Lest We Forget... Grassley, et. al....

[WillyT]

Jeffords loses singing partner, gains new allies
Web-posted Sunday, May 27, 2001

<snip>

WASHINGTON - In a private room behind the Senate floor, Jim Jeffords' Republican friends pleaded with him to stay in the party. The GOP agenda was at stake, they said, along with their own chairmanships. Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley broke down and wept.

"It was the most emotional time that I have ever had in my life," Jeffords later recalled of the Wednesday afternoon session. "But I could not justify not going forward."

In an institution where elaborate courtesies flourish and well-rehearsed political theater is a tradition, Jeffords' move from Republican to independent produced something different.

"I would not sing with Jim" again, said Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, who has done so for years as a member of the Singing Senators.

Moments after the moderate Vermont lawmaker made his announcement Thursday, Republicans walked somberly into a closed-door meeting. Talk turned to funds for special-needs students - one of Jeffords' passions.

"Special education is not a Republican issue," said conservative Texas Sen. Phil Gramm, a one-time Democrat, according to several GOP sources who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"If special education isn't a Republican issue, then I'm not a Republican," shot back Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, a Republican all his life.

An unhappy Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine read aloud from a recent newspaper article that quoted an unnamed Republican describing GOP moderates as "weak sisters."

In a plea for tolerance, Snowe told her conservative colleagues, "We have to respect these views and not be ridiculed," according to one participant.

Among the Democrats, Jeffords' switch brought joy.

<snip>

Link: http://www.amarillo.com/stories/052701/usn_jeffords.shtml

Short lived joy... but joy nonetheless, LOL !!!

:shrug: