Hillary Clinton Was Liberal. Hillary Clinton Is Liberal. (Hillary Group)

[DeepModem Mom]

A bunch of reporters have recently discovered a shocking truth: Hillary Clinton is liberal! (I heard a rumor that Columbo has been helping with the investigation.)

We’ve gotten this raft of “Clinton is liberal” exposés as Clinton has revved up her 2016 campaign, speaking out in support of gay marriage, a pathway to citizenship for immigrants in the U.S. illegally, and criminal justice reform. But what many of these articles miss is that Clinton has always been, by most measures, pretty far to the left. When she’s shifted positions, it has been in concert with the entire Democratic Party.

To see how these different issues fit together to form an overall political ideology, we usually use three metrics: one based on congressional voting record, one based on public statements and one based on fundraising.

Clinton was one of the most liberal members during her time in the Senate. According to an analysis of roll call votes by Voteview, Clinton’s record was more liberal than 70 percent of Democrats in her final term in the Senate. She was more liberal than 85 percent of all members. Her 2008 rival in the Democratic presidential primary, Barack Obama, was nearby with a record more liberal than 82 percent of all members — he was not more liberal than Clinton.

Clinton also has a history of very liberal public statements. Clinton rates as a “hard core liberal” per the OnTheIssues.org scale. She is as liberal as Elizabeth Warren and barely more moderate than Bernie Sanders. And while Obama is also a “hard core liberal,” Clinton again was rated as more liberal than Obama....

http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/hillary-clinton-was-liberal-hillary-clinton-is-liberal/ via FiveThirtyEight

[mcar]

1. But, but she was a Goldwater Girl

She was and is a liberal. Thanks for this DMM.

[riversedge]

4. that ol talking point

is so sickening and boring--yet I see it on DU all the time.

[mcar]

6. It is riversedge

Given that many DUers second hero, Elizabeth Warren (whomI love, BTW), was a registered Republican into the 1990s, one would think that HRC slam would be seen as meaningless.

[Thinkingabout]

2. Yes, Hillary is liberal, in fact she and Elizabeth Warren are rated together by

On the Issues. Bernie is too far left for me so I am very happy with Hillary. She has been advocating liberal issues in her adult life and I might add on issues of women we needed someone advocating for us.

[okasha]

3. If Sanders hadn't called himself a socialist,

he would not be seen as any further left than Hillary. On some issues, he's more conservative/libertarian: gun control, Israel, the MIC, especially its latest boondoggle, the F-35.

[Thinkingabout]

5. You are right, don't know where he stands, looks like corporations is close to Bernie.

[msrizzo]

7. Yes, you are so right.

But apparently it is not up to us to define liberal or progressive anymore, it seems to just equal Bernie supporter these days. I never even know what to say about that. It doesn't matter, though. I am really trying to keep my cool. I know that economic issues are important. Trust me I lost a lot when the economy crashed--equity in my home, and real dollars in my retirement account. I'm not happy about any of that, but what a lot of Sanders supporters call "identity politics" are the issues that hit me where I live. And I like Hillary for that because I think she will really make a difference there.