Now that the fight is over, Chafee is ready to take a stand

January 30, 2006

Samuel Alito has the votes to be confirmed; Senate Democrats don’t have the votes to filibuster; and now that the fight is over, Sen. Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) is ready to stand up for his liberal Republican principles.

Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee (R-RI) announced this morning in Providence that he will vote against the nomination of Judge Samuel A. Alito Jr. to the Supreme Court.

In a statement this morning, the Rhode Island senator said he was “greatly concerned” about some of Alito’s philosophies, according to the Providence Journal. Chafee is the first Republican to announce a vote against Alito.

A later report indicated that Chafee described himself as a “pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-Bill of Rights Republican,” who asked, “How are we going to get anything done if we can’t work together?” after noting his opposition to the Dems’ filibuster.

Chafee might have earned a few more Profile-in-Courage points if he’d spoken up before the fight was over. Nevertheless, at this point, both sides get to claim that their side has “bi-partisan support.”

Chaffee is a profile in craveness. End of story. Casper Milquetoast goes to Washington. How did his investigation of the allegations against John Bolton turn out? Sheesh.

  • What a cheap-ass. And what Tuimel said. What he did is as craven as anyone could get. He sold out his pro-choice, pro-environment, pro-Bill Of Rights principles so he could minimize his political risk. He’s willing to vote against Alito, just so long as Alito still passes the Senate. He’s willing to stand up for principle, as long as it isn’t inconvenient.

  • I wouldn’t call it a courageous moment either, but Chafee is taking some risk: to wit, he’s just worsened his chances of making it out of the Republican primary. I guess he thinks he can get registered independents to come in and support him in sufficient numbers to beat the wingnut running against him, and then use the No vote on Alito to hold the center in the general.

    Ethical implications aside, this Republican primary race is going to be a great test of whether their “base” is as strategic as is sometimes asserted. In 2004, Specter very narrowly won his primary a far-right congressman (who’s now head of the Hair Club for Growth), then enjoyed an easy victory in the general election. Of course he had Bush’s people, who knew Snarlin’ Arlen would help him in the presidential that fall, pushing hard, as well as a lot of seniority to draw upon. Will Chafee be able to repeat the trick? If he wins the primary, he’ll be the favorite in November. If it’s the wingnut, the seat is an almost guaranteed pickup for the Democrats.

  • Senator Lincoln Chafee voted for Judge Alito before he voted against him.

    Sound familiar?

  • Could Chafee be any dumber? Or a bigger wuss?

    On the brighter side, at least he should be easier to beat – whether it’s the primary (RI wouldn’t elect a total right-wing loon, would they?) or the general election, when his Democratic opponent will ask: “Senator Chafee, why did you vote for Samuel Alito before you voted against him?”

  • (sorry for the repeat line)

    In other news, NARAL doesn’t seem too bothered by this (from Firedoglake comments). I wonder whether NARAL thinks the blogosphere is as dumb as Chafee thinks his Rhode Island constituents are. Actually, my new suspicion is that Chafee doesn’t *want* to be reelected, so he’s just ignoring everyone because he can.

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