April 18, 2007

Sen. Reid Finally Pulls Up His Civil Liberties Score

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, not that long ago, had a high ACLU score of 44%, and his score has been even as low as 40%, not very fitting for the supposedly liberal wing of the Senate. In the latest ACLU compilation, however, Reid scores 67%, a significant improvement, though nothing to brag about.

In the spring of 2006, Reid voted for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act. And last summer, he voted for the flag desecration amendment and for the Child Custody Protection Act, which would make it a crime for anyone other than a parent to accompany a minor across a state line to obtain an abortion. He scored better in the areas of judicial protection for detainees, the Military Commissions Act, voting rights reauthorization, the Federal Marriage Amendment, new worker database privacy protection, the Alito confirmation, and in the Patriot Act reauthorization cloture vote.

The highest current civil liberties scores in the Senate go to Sen. Tom Harkin, former Sen. Jon Corzine, Sen. Jeff Bingamin, Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Russell Feingold, all of whom scored 100%.

The lowest scores go to Sen. Jeff Sessions, Sen. Wayne Allard, Sen. Pat Roberts, Sen. Thad Cochran, Sen. Tom Coburn, Sen. James Inhofe, and Sen. John Cornyn, all of whom scored 8%.

Scores of interest:

Sen. Hillary Clinton–83%
Sen. Barack Obama–83%
Sen. John McCain–33%
Sen. Sam Brownback–25%
Sen. Chuck Hagel–36%

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

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Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

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