The guide is simple. There are several bills listed, and then the Congresspeople are listed with either a + or a - underneath that particular bill. The + means that the Congressperson voted to hold the cross aloft, and the - means that the person voted to see an empty horizon when Jesus returns. Those lucky few who got all crosses on their scorecard get a blue highlight over their row.
So what issues were the "most clear-cut, pro-family votes that came before Congress" in 2006, according to these loud and proud followers of the Crucified Jesus?
In the House:
- An amendment to the NDAA for 2007 "sought to lift the current ban on privately funded abortions at U.S. military facilities overseas."
- The Marriage Protection Amendment.
- The Pledge Protection Act, meant to remove federal court jurisdiction over cases involving the Pledge of Allegience.
- The Embryonic Stem Cell Research Act.
- The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.
- The Public Expression of Religion Act, which denies the awarding of legal fees to plaintiffs suing public officials for public displays of religion.
- Sponsorship of the Marriage Protection Amendment.
In the Senate:
- Cloture on Samuel Alito.
- Confirmation of Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court.
- Confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the US Court of Appeals.
- Cloture on Marriage Protection Amendment.
- The Embryonic Stem Cell Research Act.
- The Lautenberg Sex-Ed Amendment "would have increased funding for comprehensive sex-ed programs, steered funding toward condom distribution, and undermined absinence-until-marriage education programs."
- The Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act.
- Sponsorship of the Marriage Protection Amendment.
For Focus on the Family, those are the issues. Keep the teenagers from screwing, keep the Pledge of Allegience in its amended form (which was first used in the Sermon on the Mount, right?), keep the gays from having families, and keep Michael J. Fox a-shakin'.
I am proud to report that my Congressperson, Eddie Bernice Johnson, has a flat horizon straight across, with a big goose egg from these Christianist theocrat-wanna-bes. But I now live in Texas, so my senators are right up James Dobson's butt. Cornyn is a blueliner, while Kay Bailey Hutchison didn't feel like the blue line was worth trashing embryonic stem cell research. She's the bad girl with the 87% marking.
You will be happy to note that Focus on the Family knows the difference between a vote on cloture on Supreme Court Justices and a vote for that justice to be confirmed. Both votes are tabulated here. There shall be no scalawags voting to filibuster but then voting to confirm Justice Alito. You can't hide, Democrat! This actually didn't happen, though - lots of votes for cloture but against Alito's confirmation, but only Chuck Hagel of Nebraska came close to denying cloture but voting for confirmation. Under his cloture vote is the Focus on the Family exception: NV - no vote.
Which brings up the question - how does a No Vote count in the scorecard?
It appears to count against the candidate. Continuing our visit to Nebraskan Senators, Ben Nelson (D) has an 87% approval rating from the Christianists. His only flaw was in not co-sponsoring the Marriage Protection Amendment. This is the bonus point category for the Christianists. Apparently, it's not enough to actually have voted for enshrining discrimination in the Constitution, but you've got to have your name on the amendment to truly be a God-fearing Christian. After all, when you hire a musician to parade before you as you deliver your tithe to the temple, you shouldn't have any qualms about preparing a banner with your name on it to follow you on the way!
Hagel's voting record looks just like Nelson's, but two NVs are recorded (one for cloture, and another for cloture on the Marriage Protection Amendment). These two NVs drop the Republican Senator down to a failing grade of 62%. Tacky, tacky, Senator Hagel. You've let a Democrat (in name only) show you up on family issues. You better start showing up for those cloture votes.
But does a No Vote count against you, all the way through the voter guide?
Not if you're Speaker of the House.
The House has seven issues tabulated in this guide. J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) only voted on three of these issues, but his FOF rating is a 67%! On the four issues he didn't vote for, he is given not an NV, but an S - Speaker Did Not Vote.
The matter of the Speaker voting is part of the House culture and code. The rule currently states:
The Speaker is not required to vote in ordinary legislative proceedings, except when his vote would be decisive or when the House is engaged in voting by ballot.
So, FOF arrives at their 67% rating as follows - the speaker's four non-vote items are eliminated from the mix, and he's judged solely on the other three. Two votes for Jesus, one vote against the Savior, and Hastert stands at 67%.
The one vote against Jesus? Sponsorship of the House's version of the Marriage Protection Act. Is the Speaker sponsoring legislation frowned upon in the House? If so, this probably shouldn't have counted against him either. I find on his Congressional web biography that he "sponsored legislation in 2002 to designate the Ronald Reagan Boyhood Home in Dixon a National Historic Site." If that's not a commitment to family values, I don't know what is. However, it is rather innocuous. Is Hastert on record as sponsoring more notable legislation as Speaker? Yes, and yes, and yes.
So it appears that the Christianists do have a grievance with the Speaker on not putting his name on their gaybashing bill. After all, Hastert can sponsor 600,000 dead Iraqis and corporate welfare for Big Pharm, and he can cosponsor Paris Hilton's big fat tax break - why can't he put a memorial brick in the wall between a gay man and his dying partner in a hospital room? Ingrate.
The Hastert toss-the-race exemption worked well for Tom DeLay - the five races he was unable to vote on because of his unfortunate indictment left him with a 50% rating. And Sam Johnson forfeited a blue line because of a family emergency. I know this because the Focus on the Family scorekeepers were helpful enough to place a star by his 85% rating, so the good folks wouldn't hold his lack of voting on the Marriage Protection Amendment against him.
I'll close here, but there's more fun to be had with this voter's guide. The introduction and the descriptions of the bills are just precious!
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