Saturday, October 28, 2006

Rolling Stone Magazine: The 10 Worst Congressmen

Rolling Stone magazine has decided to focus on politics over music for their election edition with their cover story: Time To Go: Inside The Worst Congress Ever. I'm not planning on focusing on that but I'd like to look at their list (by contributing editor Tim Dickinson) of The 10 Worst Congressmen:



So, as I am looking at the list... something stands out. I'm not saying that anyone on the list is a shining example of what a congressional representative should be unless it is indicative of their constituents. I just find it funny that it is 90% Republican. Maybe the percentage would have been less on this list if it was a Top 20. Was William Jefferson chosen as a token Democrat or was he tossed to the wolves here because nearly $90,000 in bribe money was found in his freezer? Does Marilyn Musgrave's stance against gay marriage warrant being #10 out of 535? I guess that depends on what priorities rate highest for Mr. Dickinson.

I think this is why I'm not fond of Top 10 lists as they are highly questionable (unless they are personal favorites or supported by stats like album sales and airplay create Top 40 lists.) If they wanted to call most of them corrupt, that might be easier to discern. I just find it interesting that they weren't rated by their voting record or bill sponsorship. Then again, a list is only as good as its creator.

4 comments:

Cathy said...

So, does this mean we can think of Rolling Stone as pro-Democrat? Becuase I don't know the whole story, can't determine that. Plus, if they were a fair magazine (can't determine that either), the story would be equally fair in bashing both sides. My 2 cents and now I'll get off the soap box. Thanks for information. At least my congressmen from Ohio aren't on this list (but could be 11 & 12).

LoraLoo said...

I read the whole article, and there are some serious horror stories there. But I'd have to agree - this list appears skewed on several levels.

thc said...

Consider the source. And then consider who the source's readers are. Would you really expect it to be unbiased?

Lucy Stern said...

Sounds like a Democratic magazine to me. My list would have been 90% the other way.....Reid, Polosie, Kennedy, Murta, Kerry, and others....