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Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Dent, Holden, Rated Moderates By Vote View

Extremists and partisans here in the LV blogosphere love to paint Lehigh Valley Congressman Charlie Dent as an extremist and partisan himself. An evil conservative (or liberal) who pretends he's a moderate. Same for 17th District Congressman Tim Holden, who voted against Obamacare.

The reality is that most Americans, according to The Hill, are in the political middle. And although Congress itself is becoming more and more partisan, Dent and Holden are two of it few remaining moderates.

According to the nonpartisan Vote View, Holden ranks #182 of 436 House members in the current Congress as a liberal. Dent ranks #203.

They're centrists, like most of us.

12 comments:

Jon Geeting said...

Dent votes with his party 85% of the time. That's an orthodox conservative voting record. Holden votes with the party 71% of the time, making him a very conservative Democrat.

You are also wrong about most people being centrists. The overwhelming majority of Americans are political partisans of either party, and only about 7% of voters are actually independents, and up for grabs in any election. These people tend to be low-information voters who don't actually follow politics, not high-minded centrists. People are becoming more partisan because the electorate is more educated now.

Bernie O'Hare said...

Jon, you are one of the partisans and extremists to whom I referred. The Pew Report, according to the Hill, puts us in the center or center right. Congressman Hoden and Dent are basic moderates, like the rest of us. You are trying to put Dent in a category to justify getting rid of him in your own mind. The reality, according to both the National Journal and View Vote, is that Dent and Holden are centrists, like most of us. You, on the other hand, work for Soros.

Anonymous said...

"Dent votes with his party 85% of the time... Holden votes with the party 71% of the time ..."


Not so fast, Jon. How many of Dent's 85% and Holden's 71% were on bipartisan votes supported by pluralities in the opposite party? A lot, actually. There are lies, damn lies, and statistics.

Anonymous said...

Anon 929am, how dare you point out how Geeting obfuscates the truth?

ironpigpen said...

Relax, What-Am-I-Gettings-From-Big-Government?!

I have decided to give you a sympathy vote in The Morning Call blog contest.

For doing such a bang-up job running "LEHIGH VALLEY INDEPENDENT" ...

... hab ein schoenes Tag.

Scott said...

Jon - Totally disagree. Maybe its just my world/social circle, but the majority of us are college educated and we HATE that moderate, common sense solutions are constantly being ingnored so one side or the other can score politcal points against the other.

I don't understand why Dent, Holden and others don't just create their own political party and leave the hard core liberal Dems and FOX watching neo-cons on the fringes where they belong.

Anonymous said...

Oh!

That's for straightening that all out for us, Holier-Than-Thou Anon 1:18.

Never forget, the Compromise of 1820 brought the Compromise of 1840 ... which brought the Civil War.

Sometimes, there just ain't no in-between, is there?

Yes, I think that Big Government's spending is riduculous and completely out of control.

It IS destroying the country.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many TRILLIONS OF NEW DEBT Obama will rack up during his second term?

I get it don't matter so long as I can keep my Health Care coverage if I like it and get all the contraception and abortion services I want FOR FREE.

Obama is too big to fail.

Chris Miller said...

Dent is not a conservative. I would agree with Anonymous 9:20AM in that you must consider what is being voted on in Congress. Charlie has been leaning to the left side for a long, long time. Note how many townhall meetings he has not had. Note the silence of the entire Republican party over the months.
During the run up to the Revolutionary War we had men like John Dickinson and John Jay who, as well informed moderates, worked to maitian a relationship with England. The reason for that was the business connection that those moderates had with the British. But the men were out in the open and told one and all that if push came to shove they would be with those who believed that the answer was freedom from Britian. In short they were moderates with backbones. Charlie Dent and scores of Republicans including Boehner could not fine their spin if they spent an eon trying to find it. We have a purchased government and the sooner we realize that the sooner we will get back on the right road.

Anonymous said...

Holden is much more conservative on many of the key issues than most of the Democratic Party members. As has been pointed out above, most of the votes you are referring to are bipartisan votes...

Anonymous said...

Has anyone seen Simmons.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:30 said...
"I wonder how many TRILLIONS OF NEW DEBT Obama will rack up during his second term?"

The same amount his Republican replacement will ring up.

They are all the same and no better alternative exists.