Liberal does not mean crazy

In response to William Rusher's November 1st opinion piece "A record low in political debate" in The Argus. While the irony of describing Congressman Pete Stark as a "crazy liberal" in an editorial on the loss of civility in political debates is not lost on us, we would like to address Mr. Rusher's use of the Americans for Democratic Action voting record as evidence for his claim. The ADA voting record is the standard measure of liberal thinking by Congress and has been for over 60 years. It is the culmination of months of analysis and review of Congressional activity and thoughtful debate by political experts as to what constitutes a liberal position. To use the ADA voting record to justify calling a Member of Congress a "crazy liberal" is at the very least a cheap shot and at worst a fundamental misunderstanding of political science. It is certainly sloppy research.

Further, while we agree that Congressman Stark's comments regarding President Bush's motives for continuing the war in Iraq may have been over the top, we are proud of his liberal credentials evidenced in our ratings. Mr. Rusher mentions that in 2004 Congressman Stark had a 90 percent rating, meaning that he agreed with ADA's liberal position 9 times out of 10. It means that Congressman Stark agreed with ADA that the government should reduce the deficit, halt nuclear proliferation, provide funding for job assistance programs, and protect a woman's right to make decisions about her own health care. It means that Congressman Stark is representing the people of his district.

The ADA voting record is more than just a scale between 0 and 100. The rating is based on specific votes on issues like the ones above and many others. Being a liberal isn't all about gay marriage and abortion rights, although we at ADA fight just as strongly for those issues as well. It is a measure of how a Member of Congress votes on all the issues - defense, the economy, energy, protecting the environment, housing, civil rights. These issues are just as important to liberals and while Mr. Rusher may think otherwise, fighting for them does not make us crazy.