Sen. Hutchison Is No Moderate

For years, I have been hearing that Kay Bailey Hutchison is a "moderate" republican. This image has mostly been built up during her campaigns, where she tries to position herself as the rational and moderate choice. Evidently, this ploy has worked, because that is how many in Texas view her. Is it true? Let's examine her voting pattern and see just where she falls on the political scale.

Senator Hutchison voted for the Iraqi War. Of course, many on both sides of the aisle made this mistake, but the senator still supports the war. She also voted for the "Patriot Act" and the extension of this act. It doesn't look good that she cannot identify an illegal war when she sees one, and is not upset at the government stomping on individual rights.

She has also supported all of Georgie's appropriation bills. She has helped Georgie take a surplus of over a trillion dollars and turn it into the largest deficit ever. When it comes to her voting patterns, financial responsibility seems to be of little concern to Senator Hutchison. She voted for Georgie's tax cuts, and voted against efforts to repeal those tax cuts. She also voted for the onerous republican bankruptcy bill.

But while voting to give more money to the richest Americans, she is not that generous with our veterans. Twice in 2005, she voted against providing more money for the care and treatment of our veterans. She doesn't mind paying to send our young people to war, but when they return home, they are on their own.

Senator Hutchison voted to support Georgie's "No Child Left Behind" education bill [which leaves a couple of million kids behind at last count], but voted against more money for our schools. In other words, she supports placing new mandates on our schools, but has no interest in funding those mandates. She also voted against a paltry $200 increase in pell grants for students seeking higher education.

She shows very little compassion for working people. In 2004, she voted against extending unemployment benefits, and in 2005, she voted against raising the minimum wage. To politicians like Hutchison, only their rich friends have a right to make a decent living.

Here are some of the other positions taken by Sen. Hutchison as shown by her senate votes:

* Voted against allowing Americans to purchase less expensive drugs from Canada and other places.

* Voted against allowing patients the right to sue insurance companies over decisions regarding their medical care.

* Voted for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would prevent homosexuals from getting the same marriage rights as other Americans.

* Voted to allow drilling for oil/gas in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge.

* Voted for CAFTA [Central America Free Trade Agreement]. Evidently, NAFTA didn't hurt American workers enough for Sen. Hutchison, so now she wants CAFTA. Will she not be happy until all our jobs are gone?

* Voted for an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would criminalize the desecration of the U.S. flag.

* Voted against bipartisan campaign reform in 2002.

* Voted for liability protection for the makers, importers, and sellers of firearms.

Finally we come to abortion. This is an area that helps Hutchison with the moderate image, because she is supposedly pro-choice. Let's see if her voting record supports the image. In 1999, she voted against an amendment that expressed support for the Roe v. Wade decision of the Supreme Court. In 2000, she voted against allowing military women and/or dependents to receive a privately-funded abortion in a military hospital overseas. In 2003, she voted to criminalize "partial-birth" abortions. In 2005, she voted against allocating $100 million to prevent unwanted pregnancies [including teen pregnancies]. If Senator Hutchison is a friend to the pro-choice forces, then they certainly don't need any enemies.

Senator Hutchison campaigns as a moderate, but her voting record shows that she is not. She is a member of the radical right fundamentalists that are taking this country down the wrong path. Don't listen to her soft campaign words. Look at her voting record. That is where the truth lies.