{"id":2574,"date":"2004-09-21T11:05:09","date_gmt":"2004-09-21T16:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/archives\/2574.html"},"modified":"2004-09-21T11:05:09","modified_gmt":"2004-09-21T16:05:09","slug":"one-very-high-profile-undecided-voter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/one-very-high-profile-undecided-voter\/","title":{"rendered":"One very high-profile undecided voter"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve been wondering where all these so-called “undecided” voters are. Apparently, there’s at least one<\/a> in the U.S. Senate.<\/p>\n

Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee said Monday he plans to support his party in November but may write in a candidate instead of voting for President Bush. <\/p>\n

The Rhode Island lawmaker, known for moderate views that often run counter to the Bush administration, said he was going to vote for a member of his party even though he disagrees with the president on many issues.<\/p>\n

“I’m a Republican,” said Chafee, who was appointed to the Senate in November 1999 to fill the seat when his father, John, died.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I wonder if he’s trying to convince the public or himself.<\/p>\n

Apparently the GOP platform didn’t help reinforce Chafee’s already-suspect commitment to his party.<\/p>\n

The Republican said the party’s direction in the future will determine his political career as well. He said he’s “not OK” with the conservative platform from the Republican convention, but would not say if he’d consider switching parties in his next election in 2006.<\/p>\n

“It wasn’t that long ago that moderates had more of a voice,” Chafee said. “It’s a cycle that I hope will come back.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n


\nFor most GOP centrists, the answer to whether they’re considering a party switch is a definitive “no.” For Chafee, it seems to be a “we’ll see.”<\/p>\n

Naturally, I’m delighted; if Chafee is anxious to see moderates have a stronger voice, there’s only one party for him — and it’s not the Republicans.<\/p>\n

Keep in mind, this isn’t just a random complaint from Chafee. During the Democratic National Convention, Chafee offered an unusually blunt assessment<\/a> of Bush’s handling of Iraq, criticizing the president’s “host of mistakes” and agreeing with the Dems’ rank-and-file that the war has made the United States less safe than it was before.<\/p>\n

Moreover, I’d like to remind readers of this gem from a NYT profile on Chafee from March 2003:<\/p>\n

After a while, I asked Chafee if there were any major pieces of Bush’s agenda with which he could wholeheartedly agree. He paused for about 10 seconds, with his hands pressed together prayerfully. <\/p>\n

“It’s difficult,” he said finally. “Because he’s chosen a divisive path, and it is working for the administration. On so many issues, they just pound the wedge in.”<\/p>\n

In other words, I suggested, he has a hard time finding even one point of agreement.<\/p>\n

“Yes, I do,” Chafee answered, looking embarrassed.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Hmm, doesn’t want to vote for Bush, doesn’t agree with the GOP platform, wants moderates to have a stronger role in Congress, resents Bush’s handling of the war, and can’t think of any point of strong agreement with the White House.<\/p>\n

Sounds like a Dem to me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve been wondering where all these so-called “undecided” voters are. Apparently, there’s at least one in the U.S. Senate. Republican Sen. Lincoln Chafee said Monday he plans to support his party in November but may write in a candidate instead of voting for President Bush. The Rhode Island lawmaker, known for moderate views that often […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}