Raj Goyle is not moderate or conservative, even for a Democrat

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In its article 10 to watch in 2010, the Wichita Eagle included short profiles of the candidates in the race for the Kansas fourth district Congressional seat.

For Democrat Raj Goyle, the article describes Goyle as a “blue dog Democrat.”

That’s pretty funny. Maybe it’s the Eagle’s attempt at branching out into comedy.

The term “blue dog Democrat” describes a moderate or conservative Democrat. This doesn’t describe Goyle. He may talk that way, but we need to look at his actions.

For example, consider his voting record in the Kansas House of Representatives. The Kansas Taxpayer Network published ratings of Kansas legislators based on their votes on key issues. For the 2008 session (the last session with ratings), Goyle’s rating was 38%. Only 11 of 125 members had a lower score. This places Goyle at the liberal end of the spectrum in the Kansas House.

Then, what about his work history? Goyle’s campaign website doesn’t mention this, but he worked for the American Civil Liberties Union, one of the political left’s favorite organizations.

Goyle’s site also omits that he was Senior Policy Analyst for Domestic Policy at the Center for American Progress. This organization is one of the most prominent left-wing think tanks in America and advocates for more and larger government. It was initially funded by sub-prime mortgage pioneers Herbert and Marion Sandler, who were tagged by Time Magazine in 2009 as some of 25 people to blame for the financial crisis. Other CAP funders include convicted inside trader George Soros.

To talk of Goyle as a moderate or conservative Democrat overlooks his actions. We may have to rely on news outlets other than the Wichita Eagle for this type of information.

Comments

17 responses to “Raj Goyle is not moderate or conservative, even for a Democrat”

  1. Ben

    There is no question that Rep. Goyle’s record is liberal and his associations are liberal to extreme left, but the Wichita Eagle editorial board will make sure that he is portrayed as a middle-of-the-road nice guy. On the brighter side, will there be anyone left on the editorial board of the Wichita Eagle come election time.

  2. Jim Rice

    Perhaps if ole Raj is the moderate or conservative as the Eagle claims, he may want to join the Independence Caucus vetting process to prove it is true.

    I look forward to his participation.

  3. D. Losey

    And maybe by election time no one will be reading/subcribing to a newspaper that slants the news according to their ideology.

  4. CRAIG

    The Eagle’s editorial board and Rhonda Holman in particular are so far left, if they didn’t have a monopoly, they would be out of business in a minute. It should be illegal for them to constantly use their monopoly to push a totally socialist agenda. Here are some examples.
    1 School funding. The $13,000 per student we are spending for public education is 3 times what it actually costs to educate a child K_12. “I know I just paid 8 years worth private school.” But it’s not enough according to the Eagle and 259.
    2 Every report you read says that the market distortions created by projects like the downtown development actually hurt growth of local economies. But the Eagle staunchly supports it.
    3 Health care. I agree there were some problems with our health care system. But will the healthcare bill in congress fix those? NO! Instead it creates another entitlement program to hold people down, raise the price of health insurance, and tax the life out of business that will end up paying for it. How many entitlement programs can a low income family qualify for before it is easier to not work than to work and loose all your benefits.
    Programs like this will enslave us as surely as if we had never thrown the yoke of tyranny off that circled our necks as a people before a few brave souls rose up and said enough is enough in 1776. If you feel the same attend a TEA PARTY (taxed enough already) event. Join Americans for Prosperity, or run for local office we need your help.

  5. Toldya So

    I recently saw Lucy and Raj at a downtown event, and Lucy was listening to him , shaking her head up and down. Maybe
    he is trying to get some of the liberal Republican vote.

  6. Kip Schroeder

    I love the comments. It encourages me greatly to know there are other Wichitians who are concerned by our current government’s direction. I cancelled my subscription to the Wichita Eagle during the summer of 2008 because of the increased liberal bias. Even Crowson’s departure wasn’t enough to keep me as a patron. Mr. Weeks is doing a remarkable job with this web site and I’m telling my friends about the informative reporting. Keep it up!

  7. Dismal Scientist

    Attend a Tea Party, join AFP or you could just VOTE LIBERTARIAN!

  8. […] Weeks at the Wichita-based Voice for Liberty raises a good point about a recent comment by the McClatchy-owned Wichita Eagle, when the paper pretends that […]

  9. Wichitator

    Raj Goyle is left wing even for a Massachusetts Democrat! If he is a “moderate” it would only be in the left-wing utopian paradise of the Peoples Republic of Vermont–which has at least one honest senator who will admit that he is a far leftie socialist–Bernie Sanders.

  10. Kevin

    Another thing to consider is that because he was in a Republican state and not in what one would call a liberal district, there was some restraint on his part from his natural tendencies.

    If he would go to DC, those restriants would be gone and he would be aligning himself with the liberals in the east.

  11. […] a moderate. His voting record and his personal history are at odds with this characterization. See Raj Goyle is not moderate or conservative, even for a Democrat for an example of the use of legislative vote […]

  12. Ann H.

    Raj is my representative, and let me assure you that in his campaigning, he really worked hard to make himself look moderate. When he came campaigning at our house he made himself sound very moderate, and so did the VERY copious amounts of campaign literature we received. Our neighborhood and others nearby were FULL of yard signs for him. All this and the fact that he won with such a large portion of the vote in 2008 makes me scared about his prospects in the 4th district House race. He and his supporters will do anything they can to portray him as moderate. The only good thing is that this is probably going to be a tough year for Democrats overall.

    At least the 87th district will get a chance to elect someone else this year!

  13. Anonymous

    ” It should be illegal for them to constantly use their monopoly to push a totally socialist agenda. ”

    Nice, Craig! Calling for government censoring of the press now? Are you American? Do you know anything about America and the Constitution? Do you care? Let me see your birth certificate.

  14. The Tea Party is hilariously uninformed. Funny how they protest taxes and cry against Obama’s “socialist agenda.” Yet, they seem oblivious to the fact that taxes are now LOWER under Obama than at any time under Bush.

    They claim to hate government spending and government overreach into the personal lives of citizens. Yet, it was Clinton who left office with a budget surplus and Bush who gave us a $2 trillion deficit. And where was the Tea Party when Bush was making it legal for the government to spy on its own citizens and detain ANYONE indefinitely for simply been suspected of terrorist affiliations?

    With their complete lack of a single logical, fact-based position on any issue, combined with the fact that they only emerged in the wake of the election of the first black president in history, what other conclusion could we possibly draw? Racism. And there’s stats to back it up. http://www.newsweek.com/id/236996

    Conservatives are always crying about being called racists. They love playing the victims to some imaginary liberal media agenda. Well, here’s a suggestion that will guarantee that you no longer are perceived as racists…. stop being racist.

  15. Anonymous

    It’s a common tactic of leftists like Eric to make charges of racism when they have lost the battle of facts.

  16. Mike

    Hi Eric

    I assume that most of us voted against Senator Kerry, VP Gore, Dukakis, for the same reasons that we don’t like Obama. That’s three pasty white boys and Obama. If memory serves we didn’t like Bill Clinton much either (even though he looks pretty good these days).

    Taxes are probably lower under Obama because the economy is so bad. Income tax without income is kind of a toughie.

    Mike
    Wichita KS

  17. Alan

    Its a bad time for democtrats, Raj Goyle will lose because of anti-democratic sentiment and nothing else.

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