BCT Editorial – 10/4/04

This page was last updated on October 4, 2004.

Salutes & Boots; Editorial; Beaver County Times; October 4, 2004.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“Salute: To U.S. Sens. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., Olympia Stowe, R-Maine, and Ernest Hollings, D-S.C., for being the only members of their chamber to vote against the so-called middle-class tax cuts that were approved last week by Congress.

“Chafee summed it up very well when he said, ‘I for one am very reluctant to saddle future generations with the bill for this fiscally ruinous policy.’ This was a real ‘Profiles in Courage’ vote for the two Republicans. (Hollings is retiring this year.) They could have gone along with the crowd but instead chose to stand on principle. That is all too rare these days in the nation’s capital.”

[RWC] “Profiles in Courage?” Nothing like going over the top. Neither Chafee nor Snowe have been big supporters of the Bush tax cuts.

What the “Salute” didn’t say was that Chafee and Snowe are Republicans in name only and are considered perhaps the two most liberal Republicans in the Senate. Yes, even more liberal than Sen. Specter. For example, in the American Conservative Union vote ratings, four of the seven Pennsylvania Democrats in the House of Representatives have a more conservative voting record than Chafee and Snowe. We shouldn’t be surprised. Just as with Democrats, “Republicans” become more liberal as you move toward the northeast. You’ll remember Republican Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont switched to the Democrat party in 2001.