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.
Today's one-liner: "The shortest way to the distinguishing excellence of any writer is through his hostile critics." Richard LeGallienne
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Tuesday, March 13, 2012
12 comments:
You own views are appreciated, especially if they differ from mine. But remember, commenting is a privilege, not a right. I will delete personal attacks or off-topic remarks at my discretion. Comments that play into the tribalism that has consumed this nation will be declined. So will comments alleging voter fraud unless backed up by concrete evidence. If you attack someone personally, I expect you to identify yourself. I will delete criticisms of my comment policy, vulgarities, cut-and-paste jobs from other sources and any suggestion of violence towards anyone. I will also delete sweeping generalizations about mainstream parties or ideologies, i.e. identity politics. My decisions on these matters are made on a case by case basis, and may be affected by my mood that day, my access to the blog at the time the comment was made or other information that isn’t readily apparent.
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.
ReplyDeleteYou 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.
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.
ReplyDelete"Dent votes with his party 85% of the time... Holden votes with the party 71% of the time ..."
ReplyDeleteNot 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.
Anon 929am, how dare you point out how Geeting obfuscates the truth?
ReplyDeleteRelax, What-Am-I-Gettings-From-Big-Government?!
ReplyDeleteI 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
Oh!
ReplyDeleteThat'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.
I wonder how many TRILLIONS OF NEW DEBT Obama will rack up during his second term?
ReplyDeleteI 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteDuring 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.
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...
ReplyDeleteHas anyone seen Simmons.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:30 said...
ReplyDelete"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.