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Friday, May 13, 2005

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Lincoln's Been Thinkin'

Mike Crowley at The New Republic puts Lincoln Chafee's dilemma in context:

These days, Chafee's life is one heavy load after another. Arguably Washington's chief Republican heretic, Chafee was alone among Senate Republicans in opposing the Iraq war resolution and one of two against the 2001 Bush tax cuts; last month, he joined two other Republican moderates in voting against his party's annual budget resolution. But lately, he's been trying to make some amends with the party he has spent the past few years needling. That's because Chafee faces a rough reelection campaign next year. And he understands that, without the help of the very Republicans he infuriates, he could be toast.

The only problem is, Rhode Island Republicans aren't as conservative as the Republican base, and Chafee has also won in a blue state because he's been moderate enough to win Democratic and independent votes. If you're looking for incumbent senators who'll get voted out, I think he's high on the list. The Bolton vote won't be a campaign issue, but a pattern of placating his own party could be.

Crowley identifies

an understanding among Democrats that their road back to a Senate majority probably requires them to take on Republican moderates about whom they feel a reservoir of goodwill. Just as the GOP has steadily knocked off conservative Southern Democrats, even those willing to work with them on occasion, Democratic strategists say they must do the same.

All of which is to say that realignment could be continuing. For years we saw states that went GOP in presidential elections still reelecting popular Democratic senators, and vice-versa. As the parties become more ideologically uniform, that may be coming to an end.

posted by on 05.13.05 at 11:59 AM

Comments:

Why is it you can not flip people like Chafee? As his father is a former Senator and decorated Marine is he not more useful that way?

posted by: Robert M on 05.13.05 at 11:59 AM [permalink]

The Bolton vote won't be a campaign issue, but a pattern of placating his own party could be.

...wait a sec, you're saying the problem is that he won an election in Rhode Island as a Republican, and the voters are going to be unhappy that he's actually voting like a Republican?

What were the voters in Rhode Island expecting him to do? If they really wanted someone who was going to vote like a Democrat, why did they vote for a Republican?

posted by: rosignol on 05.13.05 at 11:59 AM [permalink]

David, I just read your piece in the NY Times. I have to agree with you that you are not cut out to be a blogger.

The problem is not so much the fervor of your commentors as in that you seem to have a bad case of rabbit ears combinded with a talent for a punchy simile. Comparing the Bush Administration with a Soviet-era military parage was provocative, as were any number of your other comments.

So be it. Nothing wrong with that. But there is also is nothing wrong with readers firing back - that is a basic assumption of the blogosphere. Except that you take it personally. It's obvious from the Time's piece that you can't let it run off your back.

So stick to Slate is my advice. You're obviously not the person Dan Drezner is. You're wife on the other hand shows lots of ability....

posted by: Don on 05.13.05 at 11:59 AM [permalink]

I too read your NYtimes article after which I posted an entry on my blog entitled, "no, no, blogs are for fun." The point is, you don't have to blog well to have one, according to Technorati, nearly 15,000 new blogs are created daily...

posted by: theGK on 05.13.05 at 11:59 AM [permalink]

(quotes from http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/15/weekinreview/15word.html)

How hard could blogging be? You roll out of bed, turn on your computer, scan the headlines, think up some clever analysis while brushing your teeth, type it onto your site and you're off.

Oh, dear. You really had no idea what you were getting into...

Serious bloggers, I realized, aggressively report a pet issue, updating their sites throughout the day.

That, for me, is the main appeal of blogs: expert commentary and discussion with informed people. A quick analysis done in the john is, ah, unlikely to hold my interest...

You need a thick skin.

Yes, you do.

In debates (/arguments) online, people are frequently much less restrained by civility than they are when they are face-to-face than the person they're debating.

You have to decide if the interaction and feedback is worth the insults- and you will get them, sometimes from people you thought agreed with you.

posted by: rosignol on 05.13.05 at 11:59 AM [permalink]

"...wait a sec, you're saying the problem is that he won an election in Rhode Island as a Republican, and the voters are going to be unhappy that he's actually voting like a Republican?"

Lincoln Chafee is a liberal republican. I don't mean he's liberal FOR a republican I mean he's a liberal republican.

"What were the voters in Rhode Island expecting him to do? If they really wanted someone who was going to vote like a Democrat, why did they vote for a Republican?"

His politics, as they relate to the wishes of the people of R.I. are more important than his party identification.

posted by: Dustin Ryan Ridgeway on 05.13.05 at 11:59 AM [permalink]