In today's edition of the Rapid City Journal, Senator Daschle's spokesman discussed Daschle's 2003 NARAL rating:
The Republican brochure says Daschle received a "100 percent rating" from the National Abortion Rights Action League. Daschle actually received a 50 percent rating in 2003, Pfeiffer said, and his 100 percent rating in 2002 was based on a single vote to allow U.S. women in the military to pay for abortions out of their own pockets.
That 2003 NARAL rating looked suspicious to me, so I decided to take a closer look at it. Upon closer scrutiny, it appears that NARAL is either dishonest or can't do simple math. NARAL disingenuously gave Daschle (and Johnson) "50%" ratings, but in fact they both voted the way NARAL wanted them to over 85% of the time. Here's a screen capture of NARAL's legislative scorecard for Daschle (click to enlarge):
Clearly, out of the 14 votes NARAL viewed as important in 2003, Daschle voted against NARAL's preferred position only two times. Yet somehow 12 out of 14 is "50%" to NARAL. Why do they disingenuously give Daschle a "50%" rating? So Daschle's spokesman can give it to reporters in South Dakota as evidence of Daschle's "moderation" on the issue. Daschle is banking on the notion that these reporters won't look more closely at the claim. So far, that notion has been correct.
To view a PDF copy of the NARAL scorecard cited above, click HERE.
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