NYTimes: In the Senate, Raising a (Quiet) Republican Voice Against the Adm

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/04/politics/04chafee.html?pagewanted=1

Excerpt:

One day after the Supreme Court sealed the 2000 election for George W. Bush, his running mate, Dick Cheney, went to the Capitol for a private lunch with five moderate Republican senators. The agenda he laid out that day in December 2000 stunned Senator Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island, sending Mr. Chafee on a painful journey of political conscience that, he said in an interview last week, has culminated with his decision not to vote for Mr. Bush in November.


Chafee will be writing in a vote. Will he turn Independent?

[acmavm]

1. I wonder if the radical and dictatorial policies of bush* & Cheney have

made others have second thoughts. Anyone with an ounce of sense understands how bad this administration has been for our poor country. There might be a couple of patriots left in the republican party.

One thing's for sure, McCain sure isn't one of them.

[izzie]

2. It seems to be a hard job to be an old time Republicans now.

I used to vote Republican before RR and the party just left me. I also had to battle my thoughts on unions and I do think Govt. does many things right. I of course do not like high taxes but who does. If we want to live in this country in the way we do we do need taxes.

[Vogon_Glory]

3. It's Not Just Bush and Cheney Running Off Moderates

It's not just Gee Dubya and Cheney running off moderates--it's the entire right wing power block that has been very successfully marginalizing and defeating moderates. It's people like the Club for Growth, the American Conservative Union, The Wall Street Journal, the radio talk show hosts, Richard Scaife, Tom De Lay and the rest of the right wing rogue's gallery who have been working to turn the Elephant Party into a monolithic, hard-right, ideologically-pure organization.

We progressives are making a mistake if we try to personalize what's happening to the GOP with Gee Dubya and Dick Cheney. So are our moderate and less-reactionary friends. In order to undo the damage done so far by the Flurry with the Fringe on the Top , we're going to have to be in the fight for the long haul. This right-wing trend is ongoing--and will continue as the next rank of reactionaries rise to the surface as Gee Dubya and Dick Cheney begin to recede into the distance.

Folks like Lincoln Chafee and Olympia Snow and the fellow from Pennsylvania are charming relics from a different time. They're still in office only because their constituents like them and because their reactionary enemies haven't found ways to unseat them. Alas for them, they're politically marginalized within the national GOP and only serve as window dressing to con the politically naive into believing that the Republican Party has a place for those who don't agree with the hard rights's ultra-montaine agenda.

[patricia92243]

4. I believe if the Republicans lose they will never, ever run another

candidate as ultaright wing as Bush. They are not stupid and will learn from their gigantic mistake.

[MISSDem]

7. I actually read an analysis that said

that they Republican Party will next have to find a pro choice candidate. The "right to life" thing is just not going to get it for them much longer. Women won't stand for it. (I can't remember where I read this).

[Vogon_Glory]

9. Sorry, Ultra-Rightist Republicans Here to Stay

I disagree about the Republican Party nominating a pro-choice candidate. That ain't going to happen. The right-wing Fundamentalist/Evangelicals and the rabidly anti-abortion activists will either break such a candidate in the Republican Party primary or bend him to their will.

What we will see are some other Republican "Nowhere Man" style candidates attempting to replicate Gee Dubya's fraudulent pose as a "moderate." This may or may not succeed depending on how well progressives investigate such a candidate's real agenda and real positions. We'll probably have to do such research ourselves. Look at what a sorry job the media whores in the corporate media did in investigating Texas Governor GW Bush's antics from 1993 to 2000.

[cali]

5. Chafee says

he will not shed his party affiliation, and that troubles me. I'm sure it's incredibly difficult to change parties. According to Jeffords, it was really painful, but if one believes that this administration is sending the country to hell in a handbasket, that should take precedence. Let's hope that Jeffords can talk Chafee into doing the right thing.

[cap]

6. RI is a democratic state...

why does Chafee linger? Except his wealthy family has been Republican since time immemorial.

[MissMarple]

8. Perhaps the moderates will take back the party.

They would like to do that here in Colorado. But that is going to be hard to do at first. They will have to develop a cogent and effective message that sets them apart from the fundies and the "I hate government" crowd.