RINO finally admits to being a closet Democrat

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Independent RI Gov. Chafee, ex-GOP, to become Dem

NARRAGANSETT, R.I. (AP) — Independent Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee is joining the Democratic Party ahead of his 2014 bid for a second term, his spokeswoman said Wednesday, confirming a move that Chafee has been talking about for months as a way to better position himself for re-election.

The governor, a former Republican senator, became a political independent in 2007, the year after he lost re-election to the U.S. Senate. He was elected as the nation's only independent governor in 2010.

Chafee has noted in the past that he shares many positions with Democrats and that joining the party would help with fundraising. He is a supporter of President Barack Obama, who he endorsed ahead of the Democratic primary in 2008, and he spoke at last year's Democratic National Convention.

Former longtime Democratic Congressman Patrick Kennedy told The Associated Press that the move makes sense for Chafee given his political views, including his support for Obama's health care overhaul and his longtime support for same-sex marriage, which he recently signed into law in Rhode Island.

"He has been very progressive in those ways and I think he'll find a lot of people embracing him," Kennedy said, adding, "It's not like he's becoming a Democrat for political expediency alone. He's been consistent."

The decision was also consistent with the relationship between Chafee and Obama. The two men briefly served together in the U.S. Senate and in 2008 Chafee endorsed Obama for president over his onetime political ally, Republican Sen. John McCain. When Chafee ran for governor in 2010, Obama declined to endorse the Democrat in the race out of consideration for Chafee. Chafee was a co-chairman of Obama's 2012 campaign, and spoke at the 2012 party convention, where he said he felt welcome.

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/news-politics/20130529/US--Chafee-Democratic.Party/

Edited May 30, 2013 by The Patriot

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

It's not politicians running away from the Republican Party, it is the Republican Party running away from many of its leaders. Ran across the below column today that speaks to that very point. And it is spot on.

The incredible shrinking Republican policy ground

Over the last few years, Republicans have been retreating from policy ground they once held and salting the earth after them. This has coincided with, and perhaps even been driven by, the Democratic Party pushing into policy positions they once rejected as overly conservative. The result is that the range of policies you can hold and still be a Republican is much narrower than it was in, say, 2005. That's left a lot of once-Republican wonks without an obvious political home.

Health care is the most obvious example. The basic architecture of the Affordable Care Act is, as has been pointed out ad nauseam, a Republican idea. It was first proposed in a 1993 plan that had 20 Senate Republicans as co-sponsors. It was passed and implemented by then-Gov. Mitt Romney in Massachusetts. It was supported by Newt Gingrich. Through much of this time, Democrats viewed it with skepticism: They wanted something closer to single payer. But key Democrats dropped those objections in order to actually pass health reform.

Republicans could've pocketed the Democratic concession as a win. They could've celebrated the triumph of their ideas and the Democratic abandonment of single payer. They could've used the Affordable Care Act as a vehicle to push some of their other health policy initiatives, like medical malpractice reform, capping the employer tax exclusion and spreading health savings accounts.

Instead, they abandoned every idea even vaguely related to the Affordable Care Act. In fact, they pretty much abandoned all ideas related to universal coverage, or even big expansions of coverage. They decided some of them were downright unconstitutional. Today, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor , R-Va., can't even get high-risk pools past his members. The health policy space on the right is radically narrower than it was a decade ago.

Health care isn't the only example. There was a time when Republicans were leading the way on ideas to fight climate change. The first cap-and-trade bill to reduce carbon emissions was introduced into the Senate by John McCain, R-Ariz. The McCain-Palin ticket included a cap-and-trade plank.

There's no serious support in today's Republican Party for doing anything about climate change. Today's Republican Party doesn't want a cap-and-trade plan or a carbon tax or even money for renewable energy research. Whereas a decade ago a policy wonk who worried about the future of Earth could comfortably fit in the GOP, today anyone who wants to do anything serious about climate change has been written out of the party.

It doesn't end with health care and climate change. In 2008, President George W. Bush pushed for and signed the Economic Stimulus Act. In 2009, there were a variety of Republican stimulus plans. Back then, Republicans could believe in deficit-financed stimulus during an economic downturn. Today, that would get you driven out of the party as a Keynesian spy.

And the GOP's intense commitment to the antitax pledge is a real problem for policy wonks with even a passing understanding of what's driving deficits. In my experience, most Republican policy types will tell you, behind closed doors, that the anti-tax dogma is strategic and the Republican Party is just smartly negotiating for the most possible entitlement cuts. They know the taxes are needed eventually. This requires basically believing every elected official in the Republican Party is a liar.

As the Republican Party's range of acceptable policies has narrowed, the Democratic Party's range has expanded. Stimulus based entirely on tax cuts? It's not their preference, but they'll take it. Market-based approaches to environmental regulation? Sure, why not? Capping the employer-based exclusion for health care? Of course. Hundreds of billions of dollars in entitlement cuts to help reduce the deficit? Uh-huh.

Imagine a policy spectrum that goes from 1 to 10 in which 1 is the most liberal policy, 10 is the most conservative policy and 5 is that middle zone that used to hold moderate Democrats and Republicans. The basic shape of American politics today is that the Obama administration can and will get Democrats to agree to anything ranging from 1 to 7.5 and Republicans will reject anything that's not an 8, 9 or 10. The result, as I've written before, is that President Barack Obama's record makes him look like a moderate Republican from the late 1990s.

This, by the way, is why I'm down on the terms "liberal" and "conservative" or "left" and "right" in today's Washington. Too often the terms are used as shorthand for "person who mostly agrees with Democrats" and "person who mostly agrees with Republicans." If Gingrich or Romney in 2005 could be counted as a liberal today, something has gone wrong with the way we're labeling the political spectrum.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Mr. Big Dog

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I love it when hardcore liberals try to Monday morning quarterback the Republican party. That would be like me telling the Germans how to get that formaldehyde taste out of their beer.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

I love it when hardcore liberals try to Monday morning quarterback the Republican party. That would be like me telling the Germans how to get that formaldehyde taste out of their beer.

First, there's no formaldehyde in German beer. Water, Barley, Hops and Yeast is all that goes into the brew. Anything else and it is not beer by German standards.

As to the criticism of the column, what specific part is the author wrong about? He's not actually quarterbacking the Republican Party, he is merely pointing out that the Republican Party has given up just about all of it's policy ground to the Democrats. Without a fight. They have nothing left, really. And this is why you see Republican politicians change parties. The politicians still hold the same positions they have held before. Those are just no longer welcome in the Republican Party but are welcome in the much larger tent of the Democratic Party.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

First, there's no formaldehyde in German beer. Water, Barley, Hops and Yeast is all that goes into the brew. Anything else and it is not beer by German standards.

Really?

Donhauser and co-workers9 examined beers from Europe, using a HPLC method, and showed that 65% of them contained detectable formaldehyde, although in many the level was close to the detection limit of 0.2 mg/L. (Donhauser, S., Glas, K. and Walla, G., Detection of formaldehyde in beer. Monatsschrift für Brauwissenschaft, 1986, 39(10), 364368.)

Edited May 30, 2013 by The Patriot

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Really?

Donhauser and co-workers9 examined beers from Europe, using a HPLC method, and showed that 65% of them contained detectable formaldehyde, although in many the level was close to the detection limit of 0.2 mg/L.

Ya, really. Europe > Germany.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Ya, really. Europe > Germany.

You say that now.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

You say that now.

I always said that because that's how it is.

Edited May 30, 2013 by Mr. Big Dog

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

Those are just no longer welcome in the Republican Party but are welcome in the much larger tent of the Democratic Party.

The fickle expediency of the mushy middle. Remember how many Democrats jumped ship in 1995?

I found the need to register as a Democrat, at about the same time, just to keep the hounds at bay. I haven't changed my registration back, as there are no serious Republican contenders to speak of in this region, so the Democratic primary is the real battleground for hearts and minds.

Too bad folks like Spector and others that tried to catch the Obama tide soon found themselves stranded in the next election cycle.

In Chafee's case, this could be a smart move, although the local Democrats have already disowned him and will not welcome Chafee with open arms.

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

I always said that because that's how it is.

Yes, but I cannot think of one French beer, and the beers from the British Isles do not taste like formaldehyde. I do have a critical palate.

[GandD 5,966]

It's not politicians running away from the Republican Party, it is the Republican Party running away from many of its leaders. Ran across the below column today that speaks to that very point. And it is spot on.

Fwiw I agree. I don't see why one has to be super Christian to be republican.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

They need to come up with a name for Republicans who actually support their party's platform prior to Ayn Rand and her cultists takeover of the party.

[Karee 4,190]

Fwiw I agree. I don't see why one has to be super Christian to be republican.

It didn't used to be that way. The religious nuts took it over.

[Gary and Alla 3,694]

I always knew he was a Democrat. He supports gun control.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Yes, but I cannot think of one French beer, and the beers from the British Isles do not taste like formaldehyde. I do have a critical palate.