In the Rhode Island GOP primary, Sen. Lincoln Chafee and challenger Steve Laffey had their
second debate on Thursday on the radio.
I have my concerns, as freedc also had after the first debate, about whether or not Laffey's challenge will help or hurt Democrats here. Laffey shows just how right-wing he is in this debate, allowing Chafee to come out looking like a reasonable moderate.
Choice quotes from the debate after the fold.
The biggest flare-up came with embryonic stem cell research, with Laffey taking an almost inhuman stance on it, considering his own father has Alzheimer's.
The two sparred over federal funding for embryonic stem-cell research, which Chafee supports and Laffey opposes.
Laffey favors more federal money for research on adult stem cells, which are gathered from bone marrow without destroying an embryo. The mayor said his position is based on "a business evaluation," not morals.
He said he doubts embryonic stem-cell research will produce cures, though "if facts come up to change my opinion I may change my answer.... I'm just a businessman, I want cures now. My father has Alzheimer's."
Chafee piped in, "All the more reason you should be supporting embryonic stem-cell research -- your father has Alzheimer's."
"But I think adult stem-cell research is the way to go," Laffey said. "That's the bang for the buck."
The discussion led to one of the iciest exchanges. Chafee, who is pro-choice on abortion, accused Laffey of making a "political" decision on stem cells "because the pro-life community is helping him in the primary."
"Go ahead and say how," Laffey challenged.
But Chafee continued: "And when you say I might change my position if further scientific research comes out, I'm thinking, yeah, after the primary."
Yorke tried to move the conversation. But Laffey said: "No, no, no, we have to stop this. He has no evidence for what he says and it's quite frankly embarrassing to see a U.S. senator time and time [again] not have the evidence to support his thoughts."
After the debate, Chafee said he has heard anecdotal evidence that abortion opponents have been supporting Laffey.
Mm... that's not exactly a very strong case, that he "heard" anecdotal evidence.
They also differed over illegal immigration.
Chafee got his turn to denounce as "absolutely false" a Laffey claim that he voted "to provide Social Security benefits to illegal aliens."
"No illegal aliens would get benefits," said Chafee, under the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill he supported. Saying he preferred the term immigrants to aliens, he said they would only "get benefits if they paid into them and once they become legal."
But a very interesting point was made by radio show host and debate moderator Dan Yorke.
At one point, Yorke told Chafee he sometimes comes off as "insulted" at having a Republican opponent. With seats such as that held by Democratic U.S. Rep. James Langevin going unchallenged by the GOP, Chafee said he would have "wish[ed] the small Republican Party in Rhode Island could have dissipated our talent around."
And meanwhile, their views on the Iraq war and the Middle East also differ, with Chafee taking almost the DailyKos stance; he did, after all, vote against it. Laffey shows how out of touch he is with Rhode Island residents on the war. However, Laffey has called for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, whereas Chafee hasn't, as far as I can tell.
They differed again on the Iraq war. Chafee voted against it; a vote Laffey has said was wrong. In defending the vote, Chafee said he visited the CIA and asked to see the evidence of Saddam Hussein's weapons programs. "I came out of that meeting unconvinced.... I said, 'This is all you have?' And now we're in a war three years later losing American life after American life on a false premise. There were no weapons of mass destruction."
Laffey called for accelerated training of Iraqi troops, and reiterated his call for Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to resign. "We need new blood in there to set a new direction."
Chafee said Israel's push into southern Lebanon to root out Hezbollah fighters was "not a smart move," which has empowered Hezbollah and flooded TV sets in the Arab world with images that could harm American efforts in Iraq and elsewhere.
Laffey criticized Chafee calling for a cease-fire "before Israel achieved its political goals, which was to make sure they can degrade Hezbollah's ability" to launch attacks.
So. Does this debate hurt Democrats by painting Chafee as a good moderate choice for Rhode Island voters? Does it mainly show just how much of a nutcase Laffey is? If Chafee survives, will he get a post-primary bounce that would vault him above Sheldon Whitehouse in the general? I'm only blogging about this from Los Angeles because nobody has mentioned this yet on DailyKos. I'd like to hear what the Rhode Island Kossacks have to say about this.
Last week, CQ Politics changed their rating of this race from "Leans Republican" to "No Clear Favorite".