Posted on 08/25/2006 10:22:03 PM PDT by neverdem
COVENTRY, R.I. -- It was getting dark, but Stephen Laffey removed his cap, wiped his sweaty brow and sprinted across the lawn to greet one more voter.
Glenn Myers, stocky and middle-aged, opened the screen door to shake hands with the 44-year-old Cranston mayor. "I believe in you," he told Laffey, who was barnstorming the neighborhood with his wife and five kids and various high school friends. "And I hope you beat the pants off of Lincoln Chafee."
The Laffey-Chafee Republican showdown Sept. 12 is the next chapter in the turbulent 2006 election saga. A spate of primary upsets -- especially Ned Lamont's victory over Democratic Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman in Connecticut -- have signaled that no incumbent is safe in a year when voters are agitating for change. With his spirited campaign against Sen. Chafee, Laffey is trying to push that frustration one step further. He wants to turn his race into a referendum on personality and attitude.
Rhode Island is a solidly Democratic state, but it does elect moderate Republicans such as Chafee and his late father, the veteran GOP Sen. John Chafee. During his seven-year tenure, "Linc" has distinguished himself as one of the Senate's least partisan members. Modest and soft-spoken, he has broken with his party on tax cuts, judicial nominations and environmental issues, and he was the only Republican senator to vote against the Iraq war.
In terms of temperament and political style, Laffey is Chafee's opposite -- confrontational and impatient, a working-class kid who scoffs at his opponent's patrician pedigree. Laffey dismisses the senator's careful approach to legislating as a big reason Congress cannot get anything done.
"He's become irrelevant," Laffey said of Chafee in a recent radio debate. "I work hard at good relations with everyone," Chafee responded.
The son of a union...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Gotta like this guy. I think he's going to win.
Win what? Surely not the senate seat, you don't think do you?
Let's hope so.
Nope. But Lincoln Chafee getting a dime of support from the national GOP is appalling. Let the 'Rats have another ultra-liberal New England Senator. Let the voters of Rhode Island have another irrelevant senator that no one ever hears about.
The only good Chafee does for the GOP is he usually doesn't engage in a filibuster.
That is an honest post. But Chaffee does support Bush's nominations usually for executive posts, and on some key votes otherwise. And he does vote for which party controls the senate, and thus the levers of power. However, I respect your point of view. It is a matter of one's own views, and what weight one gives to the assorted and sundry considerations.
I'm with you.
This primary just means we won't be able to break a filibuster and thus we won't get another Supreme Court nomination.
There isn't a snowball's chance that a nonwimpy Republican could ever win a Senate seat in liberal Delaware.
Chafee is extremely partisan. He's a pure bred Liberal and solid aly of the Dems.
He is not a moderate, nor for that matter, is Laffey. But Laffey is less extreme then Chafee and Chafee needs to be taught a lesson. As do all the RINO's. And the truth is that if it's 50/50 Chafee would jump. There is no upside to keeping him around as a result.
I honestly don't think he has a chance here, and I hope the Dim or Laffey beats the pants off of him.
There really isn't any GOP control of the Senate anyway.
Chafee needs to go, period.
Do you think someone who comes close to having a 90% liberal rating and threatens to switch parties (and WILL do so if we get down to 50 seats), and doesn't even vote for the President should be serving in the Republican caucus ?
As long as Chafee and similar liberals remain, we really don't have majority control. It's only on paper.
Blue states are not going to elect Conservatives...period. Therefore; IMO...RINOS are a heck of a lot better than a dim, if only for one simple reason, they do have the name, Republican!
As Rummy said, "You go to war with the army you have , not the army you want."...the same with elections, you go with who is doable, you run with who can be elected, you accept the limitations of who Republicans can squeak out of these blue states...and you're grateful for every Rino you can pull from a blue state...at least I am.
Impeachment proceedings come from the House, not the Senate. The House isn't in any danger of being turned over to the Dims.
we have had good Conservative judges seated, we have had tax cuts
Chafee voted against all of these.
take away all the RINOS and give the Senate to the enemy and there will be a difference.
RINOs, Dims...there is no difference. You should support Laffey in the primary. That's what primaries are for. You support the conservative and eliminate RINOs.
I'm certainly not defending the character, convictions or principals of Chafee, Snowe, Susan Collins, McCain, Shay or any number of these NOs...but, with this election as tight as it is, I don't think we can afford to throw any race away just because we can't stand some of these b*st*rds.
I'm not particularly fond of the two I will be voting for in WA state, but, better than Cantwell, oh, you bet, and just maybe Mike can/will beat her.
That's how I feel about it, that's all I am saying.
Just to show you the list of 'Rat Senators that Lincoln Chafee either scores MORE liberal than or equal to as of 2005 (his ACU rating was 12):
Blanche Lincoln - 16
Mark Pryor - 24
Dianne Feinstein - 12 (same as Chafee)
Barbara Boxer - 12 (same as Chafee)
Ken Salazar - 32
Bill Nelson - 20
Evan Bayh - 20
Mary Landrieu - 44
Debbie Stabenow - 12 (same as Chafee)
Mark Dayton - 16
Max Baucus - 24
Ben Nelson - 60
Jeff Bingaman - 13
Hillary Clinton - 12 (same as Chafee)
Kent Conrad - 21
Byron Dorgan - 17
Tim Johnson - 13
Robert Byrd - 20
Russell Feingold - 13
Herb Kohl - 13
Red, if you have no problem with Chafee's voting record and are "grateful" that we can pull this RINO out of a 'Rat state, than you should have no problem welcoming these 20 additional illustrious Democrats to the Republican caucus.
I'll add lastly that having liberal RINOs in control is every inch as bad (if not worse) than 'Rats being in control. The cancer that they have ends up infecting us from within and causing horrific damage.
Liberal RINOs are the biggest gift to the Democrat party you can imagine, as they kill 2 birds with one stone -- the 'Rats get their liberal agenda passed (or Conservative ones blocked), and they cause dissension in the GOP and damage them at election time. I can show you examples en masse of this occurring from all over the country.
The House isn't in any danger of being turned over to the Dims....from your keyboard to God's ears, but that is not what many of the pundits say and why on earth is Nancy Pelosi already picking out new drapes if there sis no danger of losing the house?
Chafee voted against all of these....I'm aware of that, I'm not in the camp for Chafee himself. I am in the camp of keeping every Republican whether he/she be a RINO or not, because we don't know what other states we might lose...Santorum, DeWine, Talent, Burns, Kyl are all in danger. Chafee might then be the deciding factor as to whether we keep the Senate or not...and yes, he might switch parties, but, at least there is still a chance with him and with a Dim there is not that chance.
RINOs, Dims...there is no difference....There is a difference because once in a while they go Republican and sometimes that once in a while is when it counts.
You should support Laffey in the primary. That's what primaries are for. You support the conservative and eliminate RINOs. If we were just going on principal and didn't have to worry about the final outcome, then I wholeheartedly agree...but, the possibility of that unfortunate outcome cannot be denied. IMO, that outcome is too big a chance to take in order to be doling out lessons.
I guess we are just looking at these from two different viewpoints. I support Chafee for one reason and one reason only, he is [at the moment] a Republican, albeit, RINO and there is a chance that he [because he is a very liberal RINO] can be reelected in a very blue state. If he is reelected that prevents a Democrat from taking that seat, a seat that a Conservative cannot be elected to, no matter how much we would prefer that to be the case.
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