Fox News Watchdog

If you’re a politics buff, you probably remember the way National Journal‘s ratings were used in the 2004 and 2008 elections to establish that the Democratic candidate was the “most liberal voting record in the Senate”–first John Kerry (Extra! Update, 6/04), then Barack Obama (CounterSpin, 3/28/08). FAIR pointed out the flawed methodology that the magazine was using, but the headline-grabbing findings still had a profound–and profoundly misleading–impact on both races.

Now National Journal has released its rankings for 2009 (2/28/10), and they reveal that Dennis Kucinich is one of the more conservative members of the Democratic caucus–he’s the 240th most conservative representative out of 416 ranked by the Journal. He’s more conservative, according to the Journal rankings, than Blue Dog Democrats like Mike Arcuri (No. 243), Dennis Cardoza (No. 245) and Robert Marion Berry (No. 248).

Virtually any political observer will tell you that Kucinich is one of the most if not the most progressive member of Congress. Either none of them understand the political spectrum, or the National Journal‘s rankings are useless–take your pick.

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