the voting records show that Thad Cochran is to the left of all but three Republicans in the Senate.
— Stuart Benjamin, Moderate Senate Republicans Fall Off Their Own Cliff.
And he has impressive charts showing just how scarce anything looking like a moderate Republican will be in the next Senate.
I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that the scores are biased more by the dire straights of our economy than by individual extremism.
What I mean is that isn’t it possible that the scale shows more extremism NOW as opposed to the other Congresses cited, because it is a little less likely that any informed individual will be wishy-washy about what they think needs to happen? When things are bad, as they are now unlike the other cited instances, it becomes more likely that a given Congressperson will have an adamant position (even if one informed by party line)? I suspect so.