Lincoln is a Democrat? So what else you got? (Opinion)

Down Little Rock way on July 6, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell came to create a little buzz and raise cash for U.S. Rep. John Boozman, and in the process take a few pokes at U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, who the Third District congressman hopes to oust this fall. 

Along the way Boozman and McConnell (no doubt they’d make quite a famous pair in Washington, repeatedly voting no against everything, both good and bad, that President Obama ships up the Hill) criticized Lincoln for regularly voting with her party and daring to sometimes give her support to the 44th president.

For those new to this, that was code for a voting record that ought to strike you as being dangerous. In other words, liberal.

Some would argue being labeled a liberal as being tagged communist – if not worse. After all, communism died way back in 1991. But liberalism? True believers still walk among us. And if you’re not careful, you’ll end up voting for the party that gave us Jimmy Carter and Ted Kennedy. Gads!

Here’s the point: When Boozman and McConnell insinuated that our state’s senior senator leans left in the halls of Congress, nobody laughed. Apparently observers took the comment seriously. But why? Because they were talking in serious tones and wearing suits? Congressional representatives deserve our considered respect. Silly comments launched in the hope that nobody will call them silly do not.

McConnell is hoping Arkansas voters will be too dumb to notice the chairman of the Senate Agriculture Committee swings conservative much of the time. In fact, Lincoln votes with her party about 81 percent of the time. Legislatively speaking, she runs in the same circles as fellow Arkansan Sen. Mark Pryor and Maine’s Susan Collins, both political moderates.

According to opencongress.com, Lincoln votes least often with Sens. Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Sen. Thomas Coburn of Oklahoma. The former is a flaming liberal; the latter is about as conservative as it gets in Washington. Neither are a bad thing to be. It’s just that Arkansas is a historically moderate state. Which should be good news for both for her and for us.

Another example: Lincoln recently sponsored the National Child Protection Training Act, which aims to establish grant programs for the development and implementation of college curriculum focusing on child abuse and neglect, assists states in developing forensic interview training programs, establish resources for child protection professionals, etc.

Legislation like this might do a lot of good. It could also cost money. Sounds like a good debate. What this legislation doesn’t look like is the work of a bureaucratic nut job hell-bent on growing Uncle Sam’s pocketbook at any price. Not even.

Arkansas may well decide it needs a Republican in the Senate this fall. If so, maybe Rep. Boozman will convince his Republican allies that siding against unemployment benefits in the midst of a debilitating recession could prevent consumer spending and, you know, keep this economic malaise hung round our necks.

Or is that sort of advice just too pinko in this day and age?