'Blame Chafee'
From National Journal's Hotline ($):
Conservative bloggers had a uniform reaction to a New York Times 7/23 article cataloguing NRSC financial woes. Matt Lewis at Human Events Online: "But, if there is any room for criticism of the NRSC -- and Senator Dole's leadership -- it lies in their unwavering support of liberal Republicans, such as Lincoln Chafee. Granted, it may be part of the NRSC's charter to support all Republicans, but to what degree they support these candidates is a matter of discretion." Hugh Hewitt agrees: "The New York Times wants you to believe that its Senator Dole's fault that the NRSC is far below its fund-raising goals. Two words: Lincoln Chafee."
Hewitt goes on to differentiate his criticism of Chafee and the CT SEN race: "Facile comparisons with the lefty netroots campaign to unseat Joe Lieberman ignore the Connecticut senator's long term status as reliable Democratic vote, standard bearer in '00, and spokesman for core Democratic values. He's being purged because of a single issue. Chafee, by contrast, does not stand with the GOP on any crucial issue except on the issue of organizing the chamber, and if his vote ever became critical to that exercise, at a minimum the GOP would be under threat of a Jeffords jump at any time.
