I am a conservative Republican. While I was very disappointed with the results of the election, I was thrilled to hear that liberal Republican Lincoln Chafee lost. There is truly no difference between him and a Democrat. I did send him an e-mail expressing my delight at his defeat. However, he may well be the deciding factor in not allowing the cnfirmation of John Bolton back to the UN. I am sick about this as Bolton has done a wonderful job.

Any comments, Mark?

Is there a more ungrateful Republican? He probably is primarily responsible for why the NRSC raised so little money this year; who wants to give to the NRSC when the money is going to end up in Chafee's campaign. I'm not one of those people who believe we shouldn't have a tent big enough to include liberal Republicans, but unlike pretty much every other RINO, Chafee hardly ever had a good word to say about his party and never did anything to help fellow Republicans. If he wants to be a Dem now, great. As a private citizen in RI, it won't matter how he votes in that non-swing state.

Hey Matt -

I'm thrilled that Chafee is doing some introspection - maybe he's thinking Jim Jeffords 2000... And we lost both houses so it seems to me that right now if we can purge some of these RINOs and get some strong, conservative leadership, all the inroads made over the last few decades won't be lost.

Allow a little digression here:

I like President Bush and support a lot of his platform - but I've been disappointed since 04. Other than keeping us safe from another terrorist attack (which Dem or Republican should be a priority ) and continuing to fight the war on terror (which Dem or Republican should be a priority as well) and getting Alito and Roberts to the Supreme Court, there seems to be a lot of confusion - arrogance - missed opportunities:

If Rumsfeld was going to walk the plank - shouldn't that have been a year (or two) ago? Maybe Tony Snow should have come on sooner (after 04 election?) The scandals - while nowhere near the clinton magnitude - definitely tarnished that Bush 2000 pledge to run a clean administration (I know Foley was a House Rep - but the republicans helped conceal it).

I was disappointed Tuesday Night and Wednesday morning - but by weeks end - I saw this as an opportunity to learn from our losses and mistakes and hopefully learn from them....

he might as well defect. He's already defecated on GOP enough times.

Lincoln Chafee is leaving us? I'm grieved.