Lincoln Chafee, working out his post-election blues, wonders whether he'll stay a Republican or not.
Lincoln, it really is a Big Tent party, we welcome all sorts of people, but maybe someone should make clear to you that we don't need you now. You see, when you held a Senatorial seat, you controlled something that was of value to us, and if you had decided to change parties when yours was taken over by radical authoritarian right-wingers, it would have helped us tremendously, and been a boon to the country as well. But, no, instead you decided to stay on with the Republicans, obstensibly so that you could continue to bring pork into your state (never mind that the fact that you wouldn't be able to bring home the bacon as Democrat was a sign of how corrupt and malign the Republican governance of the Senate was), and became a figure without influence in a Congress dominated by neanderthals from your party. You made a stupid, short-sighted choice, despite my practically begging you to come over from the Dark Side (and here, and here, and here, and here), and you lost your seat because of it.
So, if you should decide to join us now, we welcome you, but don't expect to be anything important -- maybe you can run errands or get coffee or something, as you start the long hard slog back up the hierarchy.
P.S. Note to Harry Reid: Given what happened to Chafee, and noting that Susan Collins of Maine is up for re-election in 2008, would it not be a good idea, now that we have something to offer her, to go to work on her to get her to crossover? Wouldn't that be cheaper than mounting an expensive campaign to beat her?
But it's gotta be done soon to give people time to get used to the change.
06/09/2014
