Which best describes Lincoln Chaffee (RI)?

[originalpckelly]

I just saw his debate with Whitehouse on C-Span, and let me tell you folks, that is the biggest ______ I have ever seen in my life!

[tularetom]

1. I never knew that much about him

other than he was a repub who occasionally opposed * so I naturally gave him credit for having an IQ greater than his shoe size. Then I heard him speak a couple of weeks ago. People, that is one DUMB mofo!!! I don't know how he handles himself in a debate but my sense is not very well.

[rpannier]

2. enigma

He's a very complex person, who is hard to understand.
He knows the republikkan party is wrong, yet he won't leave it.

[Mz Pip]

6. My take on him too.

I really like him, but his Republican Party left him years ago. He is a much better fit with the philosophy of conservative Democrats.

But his Dad was a Republican icon in the state and maybe in RI liberal Republicans still exist. But they don't in the rest of the country and having the Repugs control the Senate gives the neocons control of the the agenda.

So sorry, Lincoln. Maybe you thought you were doing something to save the Republican Party from the wackos but you can't do it by yourself. So you've got nowhere to go but out. You've got to go.

Hopefully the Dems have learned that no matter how much they like a Repug or how decent he might be, voting for one this time around is a bad idea.

Bye bye!

Mz Pip
:dem:

[AlCzervik]

3. i can't work up the energy to even insult him. Chaffee is like vanilla

after watching the debate i think Whitehouse has it for sure.

[greeneyedboy]

4. an endangered species - the old-style New England Republican n/t

[calico1]

22. That is exactly right. He is represents what

the Republican Party USED to be like.

[bdamomma]

23. yes, Chafee time is up, that party that your father belonged

to exists no more, time for some fresh blood.

[Justice Is Comin]

5. He's like that Henry guy on Laugh In

who that woman was always beating with her purse.

[Frazzled Educator]

7. I don't know. . .I, in a way, like Lincoln.

He needs to go because, like Lieberman and our party, his party has left him behind and he gives the Repugs another vote. He would be more in touch with our party and Loser Joe would be more in touch with the fascist pigs in the GOP.

My write in word for him: Tragedy.

[Glorfindel]

8. Neo-Maxi-Zoom-Dweebie

to quote "The Breakfast Club." An old-fashioned, self-effacing, well-intentioned, upper-class New England Repuke in the mold of the late Henry Cabot Lodge (or "Henry Cabbage Cod" as Al Capp so famously called him). The Repuke equivalent of R. Sargent Shriver, former Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate who just happens to have a Repuke son-in-law. It's not his fault, though.

[featherman]

9. An ex-Senator?

[Vidar]

10. He's an honorable man on the wrong side. I don't care for your poll.

[Tesha]

16. If he *HAD* any honor, he wouldn't *BE* on that side.

We've made plenty of overtures to him to come over into the light.
So now he'll just be ejected without ceremony.

Tesha

[Vidar]

21. I'd prefer he switch parties as well, but I don't define "honor" as

"agreeing with me". That seems a very narrow vision.

[Tesha]

25. Neither do I.

> I'd prefer he switch parties as well, but I don't define "honor" as
> "agreeing with me". That seems a very narrow vision.

Neither do I, and I never said such a thing.

But an honorable person simply couldn't vote with the
Republicans as often as Chafee does, tossing aside morality
and good fiscal management in favor of lower taxes, tossing
aside the Constitution in favor of allowing Bush dictatorial
powers, etc.

Tesha

[bdamomma]

27. he is just a casualty in republican party

bush took all of them down.

[TahitiNut]

11. Closer to a "Democrat" than ...

... Ben Nelson, Mary Landrieu, or Mark Pryor?? Every one of these "Democrats" voted with the Bush Regime more often than Chafee in the last two years.

PRESIDENTIAL SUPPORT 2006 2005
Maine 1 Olympia J. Snowe R 74 67
Rhode Island 2 Lincoln Chafee R 66 56
Nebraska 2 Ben Nelson D 73 76
Louisiana 1 Mary L. Landrieu D 69 64
Arkansas 2 Mark Pryor D 63 58

http://public.cq.com/public/senatebyparty.html

[kiahzero]

12. Chafee would be at home in the Democratic Party

He refuses to realize that, and his loyalty to party over his loyalty to his positions will be the end of his career in the Senate. It's kind of tragic, really.

[TahitiNut]

13. Trade him for Ben Nelson.

I wouldn't vote for Ben Nelson no matter how desperate I was.

[Warren DeMontague]

14. He's better than the vast majority of the Republican Party.

I've got a long list of 'em that I'd bad mouth before that guy. He has integrity; just not enough to shed the (R) after his name.

[greeneyedboy]

15. agree. he is the least of our worries.

i'll be happy when he loses, but not because of any particular flaw beyond his affiliation.

[Odin2005]

17. I really wished he switched parties.

The Republican party abandoned honorable moderates like him ages ago. The Minnesota GOP used to be dominated by Chaffee-like people like former governors Elmer Andersen (recently deceased critic of what the GOP has become) and Arnie Carlson (who voted for Kerry in '04) untill the mid '90, when the Culture Warriors took over the party.

[LTR]

18. Oh the irony

I lived in Minnesota for many years, and I recall that Arnie Carlson was the last Republican I ever voted for (in 1990, along with Paul Wellstone for senator). Carlson had surprisingly lost the IR (GOP) primary to ultra wingnut reactionary Jon Grunseth, who only weeks before the election was caught naked in a hot tub with a few underage girls. Ooops! An embarassed GOP went crawling back to a rather pissed-off Carlson, who had struck out as an independent candidate following the primary. He finally agreed to be the GOP nominee, and he wound up beating Rudy Perpich, aka Gov. Goofy. I voted for Carlson because I thought Perpich was a complete putz.

This was when they were known in Minnesota as Independent-Republicans (IR), which is what they called themselves post-Watergate through the 1990s. To explain to people not from the state, Minnesota is unique in that the two main political parties have carried different names than their national counterparts. The Minnesota Democratic Party is still referred to as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL), which is the result of a merger years back between the Democrats and the Farmer-Labor Party. And of course, there's a lot of third party action as well, particularly with the Independence Party and even the Grassroots Party (pro-marijuana). In my younger years, I always voted Grassroots for state treasurer, figuring that if anyone could manage large sums of money, a pot dealer would be a good bet. Minnesota was always a fun state for politics, and it's nice that they have had relatively clean campaigns up there (at least compared to Wisconsin, where I am now, and where all politics is sleazy).

Republicans in Minnesota were, for the most part, tolerable for quite some time. Pretty moderate people, like Jim Ramstad used to be. Unfortunately, the state GOP has been invaded by slimy moronic Bushbots like Tim Pawlenty and turncoat Norm Coleman. The DFL has also been bogged down by buffoons like Skip Humphrey and Roger Moe. Of course, we were all spoiled by Wellstone. Nonetheless, I'd love to see the DFL take back the state, just in time for the GOP shindig in St. Paul in 2008. That would be priceless!

[Odin2005]

30. What was wrong with Roger Moe?

I might be biased because he represented my area, but he seemed like a fine politician. :shrug:

[Bucky]

19. Dad retired and Li'l Linc took his seat. He's a weak man in big shoes.

Chaffee represents an interest and votes the way they'd like him too, but he's not much of a leader. There's a reason why he doesn't appear on many talk shows--he's not good with the give and take of a real political dialog. There are many more qualified leaders of the tiny feather of the Republican moderate wing that he represents, but Lincoln had the right last name so Lincoln got the job.

Hmmm, Given that bio, I wonder what Freud would make of his dislike for Dubya?

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

20. Linc's a nice guy......

....hell, I might have even voted for him against certain candidates who are DINOS on some hot button issues or total phonies like Matt Brown. But he's spineless and out of touch and we have a better choice, which is Whitehouse.

[bdamomma]

28. I hope Whitehouse remembers all of us who support him.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. What's The Use Of This Poll?

Let's get the fact that I would vote for the Democrat, Sheldon Whitehouse, in this race out of the way, Linc Chaffee is not a bad guy.

[Chemical Bill]

26. Dangerous as long as he wears the (R). n/t

[bdamomma]

29. true, Linc is just in the wrong party right now, while he is displaying

that (R) he is doomed.

[Snotcicles]

31. Impotent. n/t