Obama Distorts the Facts: The Record Shows McCain is No Bush Clone

Since last June when I left the Democratic Party to register as non-affiliated, I’ve been learning to view Democrats and Republicans a little more objectively and in the process, I’ve found myself actually moving toward the vision Barack Obama articulated in his keynote address at the 2004 Democratic convention. Reading his well-crafted speech from a teleprompter (Obama currently has a 3-member speech-writing team supplemented by JFK’s former speechwriter, Ted Soreson), Sen. Obama reminded us that we are not the red states of America, or the blue states of America, we are the United States of America.

It’s been quite a transition for a former lifetime - extremely partisan - Democrat to reach the point at which I routinely attempt to make necessary judgments on the basis of merit rather than the latest partisan attack. That’s not always easy to do. For example, Barack Obama – in contrast to his bi-partisan vision - has based his campaign against John McCain primarily on convincing voters that McCain is a clone of George W. Bush. As a result of the Obama campaign’s repeated distortion of the facts, I was surprised by John Lott, Jr.’s piece in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. Lott thoroughly debunks Obama’s charge that a McCain presidency would mean the same as a third Bush term.


Lott writes:

‘“This week Obama has begun a constant refrain that there is ‘not a dime worth of difference’ between Bush's and McCain's views. It is a consistent theme of Democratic pundits on talk shows.

“Is this the same McCain who drove Republicans nuts on campaign finance, the environment, taxes, torture, immigration and more? Where has McCain not crossed swords with his own party?

“As it's being used, the 90 percent figure, from Congressional Quarterly, is nonsensical. As Washington Post congressional reporter Jonathan Weisman explained, ‘The vast majority of those votes are procedural, and virtually every member of Congress votes with his or her leadership on procedural motions.’

“Obama might want to be a little careful with these attacks, as the same measure has him voting with Democrats 97 percent of the time.

“Fortunately, a number of organizations on the left and right provide useful evaluations on how congressmen and senators vote each year. These conservative and liberal groups pick the votes they care about most and figure out how often lawmakers match up with their positions.

“Well-known organizations that rank congressional voting include the American Conservative Union on the right, Americans for Democratic Action on the left, and the nonpartisan National Journal in the middle. The League of Conservation Voters also ranks politicians from an environmentalist position.”

Based on evidence from the above sources, Lott concludes:

“In contrast to the very liberal ratings given to Obama, the interest groups find that there are about as many senators to McCain's right as there are to his left. This might not endear him to many conservatives or liberals. But it is a real distortion to claim he is a Bush clone.”

To read Lott’s piece in its entirety, go here.