I'm glad Chafee won

[quinnox]

He is one of the few good republicans left, and although ultimately it might not be good for the Democrats chances in the Senate, since if the other guy had won then probably the Dems take the seat because they say he was too conservative for the state, Chafee is a good guy and a republican I can respect, something rare in todays politics.

This doesn't mean I'm in favor of him beating the Dem candidate Whitehouse. That is a separate issue. Of course I think Dems should vote for Whitehouse if they like him as their candidate.

[skipos]

1. A vote for Chaffee is a vote for a Republican senate majority.

He needs to go. Sheldon Whitehouse is the only real progressive running for RI's senate seat.

[Montagnard]

8. Right On

Which means that Stevens, Hatch, Sessions, Brownback and all the rest of the thugs will have the chairmanships and the say of what goes in front of the Senate.

[William769]

26. Why can't people see that?

It just boggles the mind!

[ck4829]

2. Can we ask him to caucus with the Democrats?

That way he can still be a Republican and help give the Democrats the power they need to thwart the Bush Agenda.

[SteppingRazor]

6. Probably not. The Dems already tried to get him to switch parties...

he turned it down

[LTR]

34. He stays as a Republican in honor of his late father

That is the justification he has given in the past.

[skipos]

36. He stays as a Republican because he likes to enable their causes

If this administration hasn't convinced him to switch, he will NEVER switch. I hope Whitehouse kicks his ass out of the senate.

[Warpy]

3. The race was close

and I discovered a few things when I looked at the numbers.

First, the votes for his more conservative opponent likely weren't votes against moderation and for the neocons; they were an indication of anti incumbent fervor. Rhode Island may be many things, but it's no neocon bastion.

Second, the votes in the Dem primary when I checked were nearly 3 to 1 over the GOP primary.

He may still be in trouble.

[SteppingRazor]

4. Wha? I mean, politically, this sucked...

Whitehouse would have easily beat Laffey. Chafee, on the other hand, is going to be a lot tougher. So why be glad that Chafee won?

[quinnox]

9. Like I said

I respect Chafee. He is a good man.

[SteppingRazor]

14. Maybe so, but respect has nothing to do with it.

I mean, this is politics, for God's sake. You can respect a candidate from the opposite side and still want him to get crushed in an election because it's the best thing for your candidate. And that's certainly the case here. No matter how halfway decent Chafee may be, he won't be as good for us, or for this country, as Sheldon Whitehouse.

[redqueen]

31. Well put.

Let's hope the base's dissatisfaction with Chafee's unwillingness to rubber-stamp Bush's horrendous policies costs him lots of votes.

[durrrty libby]

23. He seems like a decent guy. On the other hand,

it is frustrating and sad when dems don't see the big picture.

:scared: :grr: :spank:

[MrModerate]

5. I also wonder whether knocking off all the moderate Republicans . . .

Would be good for the country. If they purge all the moderates from their ranks, and Dems go ahead and take both the House and the Senate, aren't 'Licans likely to grow even more radical as they sulk in their tents?

While this could have the effect of making the party even more irrelevant to what's going on in the reality-based universe, it could also make them more dangerous and prone to criminal schemes to regain power.

[SteppingRazor]

11. Yes, I think knocking off Chafee would have been great...

it's good in RI, though it may not be good for all GOP moderates. Your idea that this eventually results in a far more reactionary, crazy Republican party is absolutely fine by me. Relegating these dangerous lunatics to a permanent minority status is a=ok in my book. People like Chafee just put lipstick on the pig.

[quinnox]

12. I agree

This shows all the republicans haven't gone insane. A moderate republican actually won and not a fire breathing right wing lunatic.

[bluedog]

18. Like the "Night of the Long Knives"

knocking off any opposition of the 'who were associated more with socialism than with nationalism'


'(and hence were viewed as a threat to the continued support for Chancellor Adolf Hitler within the Army and conservative business community that had supported Hitler's rise to power.


sound familiar?......( NOT DEATH BY KILLING..........BUT death of the moderates political futures.....

[Xipe Totec]

7. A Rino in RI is better than a Dino in CT

But two real democrats in both states would be even better.

[endarkenment]

17. No.

Once again, DINO (joe) caucuses on the D side and enables a D majority and control over the senate. RINO (lincoln) caucuses on the R side and enables an R majority.

[Xipe Totec]

20. Unlikely

Lieberman is a WH enabler and warmonger.

[William769]

28. All you have to do is open your eyes

And look at who voted on what. Sheesh!

[endarkenment]

32. That is a somewhat separate issue.

I despise Lieberman and surely hope he loses for exactly the reasons you express. However if he caucuses with the Democrats his caucus vote enables a Democratic majority in the senate, control over committees, control over the agenda, etc. This is not to be ignored.

[Xipe Totec]

37. Given his recent statements, that is unlikely

Philosophically he is a neocon and there's no reason to expect that he will align himself with the Democrats, especially since he now owes favors to the White House.

The man has already shown the copper under the gilding.

[never_get_over_it]

29. I don't think we are sure

who Holy Joe will caucus with - moot point though freak is going to lose

[endarkenment]

33. Indeed if he caucuses with the fascist cabal he drops the DINO label.

Assuming that he doesn't, his caucus vote would be important. I agree that he won't win so it is irrelevant. Chafee will probably win and that is unfortunate.

[William769]

27. At least the Dino voted with Reid most of the time

And the Rino voted with Frist most of the time. :eyes:

[Frances]

10. But Chaffee votes to have Frist as leader of the Senate

His presence means that Bush's agenda controls the Senate: that means stay the course in Iraq, the dismantling of social security and medicare, sending kids to church schools with the tax payer picking up the tab via vouchers & the dismantling of public schools, giving money to fundies for social programs so that the fundie churches can then get their members to vote Repub.

[skipos]

16. And he votes for Bush's SC nominees

I guess some DUers like Republicans to control the senate? :shrug:

[bigtree]

13. he bends to their bullshit. he's no friend of our party or our agenda

he's going to continue to be a productive cog in the republican bulldozer if we allow them to remain in power.

[endarkenment]

15. Nope. Too bad he won.

He organizes on the wrong side of the aisle and is thus a vote for continued control of the federal government by the cabal. The days of bipartisan cooperation are over and it is high time we stopped pretending that this is not the case.

[kentuck]

19. Not at this time in history...

We don't need a Republican majority. No matter how good a man Chaffee is...

[liberalnurse]

21. He is now in debt to the neo-cons....

He will always "have to" be rank-n-file......You get a pure neo-con with Chaffe now if he is elected.

Bought and Paid for by Karl Rove.

[quinnox]

22. We will see

But I doubt it. I think Chafee will vote against the repubs as much as ever as long as they are on their current course.

[bdamomma]

24. Well Chafee got in, RI'ers have a problem breaking loose

from old family names, I kind of hope Whitehouse beats him.

[warrens]

25. While it was nice to see Club For Growth get kicked in the teeth

I want the Senate, and Chafee is still a reliable GOP vote on most issues.

[never_get_over_it]

30. I agree with you for two reasons

He is the only repunk to vote against Iraq War Resolution
and the republicans really have to get their party back from the repunks - for the good of ALL OF US - so that Chafee beat out a very right wing nut job is a good thing in this respect

but Dem Senate control is SO important now

so basically I have very mixed feelings....

[AlCzervik]

35. the one upside was the repudiation of the far right wing

that was a good thing, the Club for growth wasted a lot of it's money. I really hope Whitehouse can win it.