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You are here: Home / Politics / Another One Jumps Ship

Another One Jumps Ship

by | 66 Comments

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Honestly, I thought he had already switched:

Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee has notified senior Democratic Party officials that he intends to switch his party registration and join the Democratic Party, multiple sources familiar with Chafee’s decision told POLITICO.

Chafee, a former GOP senator elected as an independent in 2010, has struggled with low approval ratings. He also faces a difficult reelection fight in 2014.

Welcome aboard.

Reader Interactions

66Comments

  3. 3.

    Corner Stone

    A spokeswoman for the governor’s office declined to comment and a Chafee adviser did not immediately respond to emails and a phone call.

    Sounds like some front running ratfucking to me.

  5. 5.

    NickT

    Well, he’s no Abraham, but then he’s no Blanche either. Welcome aboard, Lincoln.

  6. 6.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Really, wasn’t this eventually in the cards when he left the Confederate States Rights Party to be an “Independent” a few years back?

    He already jumped ship to a lifeboat. He’s just signalling to the Dems that he’s ready to be picked up off the lifeboat.

  8. 8.

    Villago Delenda Est

    OK, Kay, you didn’t want to bigfoot John, I understand that…but assure us your post WILL come back in a bit so we can discuss it!

  10. 10.

    jl

    And given the state of the Democratic Party these days, Chafee doesn’t have to change a thing, other than some marks on a piece of paper. He can go on being a Eisenhower/Rockefeller Republican. Not that there is anything wrong with that.

    Let’s hope the days are over, when, even as a Democrat, he would have to lurch to the right on a regular basis.

    Edit: Didn’t mean to be the party pooper. Welcome to Lincoln. It gives one less excuse for the sane not to call the crazy wreck of the old GOP anything but crazy.

  12. 12.

    Mark S.

    I wonder if this is some Christine O’Donnell situation, i.e. Chafee would have trouble getting out of a gooper primary against some teabagger.

  13. 13.

    qwerty42

    I knew he was an independent now But this is just more of the collapse of the New England Republican establishment. Many go back to the formation of the Party and its anti-slavery roots.

  16. 16.

    Villago Delenda Est

    Apparently, Ian McKellen is marrying Patrick Stewart.

    Sir Ian is being very cute with that. I salute him.

  19. 19.

    Villago Delenda Est

    @qwerty42:

    Many go back to the formation of the Party and its anti-slavery roots.

    Which has a great deal to do with why they’re leaving, as the current base of the GOP doesn’t think slavery was a bad idea at all, especially the race-based slavery of the Confederacy, the country they’re longing to “get back”.

  20. 20.

    Comrade Mary

    Off topic but deeply sad: Henry Morgentaler has died. He survived the Holocaust, came to Canada to practice as a doctor for decades, and fought the Québec, then Federal government for years to overturn the ban on abortion.

    Wiki has as good a summary as anything else out there right now. Rest well, Henry.

  21. 21.

    jl

    Oops, I didn’t know Chafee had turned Independent. a few years ago. thanks to commenters who pointed that out.

    But, still good to see some one with a relatively high profile go all the way over to the other side. Makes a healthy political statement.

  23. 23.

    NickT

    @Mark S.:

    Eh, no harm done – and it’s always good to be reminded of the Non-Witch Non-Senator. Laughter is good for the soul.

  24. 24.

    dr. bloor

    @cathyx: He was far more progressive than the nominal Democratic candidate in the last race, and he’ll be the most progressive in the primary this time around.

    Unfortunately, he’s probably going to get sand kicked in his face by Gina Raimondo, a so-called “centrist” who oozes ambition and whose biggest accomplishment to date is fucking over state pensioners.

  25. 25.

    Corner Stone

    Article indicates he has the potential for a couple of D primary candidates.

  29. 29.

    Belafon (formerly anonevent)

    Hopefully the Democratic party can stay together for two more presidential elections. Seven years is all I ask. After that, the party can briefly change it’s name to Democratic-Republicans before splitting into the Democratic and Republican parties.

  32. 32.

    Gin & Tonic

    @dr. bloor: This. He won’t survive the Democratic primary. This may be a noble gesture, but it’s the end of his political career in RI – which was largely due to Dad’s coattails anyway.

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    I’m a little torn about Chafee. On the one hand, he’s another Blue Dog type of “fiscal conservative” who never saw a corporation he didn’t love. On the other hand, he kicked the Christianists in the balls by insisting that Rhode Island keep to its long tradition of official secularism by continuing to have a “holiday tree” in the capitol rather than a Christmas tree.

  34. 34.

    MattF

    I agree that the real story is the complete collapse of the Republican Party in New England. Gone, baby, gone.

  36. 36.

    ranchandsyrup

    @Corner Stone: If I were part of the Schilling clan, I’d push him to take a step up in his grifting game. Tour with Meatloaf, Dennis Miller and Hank Williams Jr. Get his own Fox show, etc. Wait until he’s liquid to check the insurance riders.

  38. 38.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mnemosyne: I’m a little torn about Chafee. On the one hand, he’s another Blue Dog type of “fiscal conservative”

    IIRC, he opposed the Bush tax cuts, both rounds, which makes him more of a 1950s fiscal conservative. In any case, I’d be surprised if he ever holds a higher office than the one he’s got now. Given his approval ratings, I wonder if the desire for a party infrastructure ins’t part of his reasoning here.

    ETA: the one that really galls me is Olympia Snowe, who, after ten plus years of adulation as the Queen of the Moderates while rubber stamping virtually all the Bush-Cheney and then McConnell filibuster agenda, effectively runs away, feeds the MSM bullshit narrative about Obama “not reaching out”, contradicts herself two weeks later to the notice of no one, and now says the monster she helped create must be stopped.

  39. 39.

    Turgidson

    Linc always seemed like a decent guy. But it would have been nice if he hadn’t chosen a moment where his popularity as governor is slightly lower than herpes to officially make the switch.

  41. 41.

    MattR

    @Belafon (formerly anonevent):

    Hopefully the Democratic party can stay together for two more presidential elections. Seven years is all I ask. After that, the party can briefly change it’s name to Democratic-Republicans before splitting into the Democratic and Republican parties.

    Was having this debate at a Memorial Day BBQ. If the Dems win in 2016, will we ever see another Republican win the presidency? I lean towards no.

  42. 42.

    dr. bloor

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    I’d be surprised if he ever holds a higher office than the one he’s got now.

    He’s already been a senator and he’s the sitting governor. You’d have a lot of company putting him at long odds for the Presidency.

    He’d be a pretty good Secretary of the Interior, though.

  43. 43.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @ranchandsyrup:

    Wait until he’s liquid to check the insurance riders.

    I wouldn’t mind if all Republicans were reduced to a liquid. Sure, long term storage would be a problem but I’m positive we can solve it.

  44. 44.

    raven

    Guess I should have stayed for my unit recognition ceremony in RI. They did send me a certificate and even promoted me, something the Army rarely did!

  46. 46.

    dr. bloor

    @MattR:

    Was having this debate at a Memorial Day BBQ. If the Dems win in 2016, will we ever see another Republican win the presidency? I lean towards no.

    As the kids say, LOL. Was there any rational reason to put a Republican in the WH after Clinton’s second term? The demographics will change, but never underestimate the public’s ability to slit its own throat.

  48. 48.

    Caliph Garrett

    I imagine if it were a Dem crossing over to the other side, we’d be bombarded by endless SURRENDER DOROTHY/DOOM ’14 stories from PolitiGOP by now.

  51. 51.

    Gin & Tonic

    @raven: Hey, squid is a huge cash “crop” here in RI. On a cash basis, I think it’s by a significant margin the largest fishery here.

  52. 52.

    SatanicPanic

    @dr. bloor: It will have to be a combination of a really bad Democractic candidate (lots of these) and a bland Republican with name recognition (very few of these). Or the Republicans coming to grips with reality. I don’t see it happening anytime soon.

  54. 54.

    raven

    @Gin & Tonic: I know! The night trip for squid went out but the bad weather blew in and my fluke run was cancelled. I should have stayed since I ate the room, car and blew way too many FF miles but when I got up at 4am and it was still storming I said the hell with it.

  58. 58.

    maya

    So, if Chafee is joining the Democrats would that make it the Party of Lincoln*?

    * That particular Domain name has been unused since Reagan.

  59. 59.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Gin & Tonic:
    “Squid” isn’t (usually) a pejorative for “sailor.” It’s like “grunt;” as long as you’ve been among ’em it’s okay to use it.

  61. 61.

    gocart mozart

    Quick Quiz: Who was the only Republican Senator to vote against the Iraq War?

    Yup. Lincoln Chafee. Fookin’ RINO

  62. 62.

    Higgs Boson's Mate

    @Gin & Tonic:

    No worries. Most military jargon isn’t well known beyond those who use it. It can get fairly arcane. One of my assignments in the Navy had me serving in the field with a unit of Marines. Because the Navy supplies Corpsmen to the USMC our Corpsman was referred to as “the squid” while I was known as “the other squid.”

  64. 64.

    JGabriel

    dr. bloor:

    [Chafee] was far more progressive than the nominal Democratic candidate in the last race, and he’ll be the most progressive in the primary this time around.

    I honestly could never figure out why Chafee was a Republican in the first place — family tradition, I’m guessing.

    Anyway, I’m usually ambivalent about the GOPers who join us, simply because they are typically right-leaning centrists who don’t quite fit my defintion of the “better Democrats” we want to elect.

    Chafee, though, I don’t have much ambivalence about. Welcome to the Sane Party, Lincoln!

    .

  66. 66.

    Lurking Canadian

    @Villago Delenda Est: I read the whole list. I’m convinced it’s a piss-take. Some of the interpretations are so tortured, and so obviously at variance to the lyrics, that I’m convinced the author did the thing as a practical joke. I certainly got half a dozen genuine laughs out of it.

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