A classic game: Making stupid assumptions from meaningless data!

Oh boy, the GOP sure has a feather in its hat over this one: The Democrats are more partisan than the Republicans. At least that's the assertion Ed Morrissey makes:

Both parties like to blame the other for failing to exercise independence in Congress. Their supporters blame the members of the opposite side for excessive partisanship which keeps Washington DC from accomplishing anything for the people. The Washington Post decided to take a look at the 110th Congress to see which party exercises the most partisanship -- and the Democrats win the prize.

In fact, the Democrats take nine of the top ten partisan spots, as well as scoring 8 points higher in partisanship as a party.

So here's where he got that damning evidence. But all is not what it seems. The chart doesn't actually show "partisanship" at all. Here's the co-creator of the chart in the first comment:

I'd like to point out that the party voting scores are not indicative of partisanship per se but of voting behavior, which can have a number of factors.

Of course that doesn't stop the idiots in the rest of the comments to proceed with their "yee haws" and "git 'er dones". But when I read the chart, my first thought was -- "Well, they're in the majority. It seems logical that they would vote more similarly, since the Democrats are setting the agenda". Morrissey obviously doesn't have my sophisticated thinking skills.

So I went back a few Congresses to check my theory. Here goes (House only):

109th - top 20: 18 Repubs/ 2 Dems
108th - top 20: 20 Repubs/ 0 Dems
107th - top 20: 20 Repubs/ 0 Dems (the first Dem is 66 places down)
106th - top 20: 12 Repubs/ 8 Dems
105th - top 20: 18 Repubs/ 1 Dem/ 1 Ind
104th - top 20: 20 Repubs/ 0 Dems

Of course you know what that means! Nothing! Or more precisely that when a certain party is in power, they vote for issues they support. *gasp*