Posted on 02/12/2007 5:50:55 PM PST by West Coast Conservative
Ousted Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee criticized President George W. Bush's handling of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, saying the president was bowing to a faction of evangelical Christians who oppose a Palestinian state.
"The religious thing is driving the foreign policy here," Chafee said following a speech at Brown University in which he questioned whether the president's past comments pushing for peace were sincere.
Chafee, who served on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, lost his seat in November as Democrats swept into power in Congress. He landed a job at Brown's Watson Institute for International Studies following his loss to Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse.
During his speech Monday evening, Chafee described what he called Bush's unfulfilled promise of a plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, the so-called "road map," which calls for the establishment of a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
Chafee said he has wondered why the United States has not been a leader in the peace process even though Bush has said several times that he supports it. He cited comments by evangelical Christians who have said they do not think Israel should give up any land to the Palestinians.
"President Bush has embraced the concept of land for peace in word, but so far not in deed. I sometimes wonder which group has the president's ear," Chafee said.
"I have wondered something else about this president, who promised us he would be a uniter and not a divider, who led us into Iraq to vanquish the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction. Has this been a deliberate deception?" he continued.
Criticizing the president is nothing new for Chafee. He did not vote for Bush in the 2004 presidential election, writing in Bush's father, former President George H.W. Bush, as a form of protest.
(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...
Its funny that Lincoln Chaffee is the guy every lefty says George W. Bush is. He got where he is based solely on his dad's name and he is an idiot.
It's not fair to call him a RINO.
Snowe, Specter, and Collins are RINOs. I can tolerate RINOs.
Chafee was a disgrace.
So was Al Gore.
Former Senator, jerk forever.
You are now only a small man from the smallest state...
We are proud to call you FORMER Senator Chaffee...
Time to shut your pie-hole...
He thought that the seat was his for kife. He is angry.
who gives a rat's rear what Limping Chappedass has to say about anything?
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