Sad Day for Republicans

Moderate GOP Senator Beats Conservative Challenger in R.I.

By Shailagh Murray and Zachary A. Goldfarb
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 13, 2006; Page A01

PROVIDENCE, R.I., Sept. 12 -- Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee, a moderate who has frequently clashed with the Bush administration, beat back a strong conservative challenger Tuesday night in the GOP primary in Rhode Island.

The victory came amid heavy turnout, after the same Republican establishment that Chafee has so often defied rallied to his side with money and logistical support for a vigorous get-out-the-vote effort. While there is little personal affection for Chafee at the White House, operatives there and in the Republican Party leadership calculated that he is the GOP's best chance of holding the seat in a Democratic-leaning state in November.

The Chafee win represented a rare bit of political good news for Republicans, who are struggling to retain control of both houses of Congress in a highly volatile election year, as polls showing voters to be increasingly frustrated with GOP leadership. President Bush's dismal approval ratings, fueled in large part by public frustration with the war in Iraq, threatens Republican incumbents around the country who are on the ballot this year.

Stephen Laffey, the blustery, populist mayor of Cranston, had sought to become the second challenger to topple a senator in a primary this year, after Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman's loss to Ned Lamont in Connecticut's Democratic primary last month. In the end, however, a race that for weeks had been widely viewed as neck and neck fell decisively in line for Chafee, who was commanding 54 percent of the vote with 99 percent of returns counted.

Chafee is about as "moderate" as Ted "the Lady Killer" Kennedy is sober. Only the far Left-wing Washington Post could call Lincoln Chafee anything but a flaming Liberal.

As for the Republican Party, I am disgusted with their cowardly behavior in this and other races. I do not approve of expedience as a political philosophy. I would rather lose with Laffey than win with a creature like Chafee. The only thing Republican about Lincoln Chafee is his first name. Winning with Chafee for the Republicans is like a corporation bragging about market-share when it is costing them a net loss of millions to retain it. Sure you hold the Senate by one more seat, but you lose everytime he votes.

The very idea that the

"National Republican officials who are backing Chafee announced last week that they would pull their resources out of Rhode Island should Laffey prevail..."

Reminds me of why I don't contribute more to the Republican Party. They are a bunch of "moderate" jelly-fish, completely spineless and unprincipled in the extreme. I will continue to support those Republicans in whom I believe, but:

"...Chafee's? Chafee's? Don't need no stinkin' Chafee's.

Full Story: RNC Saving the Seat, Losing Its Soul

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