Soon to be unemployed Senator Lincoln Chafee illustrates the problem with being a moderate Republican in a moderate state during the Bush/Cheney regime. In an Op Ed piece in today’s NY Times, Chafee complains that he lost because Cheney and Bush embarked on an “aggressively partisan agenda that included significant tax cuts, the abandonment of international agreements and a muscular, unilateral foreign policy†in spite of his personal letter to Cheney after the 2000 election begging for collaboration, moderation, etc.
Chafee’s letter was written after a meeting with Cheney attended by several moderate GOP Senators. What is of particular interest here is that one of them, Senator Jeffords of Vermont, smelled a big enough rat to leave the Republican Party. Chafee was shocked to learn that “we seemed ready to return to the poisonous partisanship that marked the Republican-Congress — Clinton White House years.â€
On which planet was Chafee living? Bush and Cheney had track records and their weaknesses were not exactly a secret to everyone else in Washington and a lot of people outside Washington.
Chafee is, by most reports, a decent sort – but on the evidence of this Od Ed piece he had no place in the Senate – he helped it organize itself to do Bush/Cheney’s bidding and now regrets “not be[ing] able to participate in the difficult, but critical, healing process that must take place in our government if Democrats and Republicans are going to solve the serious problems facing this great nation.â€
We needed good Republicans but did not have enough of them that would buck the craziness and nastiness of the administration. The best thing that could come out of this election would be the return of the Republican Party to its roots of integrity, responsibility and seriousness. Until then we can hope that the Chafees of the country continue to pay the price for their party membership.