Lincoln Chafee has dropped his Republican party affiliation with what original when Reagan said it, but has now become a tired cliche used by hack politicians to explain their latest flip-flop.

Chafee said he disaffiliated with the party he had helped lead, and his father had led before him, because the national Republican Party has gone too far away from his stance on too many critical issues, from war to economics to the environment.

Which of course begs the question--when was the Republican party anywhere near Lincoln Chafee's positions on anything?

Years ago, a company I was working at had a number of successful successive years, hiring people at a pretty brisk clip. One day the president calls a general meeting to explain that he had fired a whole lot of people. Too many bums had gotten hired in the rush to keep up the demand. It was time to clean house and make a fresh start. He didn't actually say that in so many words, but its what he meant. Someone then asked if this would happen again, to which he answered--yeah, probably.

The Republican tide carried lots of driftwood with it and its not a bad thing that we are getting rid of it.

The interesting thing about Chafee's action is that the only reason to do it is if he still has political ambitions--as a Democrat.

An opportunist to the last.

H/T Flopping Aces