to hurl.

This is some of the most useful data to come out this political season. About the only draw back is that most of the primaries are over. We’ll need to hold on to this data for 2014.

Tags: , , ,

COMMENTS

POSTING RULES  |  LOGIN TO COMMENT  |  REGISTER TODAY
  • audax

    …repost file! Thanks!

  • audax

    ERICK, ERICK, ERICK, EricK

  • http://conservativemormonmom.blogspot.com ew88

    This is a great list to have!

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    I’ve circled their names with a big red marker and am mailing a copy to each of them. Shameful indeed.

  • renl57

    Frank Lucas managed to get over $400 in farm subsidies for his district.

    Do you REALLY think that his constituents are angry about that? These districts want stuff. Go blame them.

    Other than the fact that these congressmen “brought home the bacon” to their districts, in what other ways are they squishy?

    Lucas strikes me as a staunch social conservative. If that makes him “squishy,” then so is Santorum.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    The whole point of the list is that it takes into account how squishy the districts are.

    These are the people who are squishier than their districts.

    Try again.

  • Melody Warbington (rwm52)

    as any other district in the country – at least on a national level. However, Hall of Shamer Spencer Bachus won the primary despite having an excellent challenger. The problem in our district is a combination of entrenched Republicans and uninformed voters, plus the fact that Bachus has some deep pockets. I know this because I knocked on many of their doors during the primary for the challenger.

  • uselogic

    Ros-Lehtinen & Diaz-Balart. No surprise. They aren’t quite to the level of the senators from Maine but they’re trying.

  • spoasteph97

    I live in Georgia and I am SO PROUD OF OUR DELEGATION!

    I am especially proud of MY REPRESENTATIVE: TOM GRAVES! Tom Graves is a wonderful representative.

    Also—Congrats to Paul Broun.

  • spoasteph97

    Georgia’s two senators could be more Conservative. Yesterday was so disappointing as I was watching C-Span and saw them vote to continue MORE subsidies. Very sad…

    Maybe Tom Graves, Paul Broun, Herman Cain, or somebody could run in a primary.

    Or maybe Mr. Erick Erickson could run against one of them :) !

  • spoasteph97

    Look at Mo Brooks (the only good representative from Alabama)…it took quite some time to finally put him in Congress. But happily, we are slowly making progress.

    In KY 04, Thomas Massie has a pretty good chance of winning the general election and adding another conservative voice to congress. He will be replacing Geoff Davis (the guy who complained about Heritage Foundation).

    KY-04 has quite a bit of agriculture and farms, but yet, the people in the primary voted for Thomas Massie who does NOT support agriculture subsidies.

    When people are informed, they vote most of the time on our side!

  • honeybadger

    A CD can be R+20 but full of moderate Republicans and will likely elect a moderate representative. I suspect that most of congressmen in the hall of shame are from socially conservative but fiscally moderate districts. The fault in this analysis is that the districts’ rating comes from looking at the proportion of people who vote R vs D. This really doesn’t tell you much about the ideological leaning of the voters and which issues are most important to them.. So, yes, it would be great to have strong conservatives from heavily R districts, but it is tough for them to win a primary since the moderates will vote for the more squishier candidate.

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    No Colorado Republican representatives made the list. And they call our state Purple…

  • spoasteph97

    NightTwister,

    Do you know how Rep. Lamborn is doing? I really hope he wins this upcoming Tuesday’s primary!

    If we can’t help those who help us…I don’t know how we are going to convince Conservatives to work hard.

    LAMBORN 2012! (He’s facing a threat from a primary challenger)

  • unclefred

    it is important to look inside the numbers for congress members in swing districts.

    I expected to see my congressman on the list of shame because he is from a swing district and is not an ideological conservative. He’s not awful, but ideally we could do better if we could get the right person on the ballot.

    I was surprised by his “failing grade”. I follow his voting record pretty closely, and while he has made a number of bad votes, a couple of which mattered, he has also made some good votes, which, given the district, could fairly be considered tough votes.

    So he is not great, and will face a primary opponent this cycle, but at the same time I found the failing grade pretty strong.

    On balance I think the hall of shame has great value in identifying reps from strong republican districts who have less than stellar voting records. However I see two problems with the methodology for swing districts, especially those that are narrow or actually leaning Democrat.

    1: The lowest acceptable grade score in the most unfavorable district requires a score of 60%. One can argue that is unrealistic in the real world. Further I would argue that once the district starts to lean democratic each additional point shift should allow more leeway that the point before it. To put it another way a D+4 district is likely to be a lot more sensitive to various votes when compared to dead even, than a R+4 is compared to a R+8.

    2: The score is the average of two groups who score votes against an idealized conservative. Further it is quite unclear the degree to which they weigh the importance of various votes.

    On balance I’d prefer a middling scoring Republican in a swing district, especially one who can be counted to vote against tax and regulatory increases, to a Democrat who can be counted on to vote wrong on every issue.

    If we can get a better candidate past the primary this cycle so be it that will be a happy consequence, but since both Democrats who have announced for the seat are well to the left of Obama, if my current congressman wins his primary he will receive my enthusiastic support.

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    Phil Roe is on the list in an R+21 district (that could honestly be R+50 – literally the Republican candidate runs unopposed in Tennessee 1).

  • JimmyGee

    Why, oh why, am I not surprised? I’m surprised Congressman Boehner is not.

  • acat

    Ask Sen. Lee (R-UT) about opportunity sometime.

    Mew

  • http://www.nighttwister.com NightTwister

    Last time they tried to primary him they couldn’t get their act together. He’s our most conservative Representative, so I don’t know why they’re trying. It’s a very safe R seat. So is CO-4 (Cory Gardner) now after redistricting. They went hard after Coffman’s seat with the redistrict plan, but I think he still holds on. Tipton (CO-3) might be in for a tough ride. CO-2 (Boulder/Larimer Counties) may be in play, but it’s too early to tell. CO-1 and CO-7 are locks for the Dems.

  • aesthete

    are relative terms. While it is true that some parts of the country are more or less fiscally conservative than the average, representatives are overwhelmingly more fiscally liberal on average than their constituents.

    We can do better.

  • aesthete

    Your starting premises are faulty.

  • 1bunny

    sigh…Tom Cole is my rep it used to be John Sullivan (who is not on the list) but we moved and now I have Cole the Squish. Now I have some more stuff to contact him about. They run as conservatives we elect them and then they show their true side as a big “Squish” when they don’t have to reliquish their principals but do it anyway. When will they wake up and realize it is a new day and the internet is growing more powerful in shining a light on their votes and the people have awoken from their stupor and care.

  • drfredc

    What this list really shows is that the GOPs LOSERship Club is not about any particular principle (conservative or otherwise) — rather it’s all about doing what it takes to be part of the LOSERship Club.

    This is the same LOSERship club that really can’t articulate any clear concise message what the LOSERship stands for, other than the exercise of power of one sort or another. They seem just as happy screwing conservatives as anyone — after all, a conservative take over of the GOP Senate would mark the end of the LOSERship reign of power in the GOP. It’s not like the LOSERship has to fear much from the Democrats as far as taking the GOP LOSERship’s power away. The LOSERship seems H bent on making sure than any time spent in the majority will be focused on muddling a clear GOP message and therefore their term of majority power will be short lived. Being in charge of the minority is good enough for the LOSERship.

  • Brian_Roastbeef

    She is Ann Marie Buerkle and her district is D+4. She was among those ripping Holder a new one today. So yeah, she faces a tough challenge getting re-elected here in New York since she’s governed as a conservative and not as a squish. I’d say her race is about 50/50, could go either way.

    She has also been outraising her challenger 2:1 this quarter. She’s got an even money chance of winning *because* she has been a strong conservative and connected to the people of Central New York. If she were an indifferent squish like those on the list, or an arrogant disconnected slime like her predecessor (and 2012 challenger) she wouldn’t stand a chance.

  • moonmad

    My congressman Lynn Westmoreland is in a strong republican district and seems to be on the the soft side. I’m not sure but I suspect he’s “helping the leadership” on some votes. In some cases the votes may be a lesser of two evils choice. I not ready to throw him overboard just yet. The advantage with congressman is that opportunity to push them out comes around quicker. My Senators Chambliss and Issakson play the game. We need challengers for them in 14 and16. They are too fond of “grand bargains” for my taste.

  • bk

    That seems to be the root of the problem. Nothing gets to the floor unless both parties’ committee members have loaded every possible bit of pork.

  • bobguzzardi

    Tom Marino of northeast Pennsylvania is linked inextricably with Pennsylvania Republican Tom Corbett Establishment.

    And, in fact, the entire Republican delegation did not do well on the Club for Growth’s Spending Scorecard

    http://www.clubforgrowth.org/projects/budgetcutscore/?state=PA&party=R&lawmaker=

    http://www.clubforgrowth.org/projects/?subSec=42&id=1096

    Looking forward to Jacksonville. Will Daniel Horowitz be there. Outstanding work with this analysis.

    FYI Tom Smith for Senate is real deal, reliable Club for Growth candidate who has put $5 million of his money in the race and is expected to put another $5 million, at least, into the race. Bob Casey is vulnerable although the conventional wisdom has not yet caught up with the dynamic. Tom Smith is the quintessential Reagan Democrat. Reagan won Pennsylvania.

  • dennytaylor

    Dave Reichter of Washigton, is one of these people. He voted for cao and trade taxes. Hesides often with the Democrats, and alwys sends out these flowery letters bragging about what he is doing. He hs no regard for the voters who put hi there in office.

  • letswinsomeelections

    No one has even heard of Charles Boustany but he has been sneaking around masking his liberal voting while telling Louisianans he is a conservative. He likes to claim he is tied to the powerful “leadership” in the House. With redistricting the powers that be put Conservative, Tea Party, Freshman Jeff Landry into his district — the two are running against each other. This is a major race to watch and follow. Jeff Landry was the guy who blocked Obama’s recess appointments, helped hold up the debt ceiling vote and held the DRILLING=JOBS sign up the the President. Conservatives need to help to protect him.

  • clowngirl

    If the district is R+20 there’s no risk if you primary the moderate.

    If he or she holds onto the seat they’ll still coast in the general election — and if the conservative beats them — in a district that red — they’ll also be able to beat the Democrat.

    Even moderate Republicans have noticed that the other side is not.

  • spoasteph97

    Thanks for the update! :)

    Hoping for a victory for Lamborn this upcoming Tuesday!

  • spoasteph97

    I join you in support of primary challengers for them.. They used to be good conservatives (never excellent ones), but they are acting more and more like RINOs these days.

    We need to actively recruit primary challengers for them!

  • spoasteph97

    I think that Keith Rothfus is a genuine conservative…he’s been endorsed by the Club for Growth!

  • http://madisonproject.com/ Daniel Horowitz

    in the hall of *fame* due to her strong record from a Democrat district http://www.conservativevotingrecords.com/hall-of-fame/

  • trimulchio

    1) an “Even” or “R+1″ or “R+3″ is hardly a safe seat and many of the “Rs” in that district may also agree with the vote; and

    2) Remember Rep. Charlie Wilson?

    He perresented a “yellow dog” Democrat district in Texas that forgave him social liberalism in return for being a Hawk on defense and bringing home the pork. The same kind of compromise may be at work with more liberal Republicans representing more conservative “Strong Republican” Districts.

    The other thing is, even a stopped clock is right twice a day. There are things with strong bi-partisan support and there are even issues where the Democrats may even be (GASP) right (usually, for the wrong reason).

  • trimulchio

    somewhat fiscally conservative, but more socially liberal Republicans.

  • trimulchio

    some of the “pro-Democrat” votes are actually votes against things like the Patriot Act, that is opposed by Campaign for Liberty and the Ron Paul Experiance in general, who may be a large, tireless and active group in marginally Republican Districts, especially in Blue States.

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    Phil Roe in my district (Tennessee 1 – R+21) will more than likely run unopposed in the General.

  • thebadpiper

    Much as I disagree and even despise their agenda, I must grudgingly admire Senate and Congressional Democrats for having the courage of their convictions. On Obama care, they demonstrated they had the discipline and commitment to enact the legislation many of their members knew would be political suicide. Unfortunately, from watching the Republicans while they are now in control of the House, it appears many have neither courage nor convictions. I can only attribute this to the fact that, while proclaiming themselves to be “conservatives”, these Republicans are, after all, members of the political class. As part of the political class they believe the Government has solutions for the Country’s problems rather than recognizing that Government is the cause of those problems. For them to think otherwise would be a denial of the purpose of their existence as a professional politician. And that is at the root of the problem conservatives have with the Republican Party. You cannot be a professional politician and be a conservative. Philosophically, the two are incompatible and mutually exclusive.

  • http://www.hakubi.us/ Neil Stevens

    He thanks you for assisting his party’s attempts to rule America by expressing your admiration for his party’s functionaries.

  • tnfriendofcoal101368

    “You cannot be a professional politician and be a conservative. Philosophically, the two are incompatible and mutually exclusive.” So are we just to turn the government over to King Barack, First of his Name and the minions of his court led by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, in perputuity. I thought I’d never say this but if that is true…I am making a run for the Canadian border.

  • rightlane1111

    and should be the example to Conservatives. Love the guy…and does he ever keep his people involved and informed. He listens to us. Now…Johnny Isaakson and Saxby Chambliss…no such luck…they will vote with the party…not the people…although Isaakson might be a tad…I said a “tad” bit better..but not by much.

  • fishgod3

    Give me a moment to arrange my estate($800 in cash) and I will run too.