Let's Try Numbers
By: Eric
Published On: 7/15/2007 11:20:20 AM
For the past couple of weeks the anger at the excessive Abusive Driver Fees has been boiling over on the blogs, and RK is no exception. And we have, of course, pointed our finger directly at those most responsible for this mess: the Virginia House Republicans and individuals like Dave Albo. Thank you, Republicans.
But unfortunately some people just don't seem to get it. They'd prefer to spread the blame equally although it is overwhelmingly the fault of Republicans. Care to guess who and why? Hint: These abuser fees will be an issue in November's elections and they will hurt the party most responsible.
While you ponder that question, check out this chart (data courtesy of NLS - check out Ben's post on this subject). I've grouped the data into counts of those that voted for the abuser fees more than they voted against them (More In Favor), those that split their vote evenly (Split), and those that voted more against the fees than for them (More Against). Percentage by party is italics in parens.
|
More In Favor |
Split |
More Against |
| Republicans |
50 (87%) |
5 (9%) |
2 (4%) |
| Democrats |
12 (30%) |
6 (15%) |
22 (55%) |
| Independents |
2 (67%) |
0 (0%) |
1 (33%) |
If these numbers don't get the message across about who's primarily to blame, I'd be happy to make a pie chart. But it really doesn't matter how the message is delivered, because neither words, numbers, or pretty pictures are going to change the fact that this mess belongs to the Republicans.
Comments
Don't Forget (Brian Kirwin - 7/15/2007 11:57:15 AM)
Democratic Governors in favor: 100%
and (leftofcenter - 7/15/2007 12:59:57 PM)
line item veto power? Or not?
Fair enough (Eric - 7/15/2007 3:35:51 PM)
Feel free to add 1 to the Democrats in full support - although I still believe that Kaine's vision of abuser fees is different, and for much different reasons, than the Albo/Republican version.
So go ahead and add 1 to the Dems full support - but you'll be disappointed because the results are still the same. The Republicans still have full control over the House and there is still 87% support among them for these fees.
Yet again, this is my point - no denying that some Democrats do support this thing but it's still and always will be primarily the fault of House Republicans. And these numbers do a great job of summarizing the situation.
Seems to me ... (A Siegel - 7/15/2007 12:34:16 PM)
that there is a great pie chart here ... to then be provided as bullet information for LTEs throughout VA.
Where is the data by member? If you have that table, you make it easy to have LTEs based on this sent in throughout the Commonwealth.
Pretty please ...
Another breakdown (KCinDC - 7/15/2007 10:50:19 PM)
There's a total of 398 votes -- 4 votes by 100 delegates, except that apparently 2 delegates missed a vote each. They break down like this:
Republicans: 204 yes, 24 no
Democrats: 64 yes, 94 no
Independents: 8 yes, 4 no
That means 89% of the Republican votes were yes, while 59% of the Democratic votes were no. Also, 74% of the yes votes were Republican, while 77% of the no votes were Democratic.
I like it! (Eric - 7/16/2007 10:06:38 AM)
This could be the winning pie chart - provided that the somewhat complex data aggregations be explained in a simple manner.