Lincoln Chafee: 'I've got a target on my back'

[Judi Lynn]

Lincoln Chafee: 'I've got a target on my back'

01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, August 21, 2005


BY SCOTT MacKAY and MARK ARSENAULT
Journal Staff Writers

WARWICK--

....CHAFEE'S SEAT is seen as one of the two best shots Democrats have to knock off a sitting Republican senator. (The other is in Pennsylvania.) Chafee is the lone Republican in the Senate who represents a state that voted 54 percent or more for Democratic Sen. John Kerry in his presidential campaign last year against Mr. Bush.

The president is not well regarded in Rhode Island; a Brown University poll in June showed just 24 percent of state voters approved of the way Mr. Bush is handling his job. The survey carried an error margin of plus or minus 4.5 points.

Polls suggest Chafee is beatable; a matchup against Whitehouse showed Chafee ahead, 41 percent to 36 percent, with the rest undecided. It is never a good sign, say political experts, for an incumbent to be that far under 50 percent approaching an election year.

Lincoln Chafee and his father are the only two Republicans to hold a Rhode Island Senate seat since the Great Depression. The younger Chafee inherited the seat when his father died in office in 1999. Then-Gov. Lincoln Almond appointed Chafee to fill out the term.
(snip/...)

http://www.projo.com/news/content/projo_20050821_21senx.3652446.html
(Free registration is required)

[TahitiNut]

1. DeWine (R-OH) is beatable, too.

That's three. Need at least three more.

[mod mom]

14. You've got that right! I would love to see Paul Hackett kick his RW fundi

butt off the political map!

[Toucano]

20. I think Hackett should run,

but I don't think DeWine is easy to beat.

[Canuckistanian]

2. I saw the subject and thought he was referring to his own party

Or maybe I'm right...

[liberaliraqvet26]

3. CHAFFEE'S GOTTA GO

[bearfan454]

18. Joe Lieberman has to go too.

Another Dem needs to challenge him. A real Democrat that is, not someone that votes with the pukes all the time like Holy Joe does.

[liberaliraqvet26]

23. his approval rating is very high..

it would be a waste of resources

[bearfan454]

24. We might as well count him as a puke then.

That's how he usually votes.

[Pepperbelly]

27. since when did Texans get to choose ...

CT's senator?

on edit, I think you have plenty of shitty senators in your own back yard before trying to get rid of Democrats in other states.

[moondust]

4. Rhode Island approval of Bush is 29%.

Lowest in the country.

[Chico Man]

15. And I still see tons of W stickers everywhere

Both of my neighbors had w signs during the election. My Kerry sign was stolen 4 times.

[PurityOfEssence]

5. As well you should

You're a child of privilege, one of the ancient aristocrats of Providence Plantations. As such, you come from the cradle of ease.

Although you've shown great character by voting against the Iraq War Resolution--the ONLY Republican Senator to do so--and fought against many atavistic initiatives of the right, you are still one of them. Ache as it may, you know that.

You hail from a state that's resolutely liberal and working class. To toe even occasional policies of the psychotic ruling class puts you at risk. Cross the aisle or get your ass kicked out. It'd be sad to see one of the few Republicans with even a whiff of decency get sent packing, but it needs to be done, and even with the often honorable stances, YOU DESERVE IT.

What would Claiborne Pell say? What would Frank Licht say? Having experienced the true ugliness of the current conservatives, even your daddy John might have a thing or two to say.

It's sad to see someone with occasional honor get ratfucked while many other deeply evil functionaries lope on unquestioned, but history is always decided in the margins, and this is no time to shilly-shally.

Time's a-wastin', boy; cast your lot.

[pacalo]

6. Good news.

I don't care how many times Chafee has flirted with our emotions & led us to believe he was applying some common sense/decency...

The Republicans have proven that they put party above what's right. Republicans haven't earned the right to win a seat that would help decide our future.

[MikeH]

7. Chafee was Buzzflash GOP Hypocrite of the Week one time

BuzzFlash GOP Hypocrite of the Week: Lincoln Chafee

Welcome back to the BuzzFlash.com GOP Hypocrite of the Week.

It's not easy being a Republican senator from a Democratic state like Rhode Island. Your constituents expect decency, honesty, common sense and honor. And being a member of the GOP Senate majority under Bill "Cat Killer" Frist -- who takes orders directly from the Busheviks -- that puts you at odds with all of these virtues.

Lincoln Chafee has tried to fashion himself as an idiosyncratic "moderate" Republican. But don't be fooled; he's not. Chafee follows the Bushevik party line and only votes against it when his vote won't count. Still, some pundits have tried to compare Chafee's record to Vermont's Independent Senator Jim Jeffords. But that would be like comparing Colonel Klink to Wesley Clark.

...

http://www.gophypocrites.com/2005/04/hyp05017.html



Another Buzzflash Editorial:

The Myth of the Three Northeast Republican Moderates: They're Republicans, Stupid!

A BUZZFLASH EDITORIAL

Lincoln Chafee, Susan Collins, and Olympia Snowe like to cultivate the perception that they are Republican "moderates" with their Rhode Island and Maine constituents, reluctantly being pulled along by a right wing jihad. They kind of pretend that they are Quakers kidnapped by the marauding troops of Genghis Khan.

How the "down east" common sense plain folk of Maine and the Democrats of Rhode Island can fall for this charade is beyond BuzzFlash.

Oh, yeah, Chafee, Collins and Snowe, it appears to us from a distance (we have never met any of them), don't seem to be your rabid, psychotic Tom DeLay or Rick Santorum type of Republican. They actually seem like people who might be nice neighbors.

But they made two big mistakes. ...

http://www.buzzflash.com/editorial/05/04/edi05042.html

[wiley]

8. He had his chance to switch parties......

Guess all the pork and promises didn't help the people of Rhode Isaland too much.

[Greeby]

9. A target on his back is all well and good

But will Dems know how to hit the bullseye? :think:

[Mairead]

10. A bigger question: will Dems even bother shooting? (nt)

[EST]

11. The trigger fingers are getting more itchy by the minute-

with the approval of the true majority.

[fujiyama]

12. Boo hoo waaaa!

I really don't care to hear "moderate" repukes whining about anything. If he helps keep "AIDS is caused by tears" Frist in power, he's an enabler.

They have their chance. Switch parties or simply do what Jeffords did. Become an independant. Send a message to Bush.

[Lena inRI]

13. He's a hovering, hesitating, hypocrite. . .

G O O D

R I D D A N C E ! ! ! !

:kick:

[kstewart33]

16. You bet he's got a target on his back

His thoroughly cowardly performance in the Bolton hearings was something to see. I hope he's defeated, though little Ricky is our better chance.

[WMliberal]

17. Ha, I first thought this was about back-stabbing. I guess that's just how

vulnerable he is. Deepest darkest blue state. His own party hates him. His own constituents hate his party...
This seat will be hard for Dean to explain if we lose.

[Toucano]

19. Yes, sir, you do. And you earned it. n/t

[ticapnews]

21. On the bright side Mr. Chafee

The target on your back is methaphorical and will only be fatal to your political life.

Try driving over a very real IED in your car, like the very real soldiers you helped send off to fight in a war for oil profits. Those aren't metaphorical but they are fatal.

[liberaliraqvet26]

25. he didn't vote for the war...

he was actually the only one. but he still must go.

[ticapnews]

26. The most important vote a senator casts...

is the first vote of every new session of Congress.

He cast his vote for Bill Frist. Had he and 50 of his colleagues voted for Harry Reid instead, things would have been very different, including this war. Whether he voted for the IWR or not, he helped this happen.

[FreeStateDemocrat]

22. Chafee is not a moderate by any reasonable definition and needs to go.