Rockefeller Republicans vs. Right Wing Group Think Republicans
Eyal Press at The Nation wrote an interesting article in the March edition about Lincoln Chafee's new book, "Against the Tide: How a Compliant Congress Empowered a Reckless President". When I was in the trenches for the Republicans starting with the presidential race of 1988 and ending with McCain's race in 2000, the idea of Rockefeller Republicans kept me sane in the face of the far right wing but as Bush 2.0 changed the rules (and the law for that matter) to make the far right wing the norm and not the exception (compassionate conservative was just a campaign slogan) no wonder a pragmatic Senator like Chafee has since changed his affiliation from Republican to Independent (or PURPLE, if you will).
Here's a telling paragraph of the article from Press:
"...That none of this was acceptable to the guardians of political correctness on the right reminds us that the key litmus test during the Bush era was not loyalty to conservative principles; it was loyalty to the White House. Chafee's book makes this clear. For as he takes pains to emphasize, he opposed the Iraq War not because he is a liberal pacifist but because he concluded that launching a messianic war on the basis of flimsy evidence would undermine stability in a volatile part of the world, a position many conservative realists shared. He voted against Bush's tax cuts not because he is a left-leaning populist but because "deep down, the fiscal conservative in me said no." Chafee found the Administration's suspension of habeas corpus and violation of the Fourth Amendment ban on unwarranted wiretapping alarming--but aren't conservatives supposed to be suspicious of big government? He opposed amending the Constitution to prevent states from passing laws on gay marriage--but isn't this the natural position for supporters of states' rights? He was wary of entrusting politicians to make intimate decisions for women rather than allowing women to make those decisions themselves--but is that a liberal or a conservative view?"
Here's a telling paragraph of the article from Press:
"...That none of this was acceptable to the guardians of political correctness on the right reminds us that the key litmus test during the Bush era was not loyalty to conservative principles; it was loyalty to the White House. Chafee's book makes this clear. For as he takes pains to emphasize, he opposed the Iraq War not because he is a liberal pacifist but because he concluded that launching a messianic war on the basis of flimsy evidence would undermine stability in a volatile part of the world, a position many conservative realists shared. He voted against Bush's tax cuts not because he is a left-leaning populist but because "deep down, the fiscal conservative in me said no." Chafee found the Administration's suspension of habeas corpus and violation of the Fourth Amendment ban on unwarranted wiretapping alarming--but aren't conservatives supposed to be suspicious of big government? He opposed amending the Constitution to prevent states from passing laws on gay marriage--but isn't this the natural position for supporters of states' rights? He was wary of entrusting politicians to make intimate decisions for women rather than allowing women to make those decisions themselves--but is that a liberal or a conservative view?"
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