Supporting our troops, evil party style
A group called the Iraq & Afghanistan Veterans of America has published a report card ranking every United States congressman by how much they support the United States military. The party affiliation of the senators is not mentioned, but Bob Geiger has taken the effort to assign party affiliations, then sort the list by IAVA ratings.
It's kind of interesting, but it's just regular text without highlighting, so I've taken the liberty of re-entering the data (the data on bobgeiger.com is a [gag] image, so I had to retype it) and color-coding it according to political affiliation. Note, interestingly, that the party that claims (at the top of their lungs, usually while waving a cheap Chinese-made American flag) to support the troops can't seem to get a rating better than a C, while their opposition can't seem to get a rating worse than a B-:
| Senator | State | Party | IAVA rating |
|---|---|---|---|
| Maria Cantwell | WA | Democrat | A- |
| Hillary Clinton | NY | Democrat | A- |
| Mark Dayton | MN | Democrat | A- |
| Christopher Dodd | CT | Democrat | A- |
| Bryon Dorgan | ND | Democrat | A- |
| Richard Durbin | IL | Democrat | A- |
| Herb Kohl | WI | Democrat | A- |
| Barbara Mikulski | MD | Democrat | A- |
| Patty Murray | WA | Democrat | A- |
| Bill Nelson | FL | Democrat | A- |
| Jack Reed | RI | Democrat | A- |
| Harry Reid | NV | Democrat | A- |
| Debbie Stabenow | MI | Democrat | A- |
| Daniel Akaka | HI | Democrat | B+ |
| Evan Bayh | IN | Democrat | B+ |
| Joseph Bidon | DE | Democrat | B+ |
| Jeff Bingaman | NM | Democrat | B+ |
| Barbara Boxer | CA | Democrat | B+ |
| Thomas Carper | DE | Democrat | B+ |
| Kent Conrad | ND | Democrat | B+ |
| Dianne Feinstein | CA | Democrat | B+ |
| Tim Johnson | SD | Democrat | B+ |
| Edward Kennedy | MA | Democrat | B+ |
| Mary Landrieu | LA | Democrat | B+ |
| Frank Lautenberg | NJ | Democrat | B+ |
| Patrick Leahy | VT | Democrat | B+ |
| Carl Levin | MI | Democrat | B+ |
| Joseph Lieberman | CT | Independent | B+ |
| Blanche Lincoln | AR | Democrat | B+ |
| Barack Obama | IL | Democrat | B+ |
| John Rockefeller | WV | Democrat | B+ |
| Ken Slazar | CO | Democrat | B+ |
| Paul Sarbanes | MD | Democrat | B+ |
| Charles Schumer | NY | Democrat | B+ |
| Ron Wyden | OR | Democrat | B+ |
| James Jeffords | VT | Independent | B+ |
| Max Baucus | MT | Democrat | B |
| Robert Byrd | WV | Democrat | B |
| Russell Feingold | WI | Democrat | B |
| Tom Harkin | IA | Democrat | B |
| Daniel Inouye | HI | Democrat | B |
| John Kerry | MA | Democrat | B |
| Robert Menendez | NJ | Democrat | B |
| Mark Pryor | AR | Democrat | B |
| Ben Nelson | NE | Democrat | B- |
| Lincoln Chafee | RI | Republican | C |
| Olympia Snowe | ME | Republican | C |
| Arlen Specter | PA | Republican | C |
| Susan Collins | ME | Republican | C- |
| Gordon Smith | OR | Republican | C- |
| George Allen | VA | Republican | D+ |
| Conrad Burns | MT | Republican | D+ |
| Mike DeWine | OH | Republican | D+ |
| Chuck Hagel | NE | Republican | D+ |
| Kay Hutchison | TX | Republican | D+ |
| Richard Lugar | IN | Republican | D+ |
| James Talent | MO | Republican | D+ |
| John Thune | SD | Republican | D+ |
| John Warner | VA | Republican | D+ |
| Lamar Alexander | TN | Republican | D |
| Wayne Allard | CO | Republican | D |
| Robert Bennett | UT | Republican | D |
| Christopher Bond | MO | Republican | D |
| Sam Brownback | KS | Republican | D |
| Thad Cochran | MS | Republican | D |
| Norm Coleman | NM | Republican | D |
| Michael Crapo | ID | Republican | D |
| Pete Domenici | NM | Republican | D |
| Bill Frist | TN | Republican | D |
| Chuck Grassley | IA | Republican | D |
| Judd Gregg | NH | Republican | D |
| Orrin Hatch | UT | Republican | D |
| Trent Lott | MS | Republican | D |
| Mel Martinez | FL | Republican | D |
| John McCain | AZ | Republican | D |
| Mitch McConnell | KY | Republican | D |
| Lisa Murkowski | AK | Republican | D |
| Pat Robers | KS | Republican | D |
| Richard Shelby | AL | Republican | D |
| Ted Stevens | AK | Republican | D |
| John Sununu | NH | Republican | D |
| Craig Thomas | WY | Republican | D |
| George Voinovich | OH | Republican | D |
| Jim Bunning | KY | Republican | D- |
| Saxby Chamliss | GA | Republican | D- |
| John Cornyn | TX | Republican | D- |
| Larry Craig | ID | Republican | D- |
| Elizabeth Dole | NC | Republican | D- |
| John Ensign | NV | Republican | D- |
| Michael Enzi | WY | Republican | D- |
| Lindset Graham | SC | Republican | D- |
| James Inhofe | OK | Republican | D- |
| Jon Kyl | AZ | Republican | D- |
| Rich Santorum | PA | Republican | D- |
| Richard Burr | NC | Republican | F |
| Ton Coburn | OK | Republican | F |
| Jim DeMint | SC | Republican | F |
| Johny Isakson | GA | Republican | F |
| Jeff Sessions | AL | Republican | F |
| David Vitter | LA | Republican | F |
The Democratic Party might not completely understand the whole idea of the rule of law, but they seem to understand the business of respecting the military much better than the party that gets in a shrieking hissy fit whenever anyone mentions that, just possibly, it might not be a good plan to send a bunch of underpaid soldiers into a hobbesian anarchy with no plans, no resources, and no leadership.
Yes, yes, yes, I'm aware that Michael Moore is fat. But I'd bet money that if he was in the Senate he'd get a better rating than the pathetic "C" grade that the best Evil Party member can squeak out.