Rhode Island Voters: Retire Lincoln Chafee
Respected child psychiatrist Robert Coles once noted that “Abraham Lincoln did not go to Gettysburg having commissioned a poll to find out what would sell in Gettysburg. There were no people with percentages for him, cautioning him about this group or that group or what they found in exit polls a year earlier. When will we have the courage of Lincoln?”There is a candidate seeking office in one of the nation’s key primary election contests on Tuesday who has proven his unyielding courage to take on the polls, challenge the status quo, and place his name before the people for consideration in a race that was branded as impossible. His name is Steve Laffey, mayor of Cranston, Rhode Island.
Many thought that Laffey was off his political rocker when he announced his intention to challenge the Rhode Island political establishment and United States Senator Lincoln Chafee in the September 12th primary election. However, courage is often rewarded, and recent polls have suggested that Laffey may win one of the biggest upsets in recent political history.
As a United States Senator, Lincoln Chafee has been less than stellar. Chafee prides himself on being “independent” of party and principled to the hilt. A more adequate way to describe his tenure in the Senate is to call him what he is—a big government, tax and spend, pork barrel loving incumbent. Chafee’s record is not about principle. It is all about politics.
If Senator Chafee valued principle over politics, he would have taken a stand against the horribly mislabeled “Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act” in 2002—known also as the McCain-Feingold Bill. If Chafee was a principled pol, he would not have voted repeatedly against cutting taxes on hardworking Americans, nor would he have voted against much needed spending cuts in March 2005.
Where was the “principled” Lincoln Chafee when Ted Kennedy, George W. Bush, John Kerry, John McCain, and the rest of those who seek to make policy for the benefit of lawless illegal aliens rather than for the protection of diligent Americans, held a vote on amnesty in May 2006? Chafee was standing proudly with them, voting to grant protection to those who have broken into our nation to profit from our kindness, raise our taxes, increase our social spending, and alter our culture.
Chafee has consistently stood in the way of income tax cuts to help relieve government’s burden on working families. He has been an avid proponent of pork barrel spending and a roadblock for deficit reduction. He has voted in favor of the ridiculous practice of allowing liability suits against gun manufacturers, opposed the confirmation of the gifted Judge Samuel Alito to the Supreme Court, and in 2000 supported the “hate crimes” bill. Ironically, Chafee now opposes the death penalty for the man who ordered the most heinous hate crime: Osama bin Laden.
He was also a key vote in the passage of President Bush’s Medicare prescription drug bill—Medicare Part D—described by Bruce Bartlett, author of Imposter as the “worst legislation in history,” which will cost the people of this nation $10.8 trillion over 75 years. The Gun Owners of America gave him a 0% rating for 2003, 2004, and 2005; while Americans for Democratic Action handed Chafee a nifty 75% rating in 2005. Add this in with his 100% rating from the extremist NARAL in 2004 and his similar 90% in 2003, and you have a case study of a senator who needs to be retired by the voters.
Chafee has been endorsed in this election by McCain, NARAL, the Republican National Committee, and the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee. Independent he is not.
Steve Laffey, on the other hand, is a candidate with a fierce independent streak and immense political courage. He has promised to vote for income tax cuts, debt reduction, and cuts in pork spending. Laffey has interestingly called for the resignation of Secretary Rumsfeld, and has pledged to fight big drug and oil companies which exert excessive influence in Washington. Laffey also details his plans for energy independence and renewable energy in great depth on his campaign web page.
Laffey offers Rhode Island voters who are tired of Chafee’s lackluster leadership a five step plan for America: eliminate pork spending, end corporate welfare, stop the raiding of the Social Security trust fund, reduce prescription drug costs, and simplify the nation’s daunting tax code.
Robert Coles asked us to have the courage of Lincoln. This goes for our politicians as well. Unfortunately, Rhode Island’s “Lincoln” is not cut from Abe’s cloth. Voters in the Ocean State should make the educated, reform-minded pick on Tuesday: Mayor Laffey for U.S. Senate.
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