Garrett, a liberal?

Gave a quick check of Herb Jackson's blog "Capital Games" before heading upstairs, and he has a note about National Journal's annual vote ranking. So, I decided to check it out. Turns out, according to the votes they looked at, Representative Scott Garrett's more liberal than 42.8 percent of the House. Considering the praise he received before his appearance at CPAC, that may raise an eyebrow among his base. However, there are a couple ways to set their mind at ease.

With rankings like the Journal's, it's important to note that the outcome depends on the votes selected. If you analyze every recorded vote, as done by Poole and Lewis, Garrett ranked more conservative than 97% of the 109th House.

Also, in a selective survey it leaves out what Garrett would like to become law. For that a more accurate rating may be the analysis done by Govtrack.us, that lists him as a Radical Republican based on a statistical analysis of Bill co-sponsorship (for quality control, I checked Ted Kennedy, who is listed as a Radical Democrat).

So for those who may doubt Garrett's street cred as one of the most conservative members of Congress, never fear, the numbers back up the claim.