THE PLANK MAY 28, 2008
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A few days ago in the book store, I perused a copy of former Rhode Island Republican Senator Lincoln Chafee's new book, Against the Tide, and read this on the inside front jacket:
A political iconoclast, Chafee was the only Republican senator to have
expressed support for same-sex marriage; the only Republican to vote in
favor of reinstating the top federal tax rate on upper-income payers;
the only Republican in the Senate to have voted against authorization
of the use of force in Iraq; the only Republican to vote for the
Levin-Reed amendment calling for a nonbinding timetable for a
withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq; and the only Republican to vote
against Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito. Chafee favored increased
federal funding for health care, supported affirmative action and gun
control, supported women’s reproductive rights, and endorsed federal
funding for embryonic stem cell research.
In other words, Chafee held the position of a liberal Democrat on a smattering of the most significant public policy issues. The fact that he was the last person to realize he didn't "fit" with the GOP betrays an astonishing lack of self-awareness.
--James Kirchick
7 comments
Lincoln Chafee was a dinosaur, the very last of the liberal Republicans in the Senate. We will not see his like again for the longest of times, if ever. Sixty-five millions years forward, another significant extinction.
- liberal reformer
May 28, 2008 at 10:31pm
uh, Chafee also has an family history of Rock Ribbed Republicanism to deal with, particularly with his mater and her strong influence over his politics.
Chafee should not be scorned by some wet-behind-the-ears publicity seeking provocateur but admired for bucking a family political history. This is hard to do and should be admired or at least respected, instead of fodder for yet another kirchick pile...
- thejauntyboulevardier
May 28, 2008 at 11:37pm
oh and btw, I am reading this A Kazinism "Narcissism of Small Differences" everywhere. It was on the Spine from The Prolific One, I hear it on those noisy cable political shows. What gives? Why is this so prevalent these days? What a bizarre herd of independent thinkers....
- thejauntyboulevardier
May 28, 2008 at 11:48pm
This post reveals
a) Nothing
b) Jamee doesn't know what the phrase "narcissism of small differences" actually means. Jaunty is right: he probably heard it somewhere and kind of liked it, but refuses to think the phrase through. Obviously what Chafee has are BIG differences with the modern-day GOP; they aren't the small things that loom large, as all minor inter-group struggles do. Jamie, if you want to learn what that pregnant phrase actually means, I would suggest (at a minimum) Ignatieff's essay of the same title. It is ok- he was for the war from a liberal perspective, so you won't have to write a follow-up comparing him to Alger Hiss or Jane Fonda or something.
c) There is no c). Did that just blow your mind?
- boneill
May 29, 2008 at 1:21am
I disagree. Parties change, evolve, grow and shift their priorities from one election cycle to the next. But they also maintain core values that one can believe in and admire, even when the folks at the top have abandoned them. Walking away from a family tradition and history, as thejauntyboulevardier points out, is not an easy thing if you remember what the party once stood for and could, conceivably, again if it undergoes a period of self examination that a string of losses could provoke.
- BHLnyc
May 29, 2008 at 8:09am
Apparently Jamie can judge a book by its cover.
- Barnacle
May 29, 2008 at 11:18am
I am with cookie and bone on this one.
My understanding is that Chafee was a decent guy who tried to offer something of an independent voice in the Republican party, but from that he has "an astonishing lack of self-awareness." Arrogant presumption coupled with sneering snarkiness: gotta be a Kirchick post.
I voted for Christie Todd Whitman twice. She was a successful governor of New Jersey, who is fairly similar in political orientation as Chafee was. Shall we condemn her as well?
- blackton
May 29, 2008 at 3:01pm