A Fact About The 82% Rating

Since it appears that Sen. John "F--- You" McCain is desperate enough to outright lie about Mitt Romney calling for a timetable to withdraw American troops from Iraq, I thought I would share some facts about that much-touted American Conservative Union 82% lifetime rating.
Stanley Kurtz on The Corner at National Review Online http://corner.nationalreview.com asked about Sen. "F--- You" McCain's ACU 82% lifetime rating during the Bush 43 years.
Ramesh Ponnuru, an unabashed Sen. "F--- You" McCain supporter gave the breakdown and it is as follows
2000 81%
2001 68%
2002 78%
2003 80%
2004 72%
2005 80%
2006 65%
Now, I averaged it out two ways. Total from 2000-06 and it shows an ACU average of 75%. Take a total from 2001, when President Bush took office to 2006. The ACU average is 74%.
So, as suspected, it is down. And if one takes the 2006 average, Sen. "F--- You" McCain is barely a center-right Republican.
One of the problems with the Sen. "F--- You" McCain supporters touting this is the fact that how these groups on both sides of the political spectrum determine the rating. Usually it is on a few high intensity issue votes. Thus even a 100 percenter may not necessarily be a 100 percenter.
It is somewhat complicated, but it is a weak defense of a candidate that has to constantly reassure conservatives that make the base of the Republican party believe he is really one of them.
On many an issue, he has gone so out of his way to be critical of Republicans that it just fuels the suspicions that while maybe not a closet liberal, Sen. "F--- You" McCain can not in good conscience run around and say he is a loyal and conservative Republican.
Sen. "F--- You" McCain's Arizona colleague in the senate, John Kyl, scored a 100 rating in 2006 and has an overall ACU rating of of 97%. And, Sen. Kyl has four less years in congress.
It does not bring comfort to conservatives, activists and loyal Republicans that Sen. McCain has to resort to using group ratings to bolster his conservative bonafides. If he sound like and acted like one, maybe he would be the front runner at this point and the rest of the field would be also-rans.
Sen. "F--- You" McCain's supporter's need to come up with a better reason than his 82% lifetime ACU rating to justify the case that Sen. "F--- You" McCain is a conservative in the Ronald Reagan tradition.