Votes show differences between Burr, Dole

Sen. Richard Burr of North Carolina is emerging as one of the upper chamber's most conservative members.

The latest evidence: His three recent votes -- all to the right of fellow Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole -- on issues such as Iraq and spending.

In each case, Burr of Winston-Salem joined a small band of the Senate's more conservative members, while Dole of Salisbury voted with the majority -- including the chamber's GOP leaders.

• Last Tuesday, the Senate voted 79-19 to require that President Bush identify a strategy for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq.

The resolution, drafted by Senate GOP leaders, did not call for a timetable. But it did require that the Bush administration file quarterly reports with Congress on its progress in stabilizing Iraq and training Iraqi troops. The measure also said that 2006 should be "a period of significant transition to Iraqi sovereignty," with Iraqi troops taking the lead in providing security.

The vote was widely interpreted as the Republican-dominated Senate's first direct challenge of the GOP president on Iraq.

Both N.C. senators voted against a separate resolution that would have required Bush to submit a timetable for withdrawal.

• On Nov. 10, the Senate demanded -- on an 82-9 vote -- that the Bush administration give Congress details on allegations that the CIA flew terrorism suspects to a series of secret prisons in other parts of the world.

The vote came after The Washington Post reported that the CIA had clandestine prisons for terror detainees in eight countries, including some in formerly communist Eastern Europe.

• On Oct. 20, the Senate rejected -- by a vote of 15-82 -- an amendment that would have shifted money to Hurricane Katrina recovery by taking it away from two bridge projects in Alaska and a museum parking lot in Nebraska.

The amendment was offered by freshman Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who argued that too many pork-barrel projects were getting federal money. His amendment would have rerouted $230 million slated to fund an Alaska bridge -- dubbed "the bridge to nowhere" by spending hawks because it would lead to an island that's home to only 50 people.

Veteran Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, angrily told his colleagues that he'd resign his seat if the bridge funding was dropped. Coburn's amendment failed, but GOP leaders announced last week that the money would no longer be earmarked for the bridge. Alaska will still get the money, but can spend it on other projects.

Who is more conservative among South Carolina's two Republican senators? That's a closer call.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., of Greenville, voted the same way Burr did on Iraq, the secret prisons and Coburn's pork amendment.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., of Seneca, voted with DeMint and Burr on Iraq and the Coburn amendment. But he voted with Dole to compel Bush to explain the CIA's secret prisons.

NC is quickly transforming itself into a socialist empire like Northeastern states. The corruption as evidenced by the lottery scandel rivals anything in old Eastern Europe. Our socialists just have more wealth to transfer.

You are so right!!! It's like everyone who moved here from up north did so to escape high taxes and an overblown local government, yet they kept their same voting habits. Not to pick on our friends to the north, but between them and the Hispanic invasion from the south, NC has certainly lost the conservative majority that once existed. And don’t look to NC Republicans for help. Most of them are just one good special interest group away from being a Democrat.

"She heads up the NRSC, and they just gave Chafee $200,000 to battle a conservative Republican in the Primary. Can someone explain why we are giving ANY money to a man that publicly said he couldn't support Bush 43 in the general election, and also a man that is at odds with the Republican Party more than the demoncrat Party? He's a RINO that should be shunned. Better to lose the seat, and start from the ground up with a REAL Republican."

I don't know, but I think it's because Dole is the model RINO - or at least the pattern for all else to be molded from. Heck, we spent a lot of effort in 2000 trying to convince logical North Carolinians she (Dole) hasn't been affiliated with this state for more than three decades until it became convenient for her to do so and knows NOTHING about the concerns of this state. A few of us KNEW what we'd get with that woman, yet no one wanted to listen - they only wanted someone who could "win back the Senate". Look what it's cost us. A bunch of RINO's who're no better than a common Democrat. At least the common Democrat is true to their color. Ask Billbears....

The Republican Party Shouldn't Get Involved In Lincoln Chafee's Primary
Right Wing News ^ | Nov. 16, 2005 | John Hawkins

You want to know why Republicans in Congress, particularly in the Senate, seem so weak, disorganized, and inept? It's because of the same sort of mentality that led them to do this:

"The National Republican Senatorial Committee is up with its second ad this month attacking Cranston (R.I.) Mayor Steve Laffey, who is challenging Sen. Lincoln Chafee in next year's GOP primary.

The new ad, which takes the form of a cartoon, paints Laffey as a comic-book character starring in "Laffeyland Tales."

The narrator says Laffey used taxpayer dollars to soundproof his mayoral office and spent "thousands on spy cameras to spy on employees."

"Bizarre...but the joke's on us," the narrator says, adding that Cranston had the highest property taxes in the state under Laffey and that Laffey raised taxes twice. "Tax and Spend Steve Laffey ... Nobody's laughing now," the narrator intones at the ad's close.

The commercial, which hit the airwaves Sunday, was produced by OnMessage Inc. for the NRSC, according to spokesman Brian Nick."

First of all, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which is supposed to represent all Republicans, has no business getting involved in primaries at all. Imagine giving money to the NRSC and then having them spend it to support the prototypical RINO in a race against a slightly more conservative Republican. No wonder their fundraising stinks.

Aside from that, this is a dumb move for a second reason: it sends the message to Republicans up on the Hill that the Party will support them no matter what.

That's a huge mistake.

Look, we all know that there are a lot of squishes in Congress, particularly from some of these North-Eastern states, and that they're not always going to support the party. We should be able to live with that because the reality is that you're not going to get a Tom Coburn or George Allen elected in liberal states like Rhode Island or Maine.

Still, even if you're stuck with these RINOS, you should at least be able to count on their support when the going gets tough -- but that's not true at all. Even when we really need their votes, the RINOs may go the other way.

Why is that?

It's because the GOP doesn't enforce Party discipline. In Chafee's case, you have a left-of-center "Republican," who people thought might switch parties in 2002, and he didn't even vote for Bush in 2004. Yet, you have the GOP running ads against another Republican in an effort to get Chafee reelected.

Why?

Let Chafee sink or swim on his own and if he sinks, Laffey wins, and horror or horrors, we lose the seat -- which isn't a given by the way -- and then guess what? We'll have a bunch of squishes thinking seriously about whether they want to keep crossing the Party over and over on important issues if it costs them support at election time.

The truth is that we may 55 Republican Senators, but since 4-7 of them may jump ship on any given issue, in practical terms, the GOP can never be sure of getting 50 votes when it counts. That needs to stop and if the GOP were to stand by and watch as Lincoln Chafee's political career came to an abrupt end, it would be a great way to send a message to the other RINOs.

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