Look at this list of U.S. Senators ranked by partisanship and you’ll see an interesting phenomenon. The top ten on the list (the most partisan) are all Democrats, the bottom ten (least partisan) include nine Republicans and one Democrat. Most media commentators love bipartisanship as long as it’s the Republicans who are jumping across the aisle. Democratic members, even when they promise they’ll be bipartisan, don’t follow through, perhaps knowing that many Republicans will switch to Democratic positions and relieve them of the responsibility of reaching across the aisle.
Our senators, Richard Burr and Elizabeth Dole, vote party line about 91 percent of the time, showing that about one out of 10 times they see some merit in agreeing with Democrats. That’s probably a pretty responsible rate of aisle-crossing, consistent with party loyalty and with personal independence on the odd issue. The top 10, who vote with Republicans only between 1 and 4 percent of the time, can’t realistically claim to be interested in bipartisanship. And the bottom 10 Republicans, who vote with Democrats between 20 and 35 percent of the time, can’t complain when they’re called RINOs (Republicans In Name Only).
The next time you hear members of one party claim members of the other party are too partisan, remember those numbers.
(h/t Sister Toldjah)