Part of me says that one conventional liberal endorsing another isn't really news. Still, given the history involved, the Chafee endorsement of Barack Obama for President is a legitimate news blip, if only for a brief moment.
At yesterday's John McCain rally in Warwick, Tom Shevlin of Rhode Island Report, MTV & the AP captured a few reactions (former Chafee camapaign manager Ian Lang, current RI GOP chairman Gio Cicione, former Congressional candidate and Republican activist Jon Scott) to the endorsement announcement…
Just one little question:
Would you ever trust Lincoln Chafee?
Posted by: Mike Cappelli at February 15, 2008 2:52 PMJohn Chafee would be appalled at his son (?) Lincoln's behavior. Linc Chafee endorsing Obama is fine. Linc Chafee intentionally endorsing Obama on the very day Sen. John McCain was to visit Rhode Island is a slap in the face to McCain and downright boorish behavior. Lincoln Chafee is such an ungrateful and selfish jerk his own father would be highly embarrassed by his behavior. John McCain came to Rhode Island to fundraise for Linc Chafee in the past. This is the thanks McCain gets? A purposefully timed knife in the back from Chafee? Linc could not have shown McCain even an ounce of respect and waited a day to endorse Obama? What a grade A ungrateful jerk Linc Chafee is. Makes one nauseous!
Posted by: Tim at February 15, 2008 5:59 PMI hate to say I told you so but ........I told you so. All you Chafee "Republicans" who supported this charlatan and milquetoast, I hope you now realize that you can't take the easy way out all the time. Stop sticking with the ninnies in this state who have no foundation of what it means to be a Republican, and start building the party on what Republicans stand for. Or, ......just leave and join the O'Bama bandwagon.
Posted by: Jackson at February 15, 2008 9:03 PM Given that Chafee has left the party (or was banished), why the vociferous reaction?
It reminds me of the betrayal Red Sox fans feel toward Roger Clemens. What betrayal? Clemens was run out of town by the powers that be (with help from the press). He left Boston because he was no longer wanted.
Chafee or Clemens didn't betray anybody.
Banished? How do you figure rhody? For years Sen. Chafee irked Republicans by often going against his party leadership, and even publicly announcing he wouldn't vote for President Bush. Yet when he chose to run for re-election, Republicans rallied around him, including the state leadership, the national party, and his senate colleagues.
Ian Lang was right when he said the McCain represents the GOP Chafee has longed for.
Red Sox nation didn't feel betrayed until Clemens joined the Evil Empire. It's one thing to leave; quite another to pull a Benedict Arnold. Chafee didn't just ignore those who supported him; he hoisted the enemy flag with a smile on his face.
He deserves the scorn.
Posted by: mikeinRI at February 15, 2008 10:31 PM>>Given that Chafee has left the party (or was banished), why the vociferous reaction?
Personally I don't care that he endorsed Obama.
What I find noxious was Chafee choosing to announce on the very day that McCain was visiting RI ... this the same man who two years before came here twice to help Chafee.
If Chafee had any decency he would have at least waited until after McCain had his day in RI.
As a conservative I despise McCain, and won't support him in November, but he didn't deserve this treatment at the hands of Chafee.
This incident just goes to show that Lincoln Chafee is a petulant piece of sh**!
Obama can have him.
Posted by: Tom W at February 15, 2008 11:40 PMHi!
I like Linc personally and he at times should have been given more latitude perhaps when he was in the GOP but his handling of this was bad form.
I am a Huckabee delegate candidate in our 2ND Congressional District but John McCain did big favors in 2006 for Lincoln Chafee including one appearance at Mount Hope High School in Bristol I attended. (I voted for Laffey in GOP primary and Chafee in the General in 2006),.
Linc should have waited to some other time. His actions were certainly could have been delayed. His wife I believe is still a registered Republican? Linc perhaps should have given McCain the courtesy of a call before he did it?
Of course my favorite story on the GOP delegate race is Patricia Morgan previous state GOP Chair. She filed as a Giuliani delegate candidate but when he withdrew tried to get on the McCain delegate list. She was denied. Now she is forced to run as an uncommitted delegate candidate in the March 4Th Primary. Talk about "what goes around, comes around!"
Regards,
Scott