Posted on 02/28/2012 8:11:10 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Just across at CNN. No details yet, but Fox reporter Trish Turner is tweeting bits of what she claims is Snowe’s statement. Quote:
“I have no doubt I would have won re-election”
“I do find it frustrating, however, that an atmosphere of polarization and ‘my way or the highway’ ideologies has become pervasive in campaigns and in our governing institutions.”
“…what I have had to consider is how productive an additional term would be. Unfortunately, I do not realistically expect the partisanship of recent years in the Senate to change over the short term. So at this stage of my tenure in public service, I have concluded that I am not prepared to commit myself to an additional six years in the Senate, which is what a fourth term would entail.”
“I see a vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us. It is time for change in the way we govern”
Don’t get too excited to see a RINO go. Nate Silver tweets, “We had estimated GOP’s chances of holding Maine senate at 85% before. Maybe 20-30% now after Snowe retirement.” Taking back the Senate just got a lot harder. Stand by for updates.
Update: In case you’re tempted to think she quit to deny tea partiers the pleasure of tossing her out, Roll Call had the seat rated “safe Republican” and a PPP poll taken in November had her favorable rating among GOP primary voters at 51/37, up from 47/44 last March. Losing her is like losing Scott Brown, but like Brown, Snowe was a no vote on ObamaCare. If this seat turns blue, repeal just became less likely.
Update: For an early inkling of Snowe’s disgruntlement, go back and read this post from September 2010 about her lamenting “ideological purity” after the defeat of Mike Castle in Delaware. I wondered at the time whether she might bypass the primary altogether by going independent and forming some sort of new Senate indie caucus with Lieberman, Scott Brown, Collins, Murkowski, Ben Nelson, etc. That could have been the nucleus for greater centrist influence in Congress, and maybe even the germ of a third-party movement. Instead, she’ll likely end up being replaced by an orthodox Democrat. Oh well.
Update: So perfectly does her statement coincide with David Brooks’s column this morning, I have to wonder if they weren’t coordinated. Says Brooksy, first they came for the RINOs…
But where have these party leaders been over the past five years, when all the forces that distort the G.O.P. were metastasizing? Where were they during the rise of Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck? Where were they when Arizona passed its beyond-the-fringe immigration law? Where were they in the summer of 2011 when the House Republicans rejected even the possibility of budget compromise? They were lying low, hoping the unpleasantness would pass.
The wingers call their Republican opponents RINOs, or Republican In Name Only. But that’s an insult to the rhino, which is a tough, noble beast. If RINOs were like rhinos, they’d stand up to those who seek to destroy them. Actually, what the country needs is some real Rhino Republicans. But the professional Republicans never do that. They’re not rhinos. They’re Opossum Republicans. They tremble for a few seconds then slip into an involuntary coma every time they’re challenged aggressively from the right…
Leaders of a party are supposed to educate the party, to police against its worst indulgences, to guard against insular information loops. They’re supposed to define a creed and establish boundaries. Republican leaders haven’t done that. Now the old pious cliché applies:
First they went after the Rockefeller Republicans, but I was not a Rockefeller Republican. Then they went after the compassionate conservatives, but I was not a compassionate conservative. Then they went after the mainstream conservatives, and there was no one left to speak for me.
Rhinos, possums: Is there an animal that gets indignant before committing suicide to prove a point so that we have an analogy for Snowe?
Update: Via Slublog, this blogger at the Bangor Daily News says something’s suspicious here: “There is very obviously something going on here behind the scenes, since Senator Snowe was so aggressively campaigning for re-election, and in full campaign mode for the last year. Decisions like this – being so very much running (and winning) to very much not – do not happen this abruptly in politics. Ever.”
More, from a separate post: “I am told her own staff was unaware of this decision until just hours before the statement went out – just long enough to actually work on the release and send it out.”
Who Benefits. This Soro's thing looking for another way is disturbing, I am waiting to see a 3rd party POTUS candidate step in and really muck things up.
No matter the party in power, we are going to implode...probably sooner than later.
All these lifelong politicians (Rs and Ds) who helped set us up for the fall are leaving so they won't get hanged in the public square afterwards.
It’s basic math. We are going to collapse soon.
That photo was from such a nice rally. Sigggh
No thanks.
Moderates, who are moderates for a reason, take swift action for one reason and one reason only: to halt conservatives and help democrats.
Ron Paul just tied Romney in Maine. They’re attempting to halt a conservative tide and shore up the gates where they can. A democrat sitting in Snowe’s seat could deny a republican majority in the senate, and therefore assure Harry Reid’s oligarchic control.
Moderates always help democrats.
I heard she’s been sitting in that seat for 33 years!
Olympia Snowe is the REASON we have Obamacare today. There had to be at least one Republican vote “yea” in committee for it to reach the floor. Without that single vote, Obamacare would have died in committee. She was the single Republican vote! That vote got us Obamacare!
She often votes with Reid. I beleive what Jesus said: “You’re either for me or against me”. With her, it depends on what day it is. I’m sick of rinos.
!
So am I, but I'm also sick of Harry Reid controlling the agenda.
This is a major loss for you and you don't even realize it or care.
You are why Democrats succeed.
David Dryer of CA. NOT RUNNING!!!!!
Good riddance to the witch who gave us Obamacare. I bet she was going to lose her primary. Obamacare is that unpopular, even in Maine
The witch could have killed it in committee, but voted it out. She then voted no on the final passage to save face. That is unforgivable. .
RE: Obamacare is that unpopular, even in Maine
But my bet is Maine still goes Obama in 2012 regardless.
I already see the following states as a lock for Obama regardless of how bad the economy goes (and their electoral votes):
NJ 15
NY 31
Connecticut 7 ,
Delaware 3,
Masschusetts 12,
Rhode Island 4
Vermont 3,
Maine 4,
Maryland 10
California 55 ,
Oregon 7,
Washington 11,
Illinois 21,
Hawaii 4,
DC 3
That’s 190 of the 270 needed to win right there.
You are so right. She is despicable, but then we already knew that.
You are most likely right. she is most likely doing this to help the Rats maintain their Senate majority. She always was a RINO.
Good news!
Hopefully the current Governor of Maine will decide to run for the seat!
———Hopefully the current Governor of Maine will decide to run for the seat!-——
That’s my hope. He has quite a life story.
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