Posted on 05/31/2013 5:40:29 AM PDT by cotton1706
Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee says he didn’t just switch parties to earn brownie points among Democrats — he did so because of the changing dynamics of the Republican party.
“The Southerners…just had a different view of where the Republican party should be and as a result the North Easteners and some of the other moderate Republicans slowly were taken out of the party, either by elections or by choice,” Chafee explained to MSNBC’s Chris Matthews on Thursday. “The shift occured down to the south. My dad [former Sen. John Chafee] lost his leadership position to Sen. Cochran from Mississippi, and then the next year Sen. Simpson from Wyoming was too moderate and lost his leadership position too.”
Chafee officially switched his party registration Thursday going from independent to Democrat, after initially being a Republican. And if his words are anything to go by, he’s not going to miss the GOP.
“Some of the policies they have advanced and having lost the ‘08 election and now the ‘12 election, I know there’s a lot of introspection by the Republicans,” Chafee said. “I’m just happy to have found a home, myself, with the Democrats. As I’ve worked with the governors, all the governors in the NGA as an independent. I’m happy to now join with those Democratic governors. It’s like-minded philosophy.”
When pushed by Matthews as to whether or not he would consider going back to being a Republican should the party change its ways, Chafee said “no.”
“You don’t want to be zigzagging around,” he said. “And I was wondering, is the party going to come back to my way of thinking?…And I just made that decision, it’s not coming back.”
Right. It was easier for Bloomberg to get to be mayor by running in the republican primary, then win on Giuliani’s 9/11 hero coattails. It’s insidious.
Same as Gomez here in MA. He knew he couldn’t get the democrat nomination. So he ran as a republican, the establishment got behind him of course because he wasn’t a conservative and that’s their criteria. And now he’s going to lose. Or he will win and vote democratic until a real democrat defeats him, because “moderate” republicans are easy to defeat, because they don’t stand for anything and don’t like to fight, especially their similar minded democrats. Moderates prefer to fight conservatives. They get off on that and really put their hearts into it, a la John McCain and Mitt Romney.
(stealing a line from Ronaldus Magnus Lloyd Bentsen. . . )
Wonder why he thought conservatives were calling him a RINO for years? Little slow on the uptake there Lincoln?
There are still too many in the party.
People forget that Mitt Romney, son of a republican governor and presidential candidate, and a mother senatorial GOP candidate, left the GOP in 1979 when Reagan came made it to the front.
By the 1990s Romney was a democrat supporter and fund raiser and voted democrat in the 1992 primary, he didn't return to the GOP until October of 1993, he then spent 20 years running for office and spent 55 million dollars of his own money and 7 years running for president, only to cost the GOP an election that they couldn't lose, by losing to Jimmy Carter the II.
if we are going to throw in liberal Scott Brown, we might as well throw in liberal Kelly Ayotte of NH who is a phony.
I still cannot figure out how liberal Scottie voted ‘no’ on Kagan and supplied the “41st vote” for 12 months. And Mass Citizens for Life endorsed him? Cotton can do better.
In CT, it really is best if we true conservatives stay home now that the pro-life party is not fielding candidates. Blank ballot? Huh! Save myself the trip to the local grammar school!
You ain’t a moderate linc you are a liberal.
And no there is no room for liberals in the party just like a Nazi would be out of place in Likud.
Ayotte is a liberal?
I have heard so many conflicting things about her.
Everything from “solid conservative” to “Olympia Snowe”.
“I have heard so many conflicting things about her.”
Yep, me too. Supposedly, she was getting VP consideration from Mittens, FWIW. She’s the only GOP US Senator from the NE, FWIW.
Better than some, worse than others.
Lincoln Chafee wasn’t a moderate but a leftist. He was worse than half of my state’s dem congressmen during his time there. Stupak, Kildee, and Dingell wern’t exactly moderates. Lincoln’s no different than Gary Peters. A weasel.
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