Gee, Linc. Whine much? What an embarassment.

The Republicans should caucus to remove Chafee from the Foreign Relations committee to get Bolton to the Senate for a vote. Bolton has proven to be highly deserving of the position he currently holds - far more than can be said of Chafee.

And Anthony thought this jerk would be good to keep in for another six years. I wonder how many other things he would take hostage if we had re-elected him...

A more famous Republican had to endure this whole scenario 50 years ago.
Linc didn't leave the GOP. The GOP left him.

It occurs to me that I really ought to thank Steve Laffey. He is the man most responsible for turning the Senate over to the Dems. Without that bruising primary, he may well have beaten Whitehouse.

So let's hear three cheers for our buddy Steve!

"I tried my best to betray the principles of the Republican Party, and trip up the president at every turn, and all I got was this lousy t-shirt," kind of somes up outgoing Sen. Chafee's remarks. Very "unsenatorial."

I don't think it much matters which party is in control, when things are this close, because the truth is, neither of them control things completely. In the Senate, you basically need 60 votes for anything substantive, and there's always the threat of a veto of something very bad. The worst that will happen is gridlock, which isn't always a bad thing. It might mean less pork barrel spending, too.

You're assigning an awful lot of power to Mayor Laffey, aren't you? What makes you think Chafee wouldn't have been trounced anyway? I thank Mayor Laffey immensely for running. He challenged the status quo, which needed to be challenged. I think Chafee would have lost in either event, so it doesn't bother me one iota. If anything, we were saved from 6 more years of Chafee holding the Republican Party -- both state and national -- hostage. It will be better for us as a party in the long term.

>>It occurs to me that I really ought to thank Steve Laffey. He is the man most responsible for turning the Senate over to the Dems. Without that bruising primary, he may well have beaten Whitehouse. So let's hear three cheers for our buddy Steve!

Let's see, Linc Chafee - by soliciting DEMOCRATS to nullify Republican votes in a Republican primary - cost Steve Laffey the nomination.

We then would have had a substantive debate on issues between Sheldon Whitehouse and Steve Laffey - who could have distanced himself from the anti-Republican mood because he hasn't been part of the DC establishment.

And judging by Whitehouse's pantomine performances, Laffey would have cleaned his clock in debates.

Instead, we got a "who hates Bush more" contest between Whitehouse and Chafee, along with some "vote for me because of my name" solicitations from Chafee (and some last minute, should have been used sooner questioning of Whitehouse's undistinguished "go along to get along" with the corrupt RI Democratic Party record).

Chafee could never win a "who hates Bush more" contest against an OFFICIAL Democrat. He allowed himself into being maneuvered into competing on Whitehouse's turf.

Laffey didn't cost Chafee the election. (Moreover, if Chafee hadn't taken such public delight in sticking his thumb into Republicans' and conservatives' eyes for six years, perhaps he never would have faced a primary challenge.)

Chafee cost himself the election, for a whole bunch of reasons.

Good riddance.

As Will said, Chafee's loss is the Republican Party's long-term win.

Steve Laffey is the ultimate embodiment of the phrase "be careful what you wish for."

At least now when I am frustrated by the left leaning Senate, I will know that my Senator is acting like the party hack he is.