The Senate’s ‘best’

April 17, 2006

[tag]Time[/tag] magazine put together one of those subject lists that serve as fun conversation pieces, this time focusing on “[tag]America’s Best Senators[/tag].”

There is no fixed journey to greatness in the [tag]Senate[/tag]. Instead there is a whole variety of skills that America’s Senators have developed over 218 years to help them raise and spend tax dollars, oversee the operation of government and, in the case of the best among them, pass laws that benefit their constituents, their country and the world. Time spoke to dozens of academics, political scientists and current and former Senators to pick the 10 [tag]best[/tag] of the 109th Congress. […]

They say the Senate is the world’s most exclusive club. But the real elite is made up not of those who break in but of those who make a difference once they get there.

Of course, “making a difference” is value-neutral. As far as Time is concerned, for the purposes of this list, it’s about being effective in your stated goals, not whether your goals have merit.

With this in mind, Time’s Top 10 list included (in alphabetical order): Thad Cochran (R-Miss.), Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.), Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), Carl Levin (D-Mich.), Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Olympia J. Snowe (R-Maine), and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.).

Time also did the Bottom 5: Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii), Wayne Allard (R-Colo.), Jim Bunning (R-Ken.), Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), and Mark Dayton (D-Minn.).

And just to keep things interesting, Time added the Top 5 “Up-And-Comers“: Barack Obama (D-Ill.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.), John Sununu (R-N.H.), and Mark Pryor (D-Ark.).

I don’t have too much to add to the list, though I would have liked to see Harry Reid among the best — the guy has just run circles around Bill Frist for two years with a 10-seat deficit — and Pat Roberts among the worst. I probably would have added Ken Salazar (D-Colo.) to the “Up-And-Comers” list, too.

How about you?

Feinstein ?????

  • I’d like to have seen Frist as #10 of the bottom 10, since he is a complete moron when it comes to doing his job. This is one doctor I would want a fifth opinion on what he said when he told me it was Monday. And then I’d check the calendar.

    No wonder all he could ever do was kill kittens and then work for daddy.

  • I’m surprised that Byrd of West Virginia is not on this list, considering all the Fed dollars he has shanghaied off to his state.

  • Diane Feinstein is not that effective that I would put her in the top 10. I’ve known her politically since I used to work down the hall from her in the office of a fellow member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors 30 years ago, and she is accomplished in what she has done. Perhaps I would rate her effectiveness higher were it not for the fact that 90 percent of the time we were always opposed to her pro-corporate agenda.

    Now then, if you want to name an effective California Senator, let’s put up the name of Barbara Boxer, whose willingness to take on things because it’s the right thing to do is becoming legendary, and she wins with them, too. Senator Boxer, proof indeed that dynamite does come in small packages.

  • All I could think of was a snarky comment on the fact that Senate and Best are contradictory terms.

  • I think Joe Biden should be in the top 5 list – this would be based on the criterion of awesomeness.

  • Speaking of the bottom-feeding “Bottom Five”, where is the disreputable Joe Liebermann I wonder? Hopefully getting himself unelected in CT.

  • I would put Byrd and Reid in the top 10 for effectiveness. I go for days without knowing what Cochran and Kyl are adding to the universe. Haven’t heard a peep from Lugar–a moderate–about his party going the way of the Taliban. And since he is Mr. Foreign Affairs, it’s odd that he hasn’t been anywhere near the forefront of an Iraq debate/justification. His inclusion must be historical. Up and coming would definitely be Feingold. Clinton hasn’t done anything and I say that as a New Yorker. Would she be on the list if she wasn’t Bill’s wife and so immediately a presumed presidential candidate? Lautenberg is certainly more effective than she is. All in all, a typical Time Mag bogus exploration. I’m surprised, yes, that they didn’t laud Lieberman as they are shameless shills of the right.

  • I agree with you about Salazar. He is my senator and I think that he has done very well. I expect that you will hear more from him over the years. Allard is weak, but in his defense it is harder to make a splash when you basically rubber stamp anything that the administration comes up with. Wow, that is a pretty defense isn’t it.

  • Definitely Reid, Feingold, and Byrd, but I also see Boxer as a late blooming truth teller. She reported that she made a promise to herself that if she were re-elected, she would fight for what is right, not necessarily what is popular. I see her fufilling her promise, and I am thankful for her. Feinstein is very pro corporate, I agree. I am dissapointed often with her decisions.

  • I want to nominate my two Republicanite senators for a position at the bottom of the list. That would be Jim “I was for torture before I was against it” Talent and Christopher “I still support torture and I’m a drunk” “Kit” Bond.

  • Kyl????? Um, what has he done? No mention of the sellout, Lieberman?And where is Santorum? Based on his bestiality remarks, I’d guess he was behind the bottom five, sniffing their butts.

  • From Minnesota- since the point is “making a difference,” I agree that Mark Dayton is pretty weak. I voted for him partly to drop-kick Rod Grams, but Mark really made me think he was Wellstone-ish. Wellstone made a difference just by being Wellstone. (“You, Senator, are no…”)
    Russ Feingold is conspicuously absent, I agree. I think he makes a great contribution to The Senate, not just for Wisconsin. (and not just cuz I agree with practically every syllable that comes out of his mouth.) Leahy gets a nod from me, too. Our (MN) freshman Norm Coleman might be considered an up-and-comer as a newbie Republican. he’s slikk! Al Franken could beat him, tho.

  • Just for the hell of it. A Me too! for Senator Boxer. She is consistantly willing to speak clearly and without the least bit of ambivilance about every issue she addresses. It’s crazy that such forthright honesty and comprehension of the issues should come across as radical but when I hear her opine on pretty much anything these days, I shake my head and think she’s an American hero.

  • No Ted Stevens? So you can get $400 million bridges built from one piece of tundra to another without being an unusually effective senator???

  • I think that a person missing form the worst list is Bill Frist. His leadership and everything is just abomidable. Ted Stevens is another one that belongs on the worst list and he is so immature when he doesn’t get his way. Norm Coleman is not impressive at all. Elizabeth Dole is another worst.

    Feingold and Dorgan belongs on the best list.

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