Robert Byrd lead the filibuster. He's hardly a conservative, and he stayed with the Democratic party after this vote.
He's been a major Democratic party figure for decades. He supports lots of pork spending, he supports affirmitive action, he opposed the Federal Marriage Amendment, is pro-choice, voted against the Unborn Victims of Violence Act of 2004, opposed Bush's tax cuts, strongly opposed Iraq. He has a lifetime ACU rating of 29.6 (and the rating has been lower in recent years more like 20), compared with much higher ADA ratings (since 1992 he's had 100, 55, 75, 85, 70, 70, 80, 80, 75, 85, 75, 95, 90, 95, 80).
I could see the argument he's not "ultra liberal", but he's no conservative. |
