Posted on 05/20/2006 7:52:20 AM PDT by got_moab?
Laura Bush lavishes praise on Sen. Lincoln Chafee during a fundraiser at the Providence Biltmore that raises $150,000 for his reelection effort.
PROVIDENCE -- First Lady Laura Bush swooped into arguably the most Democratic state in the nation yesterday to boost the Senate candidacy of incumbent Republican Lincoln D. Chafee and urge a crowd of GOP stalwarts to work hard for his reelection.
"I'm so happy to be in Rhode Island and have this chance to support your U.S. senator, Lincoln Chafee," said Mrs. Bush. "He is an important member of the U.S. Senate."
"For him, public service is a family tradition and there is nothing wrong with that," Mrs. Bush said, in a smiling reference to both her husband's political lineage and that of Chafee, whose father, John H. Chafee, was also a senator.
While President Bush's popularity remains low in Rhode Island, as in many of the blue states of the Northeast, the first lady cuts a much more conciliatory figure. Today she will give the commencement address at Roger Williams University, in Bristol.
The latest 50-state survey of President Bush's job approval by Survey USA shows just 23 percent of a random sample of Rhode Island voters approve of the job the president is doing. That rating ties Rhode Island with New York for the lowest among the 50 states. The poll of 600 adults carries an error margin of about 4 percent.
President Bush has not visited Rhode Island since he became president. Blue-state Republicans have recently taken to inviting the first lady to campaign for them in districts where Mr. Bush is unpopular.
"She is identified with issues that almost nobody disagrees with and her [poll] numbers are a heck of a lot higher than her husband's," said Darrell West, a Brown University political scientist.
When she speaks, it is usually about such topics as literacy, children's education and historic preservation, matters that do not carry the partisan blemishes of war, taxes and Social Security privatization.
Mrs. Bush was true to form last night, praising Rhode Island in her 10-minute speech for its record on historic preservation and Chafee for his support of those projects. She also said Chafee has been in the forefront of the push to wean the nation from dependence on foreign oil.
Along the way, she dropped in a few projects for which Chafee has received federal support, including the Providence Performing Arts Center and the Southeast Light on Block Island. She also lauded Chafee's work on behalf of the Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor.
Last night's two-tiered fundraiser at the Providence Biltmore -- $500 per person for the reception, $2,500 for a private photo session with Mrs. Bush -- harvested more than $150,000 for Chafee's campaign.
"She seems to be a nice person," said William Lynch, Democratic state chairman. "I don't have anything bad to say about her except for her taste in men."
A spokeswoman for Cranston Mayor Stephen Laffey, Chafee's primary challenger, said he would stick with comments he made earlier this week, which were that Mrs. Bush's appearance at the senator's event shows Chafee is the candidate of the Washington "insider" crowd.
But Chafee referred to the primary and Mrs. Bush's endorsement: "We take these primaries very seriously and your presence in our state is greatly appreciated," he said.
The crowd was thick with top Republicans, led by Governor Carcieri and his wife, Sue; Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian; Susan Stenhouse, the GOP secretary of state candidate; Kerry King, the GOP lieutenant governor candidate; GOP state Chairwoman Patricia Morgan; and even Dennis Michaud, who recently announced his GOP primary candidacy against Carcieri.
Chafee has a reputation for opposing some of Mr. Bush's top priorities. For example, he was the lone GOP senator to vote against the Iraq war, and he also opposed the president's tax cuts.
"Yes, sometimes we do disagree on some issues, but eventually we do work together," Chafee said.
A theme Chafee is pounding home lately is his ability as a member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to bring federal projects back home. "Drive around Rhode Island and see all the road and bridge works . . . thank goodness Linc Chafee is on the right committee," he said.
About 25 people protested yesterday outside the Biltmore. Many of them decried the war in Iraq. Nick Schmader, 59, of Warwick, held up a sign reading "Laura, is war your family value?"
Schmader, a member of the Rhode Island Community Coalition for Peace and the Green Party, said he and others turned out because of the Iraq war, the threat of war with Iran and the fact that a member of the Bush family was here. He said the first lady is being sent to events such as this one because President Bush's approval ratings are sliding.
As a black Bentley pulled up to the hotel, Shane Jones, 24, of Providence, held a sign reading "$500 a plate? I don't make $500 a week. www.marxist.com." Jones, who works in retail, said neither Republicans nor Democrats honestly represent working people.
At one point, protesters standing across the street from the Biltmore unfurled a banner reading "No blood for oil!" At about the same time, at the height of downtown rush-hour traffic, a Greyhound bus broke down in front of the Biltmore, just short of blocking a view of the protesters from the hotel. "Another 30 feet and people would have said it was conspiracy," Providence police Patrolman Jim Carr said.
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Her husband is NOT a nitwit but I agree that Chaffee is an idiot. When Republicans (yes, even RINOs) of higher office run for re-election they traditionally get support from Republicans, in this case to keep the "majority" in congress. I don't agree with it either but that's all this is.
Another thread addressed the tactical imperatives of all this.
There is no need for Chaffee in the Republican Party. There IS a need for Chaffee's seat in the Republican Party. If the RI GOP voters can select a more conservative candidate to defeat Chaffee for the senatorial nomination primary, and have that alternate candidate poll well in head to head matchups vs the Dem opponent, then the GOP would get behind that alternate.
In the absence of such a reality, however, Chaffee continues to cast the most important vote any Senator casts in a session properly -- for the Majority Leader. The ML defines what bills come to the floor and is who sets the agenda. As long as Chaffee's seat, not necessarily him but his seat, votes GOP for ML, that tells the tale. Holding that seat matters.
"He is an important member ofthe ...Senate". So was Brutus. And he, at least had principles.
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Absolutely correct.
At least I am smart enough to identfy and support actual Republicans. Something that you and your boy Dubya seem incapable of doing.
zzzzzzzzzzz...
Planet of the apes mentality.. "Monkey does not harm monkey".. Hmmm, Spectre against Toomey,, Chafee against ANYBODY..
-OR- RINOs united against America... I used to like to "feel" Laura was just a beautiful lady caught in a dirty business.. Evidently NOT SO.. Stumping for Chaffe?.. is a bad sign.. a very bad sign.. The White RINO House is scary... Maybe there is little difference between McLaim and Dubya and Laura..
Surely this MUST be a Lie.. lets hope..
Laura Bush lavishes praise on Sen. Lincoln Chafee during a fundraiser....
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Why, Laura, why?
chafee is one of the judas goats who voted for illegal immigrants to claim social security
As I recollect, it was Mrs. Bush who insisted that Harriet Miers was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
She should have told Chafee to look to the demoncRATS for support. They're other pubbies worthy of her support than Chaffee, one of the RINO 7.
Let's say Chafee wins reelection. Also, Bob Casey, Sherrod Brown, Claire McCaskill, John Morrison and Harold Ford all win and take Republican seats. With the Senate 50-50, would you be certain that Chafee's vote for Majority Leader wouldn't be Harry Reid? I'd bet top dollar that if the Senate came down to it, Chafee would run into a welcoming Democratic party and be treated like a king rather than rightfully being called a RINO by members of the Republican party. Voting Chafee or Whitehouse in the general election, you're choosing between definitely supporting a Democrat and likely supporting a Democrat. Stephen Laffey '06!
nmeanwhile the Establishment continues their quest to remove conservatism from possible governance.
Vote Laffey.
Free Republic is distressingly intolerant these days. I consider myself a diehard conservative. I do not agree with everything this president does. But I support him fully.
I wonder if any candidate alive would satisfy these angry, angry posters. Really, they HATE GWB so much; they hate everyone who isn't Robert Bork; they surely wouldn't show up to vote for McCain, Giuliani, Rice, Romney, or others in 2008; and there are only a handful of representatives and senators who would pass muster. Can we just decide that you all want the perfect to be the enemy of the good; and that you intend to vote for no one from here on out? That way it is very easy just to tune you out.
Yes, it was a general post, not so much to you personally. I agree with everything you say. I have little good to say about Chafee, except these two things: i) he votes Republican for the Senate Majority Leader, and ii) I don't think he has run as a conservative and voted liberal. He hasn't been significantly more misleading in his campains than others. He represented himself to RI'ers as a liberal Republican, they elected him, and he has voted more or less as he said he would. I'm not sure how that makes him a traitor.
Ditto GWB. I don't agree with the no child left behind, Medicare prescription drug benefits, etc. But these were not especially surprising. He has not run one way and governed another.
What I object to on FR these days is the self-righteousness of many posters, coupled with the lack of common sense and civility. I suspect that I'm representative of FR posters in terms of policy and passions. In particular, I suspect I have few equals when it comes to my contempt for the MSM and the Dems. But what I see here on FR is too often counterproductive, and likely to ensure significant Republican losses going forward.
Re: immigration, I don't see much disagreement on the issues here. Most everyone I read agrees that this is a huge problem. I agree that it is a huge problem. GWB agrees that this is a huge problem. But there is a right way and a wrong way to pursue solutions. Those who scream the loudest and throw out the most personal insults and accusations aren't necessarily the most passionate or the purest.
Finally, and then I'll quit, there are times when GWB is stubborn and immovable. Iraq is an example, and thank goodness. But there are other times when he is cautious (yes, likely too cautious) but flexible. Examples include Supreme Court appointments and US ports. In those settings he usually takes a centrist position and then moves right. I strongly believe this is one of those instances. So we're first offered Harriet Meiers but end up with Justice Alito. This is not good strategy, but my point is that we should keep our eye on the end game and create opportunities for the President to move right. I'm sure some Freepers want to take credit for screaming really loud and shouting down Harriet Meiers and being so darn mad and intemperate that the President had no choice. It helps to fee the ego. I'd like to suggest, though, that the President saw the level of resistance, gathered the facts in a calm and reasoned manner, and substituted Sam Alito -- on the merits.
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