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September 17, 2007

Update: Chafee's quiet GOP exit draws loud response

Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee's adios to the GOP is catching kudos, drawing fire or getting catty shrugs along the lines of "He was a Republican?"

The response today to the weekend news that Rhode Islander Chafee is now an unaffiliated voter depends on where you turn or click your mouse.

From Rhode Island's Republican Party this morning comes a news release saying it's an "unfortunate but not surprising outcome of the senator's long, difficult relationship with the national party in recent years."

Party Chairman Giovanni Cicione says in the statement, "We were aware that he had made this decision and that he planned to reveal it himself on his own terms."

Cicione goes on to say that Chafee is "personally well liked, well-regarded, and he always will be, but it is no surprise that having had a long, difficult struggle as a moderate with the more conservative wing of the party in Washington, he felt estranged from the party. But in light of his family's long, well-respected history and affiliation with the Rhode Island Republican Party, this is an unfortunate outcome."

Cicione states it's his sincere hope the national Republican Party "can again become one that stands on principle. We must redefine our party as one that advocates vigorously and consistently for limited government while standing firmly for equal treatment and justice for all citizens. By doing this we will become a magnet for those that are looking to serve the public as proud Republicans rather than driving them out."

Local and national blogs and their commenters are also staking out turf on the decision.

Over at rifuture.org, one commenter says "a good move for Linc. If he had the courage to do before November he would still be sitting in the Senate." Another commenter bemoans "the party of fiscal conservatism decided to become the party of giving middle taxpayer money to selected (Republican owned or Republican donor) corporations for big profits while cutting taxes for the wealthy."

At Anchorrising.com, a commenter says Chafee's exodus from the party is "possibly the best thing that has happened to it in a generation."

A projo.com reader has a more bipartisan approach: "Maybe if they got rid of the Republican Democratic parties all together things could get done in the goverment."

Add your own comments via projo.com's survey on Chafee's decision.

Continue reading to find a sampling of more comments from more blogs.

-- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney

The commenter waxes poetic to the melody of the Seven Dwarfs' "Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go":

RI-No

Ri-No

It's independent he'll go

No more feckless Linc

Whose family did the party sink

RI-No

Ri-No

A blog item at themoderatevoice.com has more about RINOs, saying that if "more of them are excluded, perhaps some more of them will leave the elephants' party -- and decide on Election Day to join the donkeys.

"And there are more RINO and donkeys put together than elephants."

The 23 comments attached to the piece swing back and forth: elephant, donkey, etc.

Some commenters at www.dailykos.com, which calls itself a liberal blog, see Chafee's leaving as a portentious sign for the Republican party in the northeast. "Overall, the future of the GOP on the East Coast is uncertain," begins one comment.

Another goes farther: " ... The way things are going, it's going to be hard to find anyone who will admit to being a GOPer outside of the deep South by 2010 ... ."

Not so fast, say the voices sounding off at www.clubforgrowth.org, where a writer keeps it tight: under headline "Lincoln Chafee Leaves the GOP" is this:

"What a shocker."

At Arianna Huffington's politics site, www.huffingtonpost.com, a commenter says Chafee is "one of the Few Rockefeller Republicans left and he is leaving the party." Another commenter puts it this way: "The one Republican that I didn't want to see get defeated in Nov. 06 was Chafee, other than the fact that it gave the Dems a little majority. Living in Ct., I would've gladly traded a Lieberman for a Chafee (albeit the impossibility.)"

But a commenter at www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com has a different take, putting Chafee and former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan in a "pathetic" category. "Their admissions and realizations come only after they’ve been driven from office. They’re not even ‘deathbed conversions’: it’s more like they’ve converted only after they’ve died and had to face the afterlife (and, for the record, the correct answer is Buddhism, if I have to pick one), " the commenter says.

Posted by Mike McKinney at 3:46 PM | Permalink

September 17, 2007

Update: Chafee's quiet GOP exit draws loud response

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