Did you hear Crystal Ball's rant on the Cycle asking Hillary not to run?

[quakerboy]

510. If you actually read through their entire website

it is specifically acknowledged that they are operating on the theory that their answers mean what they have decided that they mean. This is not objective fact, it is an attempt to interpret many data points and come to a generally useful conclusion.

I think that there is a fair argument to be made that their data collection is not accurate (ie, by their descriptions of how they came to determinations, it appears that speeches are weighted equal to legislative votes). And that even if they were fully accurate, they may not always mean what they believe they mean. They are interpreting data to answer questions, not receiving answers directly from the candidates. Which leaves them in much the same position as a christian interpreting the bible. Prone to error, no matter how hard you try.

And then, even if you resolve both of those levels, you are still looking at a scale from within a limited modern us perspective, which results in a skewed judgement. Liberal and conservative are not where they were 20 or 50 years ago. Based on their scale, they call George bush a Moderate Republican, which I would say should make one reconsider where the center of their chart is, vs what an actual moderate or centrist is.

I also found it a bit odd that they link to "advocates for a self government" who also uses a version of their quiz and chart, while advocating for conservative libertarianism. By the pictures there, it appears Ron Paul is a great lover of the little charts they put out. Which in and of itself makes me wary of accepting them quite so quickly as you seem to do.