Lincoln Chafee says the impossible...

[troublemaker]

Lincoln Chafee has said one thing I thought we would never hear from any politician. It was best for the country that he lost.

Chafee unsure of staying with GOP after losing election

...When Chafee was asked whether he felt that his loss may have helped the country by switching control of power in Congress, he replied: "To be honest, yes."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/rhode_island/articles/2006/11/09/chafee_unsure_of_staying_with_gop_after_losing_election/

[90-percent]

1. He had a sense of decency

Too bad the criminals in his party forced a good man out, but America has spoken and every war has a few casualties. And the Republicans made it a war.

-85% jimmy

[David__77]

2. He's still an idiot.

Why, oh why, if this is the case, did he not leave the GOP and firmly oppose Bush in the first place?? It makes absolutely no sense, and I can only infer that is trying to feather his nest now.

[DoYouEverWonder]

6. It's very hard to change

something that you believed in your whole life.

I hope Chafee becomes a DEM and I would welcome him to the party.

[in_cog_ni_to]

9. He made a promise to his dad on his death bed that he wouldn't leave the repub party..he'd carry on

the family tradition. That's from an article I read YEARS ago.

[David__77]

17. So?

If he made a promise to slaughter 13 virgins with an ax under a full moon, would that matter? My point being that he's his own person and bears full responsibility for his actions.

[AspenRose]

18. He wouldn't promise anything that stupid, for one thing

It shows he's a man of his word and that his family means something to him.

I can respect that. Sorry you can't.

[David__77]

32. No, I don't respect it.

And under the circumstances, adhering to that was harmful to the country. This was no mere personal matter.

[in_cog_ni_to]

19. Maybe he looks at his promise to his father a little differently than you do?

Maybe it means something to him? Just a guess though.

[David__77]

29. I don't go around making stupid promises.

He should have thought about that.

[in_cog_ni_to]

35. Maybe he didn't think it was a stupid promise at the time?

:shrug: He probably does now though. He'll be back. Maybe now he can reconcile that promise to his dad and what the repuke party has become...and become a Dem or Independent?

[elehhhhna]

22. please. a reep will lie to anybody who'll listen.

He probably wanted to ensure his place in Daddy's will.

[YDogg]

25. The party left him.

[Zambero]

28. Being defeated as a Republican should conclude that pledge

He stayed in the GOP to honor the family name and it ended up costing him his seat. I'm sure if his Dad was around to witness what has become of the Republican party, he'd wish his son Godspeed as a Dem or Indie.

[Bucky]

33. Didn't Jack Black make a movie with that premise? Shallow Hal?

What's weird is that Shakespeare's Henry V is sort of premised on a guy named Hal who makes a stupid deathbed promise to his dying father. Wackiness ensues, except in the Shakespeare version it's an honest war and the French don't sit that one out. Also in Chafee's version Falstaff is the country's leader.

[11 Bravo]

26. There may be an idiot in the mix here, but it ain't Lincoln Chafee.

Look at his voting record and try to understand that he came from a long, rapidly disintegrating, line of socially liberal northeastern Republicans. He fought the good fight from behind enemy lines for many years.

[David__77]

31. Who's the idiot if not Lincoln? I didn't vote for Bill Frist.

That said. I spoke too rashly. He can redeem himself by repudiating that party and working against it.

[seabeyond]

34. if for no other reason, he ran as a repub, voted by repubs and represented

those that voted for him, i feel had an obligation and responsibility to that vote. i would be PISSED if someone ran as a dem and changed to repub, i dont care how honorable the person may have felt making the change. i would see it as dishonest representation.

firstly

secondly, there is an honor to opposing your party within the party. there role to play there also

i am not a believer of you are with us or against us.... mentality

[ItsTheMediaStupid]

3. Oh my God, a statesman

I don't understand why he, Snowe and Susal Collins didn't change parties two or three years ago.

New England doesn't seem to like the BushCo version of the republican party and BushCo has little in common with these three old school moderate to liberal Republicans, except for wealth.

[AspenRose]

7. I sort of feel sorry for them.

Sort of.

They are out of sorts with their party and they know it, but for some reason feel like they have to keep going along with it.

[kerstin]

10. Maybe Snowe and Collins will switch yet! n/t

[in_cog_ni_to]

4. That's the ONE republican I respect.

I hope he switches to the Democratic Party, but he probably won't. I remember reading an article about him. He made a death bed promise to his dad that he would carry on in the republican party. His dad was a republican politician? I think? He said THAT is why he hasn't switched to the Dem party. Kinda sad, actually. It's like he can't be who he wants to be.

[hughee99]

11. His father was a republican

before republicans became what they are today. In his later years, he saw the parting changing, though he didn't get to see what became of it during the * administration. I imagine if his father was still alive to see what had been done to his party, he wouldn't have felt the same way.

[in_cog_ni_to]

12. I agree. That should be an "out" for Lincoln.

It's not the party it use to be.

[Tiggeroshii]

5. Well, it was a surprise when he suggested he would switch to the Dems before 04

and nothing happened of it. I'm guessing he's just being a flip flopping politician...

[Pirate Smile]

8. Chafee and Jim Leach should have switched parties. They didn't

so they are out.

[warrens]

13. Linc, your dad would have switched parties long ago

A deathbed promise is meaningless in this brave new world. Switch parties and we'd LOVE to have you back. It must have hurt a lot of people in RI to vote against a decent guy like Linc, but as long as he was a Bush enabler, how could someone vote FOR him?

[Redstone]

14. There goes a good man.

Redstone

[KittyWampus]

15. Linc, write a book.

[troublemaker]

16. Independents caucussing with Democrats may become a model in New England

Jeffords, Sanders, Lieberman... maybe Chafee, Snow and Collins down the road.

New England has this weird love affair with moderate Republicans that may morph into two Dem parties... independent center-left vs. Democratic-left for local offices but with both ending up as functional Dems in congress. That would be a good development because it would rob the national GOP of a party structure in the area.

[Old and In the Way]

20. Sorry Linc, you could have jumped a long time ago.

Even as Independent, you'd have been re-elected in a snap. I'm sure you had honorable reasons to stay and try to get your Party back....but I think it was a monumental waste of time.

[American Jesus]

21. Chafee also just helped to kick Bolton out of the UN!

It's a shame we can't trade him for a much worse Republican

[judaspriestess]

23. come on over from the dark side

we would love to have you. He's a good guy. I also believe his father would allow him to switch parties. His party left him on the side of the road and did not look back a while ago.......

[AzDar]

24. Of all Republicans who lost, Chafee is the lone lamentable figure.

A very good man in a very bad Party.

[LeftishBrit]

27. Wow.

If that isn't a contrast with the rantings of some of the others.

There's one Republican for whom this British leftie has some respect - even though his defeat was indeed necessary to get that Senate majority!

[fujiyama]

30. At least he's honest

He should have simply left the party. It was no longer his father's party.

Sorry Chafee. You're a decent guy, but you had your chance and you didn't take it. This time, Chafee had a great chance to cut a deal to simply run as an independent, made a promise to caucus with Dems, faced little if any competition and won in a landslide.

[Blue_Tires]

36. Chafee has been against bush and the neocons almost since the start

had he won, he almost certainly would have switched (i know for a fact he was mulling it over in 04)