Democratic Party Media Manipulators Claim Condit is a Conservative to Shift Blame Away from Democrats

August 26, 2001 - FraudFactor - Democrats in the news media and entertainment industry have misrepresented disgraced Democrat Congressman Gary Condit (D-CA, 18th CD) as a conservative and a Republican in an attempt to shift blame and disgrace away from the Democratic Party and onto the Republican Party. However, the American Conservative Union (ACU) and the Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) voting record scores show that Gary Condit is anything but a conservative. At best, Condit is a liberal "moderate" who supports dangerous gun control laws that target and punish ordinary nonviolent citizens. At worst, Condit is an extreme liberal masquerading as a moderate or conservative.

Condit's ACU rating indicates that he votes the conservative Republican position on key votes only 44 percent of the time, compared to true conservatives who typically have ratings of at least 90 to 100 percent. Condit's ADA rating of 50 percent indicates that he voted the liberal Democratic position on key votes 50 percent of the time according to the ADA criteria. According to the ADA, Condit's ADA rating would define him as a "moderate":
 

Vote Rating Systems Need Improvement

However, the ACU and ADA voting records do not tell the full story. Political office holders are often released by their party leadership and allowed to cast a non-critical vote based on political considerations, even if it goes against the party line. The party leadership enforces party discipline to ensure that its members vote the party line on critical votes where a change in a small number of votes can alter the outcome.

Thus, a liberal Democrat who wins election in a conservative majority district can deceive the voters by voting the conservative position on key votes where the vote will not alter the outcome, and voting the liberal Democratic party position on all close votes. Note that the Democratic Party enforces much stricter party discipline than the Republican Party.
 

Condit Cast Critical Votes for Gun Control

According to ACU data, Condit's voting record fits the pattern of a liberal Democrat in a conservative majority district. Many of Condit's votes that determined his ACU and ADA rating were on issues with a large vote spread, allowing Condit to vote on either side of the issue without altering the outcome of the vote. However, in a close vote where his vote did count, Condit voted the liberal Democrat party line.

For example, according to the ACU, Condit cast a critical vote to support gun control in 2000 when he voted "NO" on an amendment to HR 4690, "Gun Safety", (Roll Call Vote No. 324, June 26, 2000), which failed by a close vote of 196-201. The amendment would have prohibited the Justice Department from implementing the former Clinton administration settlement between the federal government and gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson, under which S&W would manufacture only "safe" guns which prevent and inhibit lawful self-defense. The ACU supported the amendment and the ADA opposed it.

The Smith & Wesson agreement was the result of a Clinton administration program to bypass the majority Republican Congress and enact Draconian gun control restrictions through threats of expensive and potentially bankrupting federal litigation against legitimate firearm manufacturers and distributors. Clinton politicized and corrupted the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) which threatened to engage in the lawsuits. The gun control restrictions targeted ordinary law-abiding citizens to prevent and inhibit self-defense, and could only increase violent crime, based on criminological research.

As another example, according to the ACU, Condit cast a critical vote to support gun control in 1999 when he voted "NO" on an amendment to HR 2122, "Gun Shows - 24-Hour Background Checks", (Roll Call Vote No. 234, June 18, 1999), which passed by a close vote of 218-211. The amendment would have required all gun show sales to complete a background check on purchases within 24 hours, and would have required a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 15 years for people who use gun clips with 10 rounds or more during the commission of a crime. Note that the magazine ban provision targeted criminal misuse rather than normal use by law-abiding citizens. The ACU supported the amendment and the ADA opposed it.
 

Proposed Vote Rating System Improvements

The voting record rating systems used by the ACU, ADA, National Rifle Association (NRA), and other organizations typically do not take into account many important rating factors, including the factors given below. These factors can be represented as a set of multiple scoring numbers, each representing a different category, and/or a single combined score. As a result of the weakness of the existing common rating systems, representatives and legislators are often given an inaccurate rating that results in an incorrect assessment and prediction of their future voting behavior.
 

In addition to the above misrepresentations, news reporters have deceptively referred to Democrat Congressman Gary Condit as "Rep. Gary Condit"^{1, 3}, "Rep. Gary Condit (CA)", or "California Rep. Gary A. Condit"² rather than the customary and usual format, "Congressman Gary Condit (D-CA)" or "Representative Gary Condit (D-CA)". There is no legitimate explanation for this deviation from standard writing and editing style.

Some news articles refer to "Rep. Gary Condit" without ever admitting that Condit is a Democrat³.

Omitting Condit's party affiliation in the first reference to his name and title constitutes media bias and manipulation even when an article refers to the congressman as a Democrat later in the news story, because many people read only the first paragraph or first few sentences of an article to get the general idea of a news story without reading the complete story.

Dishonest reporters who manipulate the public often provide a mere thread of balancing information so they can deceptively claim that they are "balanced". However, the balancing information is minimal and inadequate, and usually appears at the end of the story, often in the last paragraph or sentence on a continuation page near the middle or end of the newspaper where it is read less often. To counter this form of media manipulation, it is often useful to read the last one or two paragraphs of a news article first, even if it is on a continuation page.

The media campaign to manipulate the public and misrepresent the disgraced Democrat congressman as a Republican demonstrates how damaging the Condit misconduct scandal has become and how the media deceives and manipulates the public.

Democratic Party public figures, including the Democratic feminist attorney and KABC talk show host Gloria Allred have repeatedly claimed that Condit is a conservative, in direct contradiction of the facts. Allred labeled Condit as a "right wing conservative". This demonstrates that Allred is a member of the extreme socialist wing of the Democratic party that is out of touch with reality, and/or that she is deliberately trying to deceive and manipulate the public.

Democrat Gary Condit was disgraced when Chandra Levy, a young female intern who worked for the federal Bureau of Prisons disappeared without a trace and the congressman allegedly impeded the investigation in the the disappearance by withholding information. It is widely believed that the Democrat congressman had a sexual affair with the missing woman. Condit did not deny that the affair took place during public statements and a television interview  by ABC News' Connie Chung that aired on Thursday night, August 23.
 

Condit serves on the House intelligence committee. Committee members have access to classified national defense and national security secrets. There are now concerns that Condit's misconduct and loss of credibility through his evasion of questions surrounding the disappearance of Sandra Levi demonstrate a lack honesty and trustworthiness necessary for access to sensitive national security information. There is also concern that Condit has exposed himself to possible blackmail by foreign governments whose intelligence agencies may have information linking him to Sandra Levi's disappearance.

Below are tables giving Condit's ACU and ADA ratings.

Here is the ACU Description of Condit's votes for gun control:
 

Here is the ACU Description of Condit's vote against impeaching former President Bill Clinton:
 

References

¹ Los Angeles Times, "23.7 Million Tune In for Condit Interview",  by Times staff writer Elizabeth Jensen, August 25, 2001

² Los Angeles Times, "Condit Agrees to Television Interview",  by Times staff writer Elizabeth Jensen, August 20, 2001

³ Los Angeles Times, "A Tradition of Confessions That Don't Come Clean", by Times staff writer Reed Johnson, August 25, 2001

Contact information and links for referenced organizations:

The American Conservative Union (ACU)
1007 Cameron Street, Alexandria, VA 22314
Tel: (703) 836-8602, Fax: (703) 836-8606
Email: acu@conservative.org
http://www.Conservative.org/ratings2000.htm
http://www.Conservative.org/rating2000/house.html

Americans for Democratic Action (ADA)
http://www.ADAction.org/
http://www.ADAction.org/voting.html
http://www.ADAction.org/housevd2000.html

National Rifle Association (NRA),
NRA Institute for Legislative Action (NRA/ILA)
http://www.NRA.org/
http://www.NRAILA.org/