Let’s start with the “Tea Party” label — code in the Democrat Party’s world for “crazy right winger” — which Schneider throws into some of his mailings and fliers, along with the occasional picture of Tea Party favorite Michelle Bachmann. It’s the same artifice he used against Dold in 2012, when one daily newspaper called the charge “laughable.” In fact, Dold was ranked 231st in a “conservative ranking” by the National Journal in 2011 out of 242 GOP congressman. And a GovTrack analysis of bill sponsorship by Dold ranked him one of the most bipartisan members of Congress, as did Congressional Quarterly.

For example, as Dold outlined in our paper last week regarding hot-button social issues, he supports a woman’s right to abortion, except in the case of partial birth abortion, and supports gay marriage and gun control……Dold was the ONLY REPUBLICAN to speak out on the House floor in 2011 against defunding Planned Parenthood and favors funding of that organization, plain and simple. The vote Schneider refers to was the critical vote on whether to shut the government down and cause the loss of benefit payments to tens of millions of Americans…… Schneider’s allegation that Dold was not a sufficiently pro-choice advocate was also rebutted in the Chicago Tribune editorial on Monday, when they endorsed Dold….. 

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