Homestead

Meanwhile, back in my native voting district...

A letter to the editor in the ProJo slaps down Sheldon Whitehouse, Lincoln Chafee's opponent:

Hopefully no amount of saccharine advertising will be able to fool those of us who remember Mr. Whitehouse's disastrous years as a public servant who frequently forgot about the public good. Rhode Island deserves better than a candidate for U.S. Senate that is running as little more than the letter "D."

Well, damn. The guy who wrote this letter is clearly down on the Democratic party, but the sentiment remains the same. In the "key issues" section of Whitehouse's website, Whitehouse makes the argument that bipartisanship is nonexistent in Washington.

Voters have a right to be angry. Washington has lost its way--– consumed in controversy and corruption. Bipartisan cooperation is almost non-existent. Spending is out of control and politicians have the wrong priorities.

While Whitehouse's campaign seems to be based primarily on calling Chafee a good-old-boy and Bush's butt-boy and OMG REPUBLICANS ARE TEH EVIL!!11! If anything, Chafee's campaign being backed so thoroughly by big Republican money shows how desperate the Republicans are to cling to any semblance of power in the senate. People are fed up with the war, shitty health care, shitty foreign policy. And while I do think these issues stem in large part from a lack of bipartisan effort, I don't think Lincoln Chafee is the problem. I like that Chafee follows his instinct and doesn't always vote the party line. I'm sure we don't always agree, but I'd like to keep as many pro-choice, pro-gay-rights, anti-tax-cut, anti-war Republicans in the party as possible.