Blog 5: McCain the Centrist? Since when?

On the heels of the Baltimore riots (Need a summary? Click here), many are asking: What would Dr. Martin Luther King say?  Conservatives and liberals tend to agree, in many respects, that if only people were more like Dr. King, his style of protest, and leadership, the world would be a much better place.  This is important once you learn that Senator (then-Representative) McCain voted against a bill on August 2, 1983, according to GovTrack, which would make Martin Luther King, Jr. Day a federal holiday.  Representative McCain was right of center.  In the 1980's, filling Senator Goldwater's seat in the Senate, McCain certainly would not have been looked at as a moderate centrist, but that has since changed.

(Photo credit: http://www.quickmeme.com/meme/3ph246)

In his first Senate term, the 100th Congress, McCain was the 14th-most conservative Senator, according to his DW-score of 0.378.  The times would change, however, as Congress became more polarized, according to Dr. Keith Poole and Voteview.  In the latest complete Congress, the 113th, McCain was ranked the 33rd-most conservative Senate member.  Quite the jump in a few years.

With a much further-right Senate than McCain's initial days in D.C., he has now been deemed the 6th most progressive Senate Republican, according to GovTrack's annual scorecard.  Senator McCain has joined the 9th-most bipartisan bills off all Senators serving 10+ years.

Like all Senators, Senator McCain is often giving scores, or ratings, by special-interest groups.  For example, the Maverick almost always receives a 0-rating NARAL Pro-Choice America, very low scores from Planned Parenthood Action Fund, and a goose egg from the American Federation of Teachers, according to Votesmart.org.  In past years, Senator McCain has received high approval ratings from the American Shareholders Association, Americans for Prosperity, and Citizens Against Government Waste.