Sen. Jon Kyl (R.-Ariz.) should be flattered after making Time magazine's list of the 10 best senators. As the only conservative on the list, Kyl is lucky he didn't get stuck on Time's other list: the five worst senators.
Time's exercise of ranking the best and worst senators makes clear where the magazine's political preferences fall. Of the 10 senators on the list, three of the Democrats - Teddy Kennedy (Mass.), Dick Durbin (Ill.) and Carl Levin (Mich.) - fall into the ultra-liberal category. The fourth Democrat, Kent Conrad (N.D.), is a moderate within his party.
What about the five other Republicans besides Kyl? They all have one thing in common: They're not conservatives. They include Senators Thad Cochran (Miss.), Richard Lugar (Ind.), John McCain (Ariz.), Olympia Snowe (Maine) and Arlen Specter (Pa.).
