Associated Press
When prominent members of Congress are considering retirement, there's nearly always some kind of hint in advance of the announcement. Maybe they stop raising money; perhaps they're slow to put a campaign organization together; maybe key staffers are seen moving to new jobs elsewhere; something.
But with Sen. Olympia Snowe (R) of Maine, all of the evidence pointed in the other direction. Not only were there no hints about a pending departure, the Republican senator gave every indication of seeking another term, even moving considerably to the right.
It's what made Snowe's retirement announcement late yesterday such a stunning surprise.
"As I enter a new chapter, I see a vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us. It is time for change in the way we govern, and I believe there are unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate. I intend to help give voice to my fellow citizens who believe, as I do, that we must return to an era of civility in government driven by a common purpose to fulfill the promise that is unique to America."
There are a few angles to a story like this. First, in terms of the electoral consequences, Snowe's announcement is a brutal setback for Republican plans to retake the Senate majority next year. As Steve Kornacki explained, "With Snowe in it, Democrats had virtually no chance of winning the Maine Senate race this year. Now they are likely to do so, given the state's partisan bent."
Second, I can't help but wonder how much Snowe regrets her shift to the right, taking positions she never would have adopted earlier in her career.
Consider just the last few months. In October, she partnered with a right-wing Alabama senator to push a plan to make the legislative process even more difficult. A week earlier, she demanded the administration act with “urgency” to address the jobs crisis, only to filibuster a popular jobs bill a day later. The week before that, Snowe prioritized tax cuts for millionaires over job creation. Shortly before that, Snowe tried to argue that government spending is “clearly … the problem” when it comes to the nation’s finances, which is a popular line among conservatives, despite being completely wrong.
There can be little doubt that Snowe has been Congress' most moderate Republican for the last several years, but that doesn't change the fact that as her party moved sharply to the right, she moved with it. Indeed, no matter how extreme the GOP became in recent years, Snowe simply kept her head down, going along with the crowd. When David Brooks complains about "Opossum Republicans," he might as well have been referring to the senior senator from Maine.
And third, there's the mystery surrounding what, exactly, led to yesterday's announcement.
Snowe's retirement wasn't just a surprise; it's practically bizarre. After three terms in the Senate, and giving every indication of seeking re-election, Olympia Snowe waited until two weeks before Maine's filing deadline to bow out, and didn't even tell her staff until yesterday afternoon. It all happened so quickly, the senator's office hasn't even posted her announcement online yet.
The news doesn't appear to have been planned at all.
What's more, Snowe's statement is a little cryptic. Instead of the obligatory "spend more time with my family" rhetoric, the senator references "unique opportunities ... outside the United States Senate." What opportunities? She didn't say.
Jon Chait's theory may sound silly, but it's a strange year and ideas that may seem foolish at first blush probably shouldn't be dismissed out of hand.
This sounds exactly like the kind of rhetoric emanating from Americans Elect, the third-party group that believes that both parties should put aside partisanship and come together to enact an ever-so-slightly more conservative version of Barack Obama's agenda. Moderate retiring senators often deliver lofty, vacuous paeans to bipartisanship on their way to a lucrative lobbying career. But Snowe's statement seems unusually specific ("unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate") about her intent to do something.
This strikes me as unlikely, but I guess it's something to keep an eye on.
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On the contrary, Steve. I am guessing that Snowe's late announcement was designed to leave as little time as possible for the GOP to find a strong candidate to replace her on the Maine ballot, organize, raise funds, etc. This gives the Dems the best chance to pick up her seat in Maine, and preserve (or gain stronger) Democratic control of the Senate.
There are not many Republicans that I respect for trying to work across the aisle for the good of the country, but Olympia Snowe is certainly one of them. We can only hope that her seat in the Senate chamber is not filled by an extreme right-wing obstructionist.
I have to agree with you. I may not always have agreed with all of her stances but Olympia Snowe is one of the few republicans in congress that I could "agree to disagree" with civilly! I think her moral sense of decency, fair-play, and humanity could no longer allow her to turn into one of those reich-ous idiots to support tea-potty politics!!
Good for you Ms. Snowe!
Zora:
reich-ous? tea potty?
Are we Glenn Beck, or just two years old?
So sue me, I was having a "GOP tantrum moment", okay......
Too bad for the Republicans! Olympia Snowe's shocking decision to retire is an unmistakable rebuke to the politics and partisanship of the Tea Party, a true blow to the idea that pandering to the extreme right-wing is a viable path forward for the GOP. This almost certainly assures that the Democrats will retain control of the Senate, crushing any hopes for a GOP sweep of Congress and the White House this November. Ordinary Americans that stand with the likes of Snowe in support of a moderate course are disgusted by the tone and venom of the GOP. http://www.sunstateactivist.org
OK, since conservative Republican Senator Olympia Snowe (who is what passes for a moderate or (sane) member of that party, according to MSM) has decided that the inmates have taken too much control of the asylum for her liking, perhaps she will at least attempt to atone for spending the past 4 years waiting for the failure of the USA in silent conformance with her fellow teapublicans. More likely she will follow the path of most recently retired republican "moderates" and privately bemoan the takeover of the party by the radical right wingers, while publicly supporting every piece of their radical agenda.
"As I enter a new chapter, I see a vital need for the political center in order for our democracy to flourish and to find solutions that unite rather than divide us. It is time for change in the way we govern, and I believe there are unique opportunities to build support for that change from outside the United States Senate. I intend to help give voice to my fellow citizens who believe, as I do, that we must return to an era of civility in government driven by a common purpose to fulfill the promise that is unique to America."
As Steve points out in kinder language, she was just another chickensh!t repuke senator who moved further to the reich-wing and was afraid to speak out against the teabaggers.
Good riddance to bad rubbish!
In judging from the language of your post, are indeed a bad-tempered, surly person, making you part of the problem in our society.
I personally was always proud of Senator Snowe and most of her voting record, and am saddened by her departure. We need strong, responsible leadership now more than ever. People who can rise above the party politics and vote for the good of the country. Our nation is in danger of being over run by a group of radicals ! Thus why she had to exit her position and hopefully continue to work in a venue that can positivly influeance our countries well being.
Or else she was a chickensh!t who was afraid to buck the teabaggers while still running for reelection.
In Indiana, I used to have a respectable, moderate republican senator by the name of Dick Lugar. He too is a chickensh!t afraid of the teabaggers and is now running for reelection as being an ultra-reich-wingers!
If there is anything to respect about Snowe, it is that she does not want to continue the pretense of being a wacko to try to get reelected. But that is a big maybe.
I, too, think SadOldVeteran is being too strong in how he says what he says, but I do appreciate his frustration.
I like Sen. Snowe and, mostly, for a specific reason: She was absolutely essential to the saving of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Me / Portsmouth NH (there has wlways been a dispute over which state owns what going back to when Maine was a Province of (gasp!) those horrid Massachusettsmen) from closure duing the last round of B.R.A.C..
Though I do not live there The Navy Yard occupies a very prominent place in my family history (as well as in the history of the U.S. and the Navy) and it is an exremely critical part of the area's economy. In other words, I am personally fond of it.
I am sad to see her departing, but I want her replacement to be a Democrat, because despite my affection for her she always voted the wrong way on the question that really and truly counts: The Organization of the Senate after each biennial election
Next, I highly respect your views, but I am sorry, she crossed to the dark side a couple of years ago and there is little to respect for her once moderate views. She is as rabid as the baggers. As GWB used to say, either you're with 'em or you're agin' 'em. She was not against them in any fashion (as shown in Steve's examples). That places her firmly in crazyland.
Buh bye, Olympia. Your legacy is forever tainted.
At least she left them with no time to scrape together any decent candidate. I'm sure Maine will vote in a Democrat, and I'm sure that was Olympia's idea. She's jumping ship from the Republican Party because it's too late to save it. It's been hijacked. She can stay and TRY to remain a moderate, but I'm sure the party wouldn't appreciate that.
Either she is going to take a significant job with Americans Elect or she has a very serious health problem. My guess is Americans Elect.
Snowe's defining moment for me was the economic stimulus. Republicans wanted to do anything they could to delay improvement, but they couldn't be seen as blocking every effort. Snowe was one of three sacrificial lambs, whose job it was to pretend to compromise, while weakening the stimulus package as much as humanly possible. Republicans then get to vote against it en masse, while claiming how ineffective it is. I don't understand how anyone can hold more respect for her than Joe Lieberman.
good riddance.
I would not have such a beef with the Republican party if they were more moderate and not so easily influenced by the far right.I'm glad to see at least one Republican get tired of the pandering and increasing division.Ultimately I would like to see Democrats ad Republicans working together to get this country back on track instead of a bunch of far left vs far right BS.
Who is this 'far left' and what indications are there that the bulk of the democrats in name only give them any heed? Are they the ones that the Obomination's administration trashed?
Yeah that is a good point SOV. The Democratic Party hasn't moved 'far left.' In fact the Democratic Party has by and large continuously moved to the right. Most Democrats are actual conservatives and the Democratic Party itself, w/ maybe some social issues aside, tends to favor conservative policies over anything else. President Obama is a conservative in his economic policies as well. Conservative now a days is being labeled 'moderate' and moderate is now being labeled 'liberal' and liberal is now being labeled 'socialcommiehippiegay.' The Republican Party has moved to the right progressively ever since Reagan took office. The ideology they pander to is a combination of confederate, libertarian, and reactionary. You could even say fascism w/ the portion of the party so willing to accept these invasive anti-privacy, anti-voting bills, but I will be fair here and leave the 'f' word out of the conversation.....for now.
The only reason why people think that 'the far left' is now represented by Democrats is because Fox News and conservative pundits began using the term far left in retaliation to what other media broadcasters- not even necessarily liberal broadcasters, just other broadcasters in general- had been accurately labeling as the far right. Conservative pundits do this all the time: class-warfare has been an issue liberals have campaigned on and talked about openly for decades. Now suddenly Republicans are trying to take that term away and use it as their own. The middle class were always the concern of modern Democrats until suddenly Reagan came along and then you started hearing Republican rhetoric about how important the middle class was and so on. It is simply the right wing co-opting words that they see as hurting them in an attempt to change their meaning. And unfortunately many, many people are unable to recognize when they've fallen into that trap.
I'm sorry but I really like Olympia Snowe. She is one of the sane ones. She has made some missteps in the last few years but when she made them you always wondered what's up? I think she was definitely 'pushed' by the Republican leadership ALWAYS. She has been a good leader for Maine for years. First in the House, then in the Senate. You can hate her because she is a 'REPUBLICAN' or you can bemoan the fact that the 'leadership' of the GOP has jumped the shark and she is tired of going with them.
Would have been nice if she'd tried to help change that. But she didn't.
Back in 2003, she and her Maine colleague Sen. Collins had a unique opportunity to strengthen the political center of our country. The GOP had retaken the Senate in November 2002, but only barely. A group of centrist Senators that included Snowe and Collins could have called the shots in the U.S. Senate.
Instead, they went along with whatever nonsense their party wanted.
They might well have found themselves with the same opportunity in 2013. Guess she wasn't interested in finding out.
As a so-called moderate, she was simply worthless. Goodbye, Sen. Snowe, and good riddance. Don't let the door hit you on the way out.
Well said! It seems there were so many occasions in the last 3 years when Snowe and Collins would make noises about compromise and bipartisanship, suggesting they might work with the Dems to get something accomplished -- and then back out at the last minute, getting in line behind the latest filibuster. Who needs 'em. From her position in the Senate, Snowe could have at least tried to enact some positive change (as opposed to someone like David Brooks). She had real power and chose not to use it.
That said, she is a human being and I try to cut people some slack in sticky situations ... maybe it took her a while to realize how bad her party has become, but at least she's going out with a big "F--- You G.O.P." It reminds me of those situations where one is underappreciated and underpaid at work, until you give your 2-week notice and suddenly management panics because they don't know who they're going to get to do your job. It's a lovely feeling. Seems like Snowe might be enjoying a bit of that.
I personally was always proud of Senator Snowe and most of her voting record, and am saddened by her departure. We need strong, responsible leadership now more than ever. People who can rise above the party politics and vote for the good of the country. Our nation is in danger of being over run by a group of radicals ! Thus why she had to exit her position and hopefully continue to work in a venue that can positivly influeance our countries well being.
I am completely confused. She showed no leadership. She was not responsible. She joined the radicals.
What exactly made you proud? Her record from years ago? The imagined rep as a moderate?
Little there to be proud of in the last few years.
Rigid ideology belongs in organized religion, not politics!
The Rabid Right "forget" that they represent ALL citizens.
Perhaps Snow saw what happened to Lisa Murkowski. . .
-you will have to excuse sadoldveteran; some of us curmudgeons occasionally think we are still are in the "Other Place".
If she does go with Americans Elect as a Just-Right-of-Obama candidate, then she'll be acting as a spoiler and handing the election to Mittens. In other words, still working for the Republican party.
I am amazed at how much Maine has been in the news this past year. It's just a weird feeling to hear people talking about our state so often.
I will say this: I'm not fond of either of our republican senators, but I do respect Snowe rather more than I respect Collins (who promised to only do a maximum of two terms, and is now on her third). That said, I'm keen to see what kind of race we'll get out of this. And you have to admit--18 years is a long time to serve in the Senate. She might just be tired, and leave it at that.
Too moderate for the wackos now dominating the GOP.
If this improves the Democrats' chances of getting her seat, then I say THANK YOU Sen. Snowe!
While Ms. Snowe, along with Ms. Collins, could have been a voice of reason for the last 3 yrs., she ultimately chose to be a follower rather than a leader. Only she knows exactly why she's taking this specific road, but one can only hope she's had enough of the rightwing extemists. (you listening, Rick?) Olympia, really, it's still not too late.
I would like to believe that Senator Snowe's conscience finally kicked in; but that pre-supposes that she ever had a conscience.
I think that Sen. Snowe boxed herself into a corner. If she had have stayed fairly moderate, the could have switched over to the Democratic Party and probably had a good chance of remaining in office. Instead, she tried a slide rightward. So, in running for reelection, she would get hammered from the left for being too conservative, and from the right for not being conservative enough. Rather than fight that fight, and continue to deal with Senate BS, she decided to leave the Senate.
I concur with the sentiment that Snowe's comments come too late. She could have taken the high road on a lot of issues and rebuked her party. But she was too afraid of the Tea Party. If she and a couple other moderate Republicans stood up and said no to the filibusters, it would have changed the partisan atmosphere. Of course she would have been attacked but it takes only one person to stand up to the bullies and say no. If she wants to do something now, then she should tell her party leadership that unless they stop their childish games, she will say that in public on the Senate floor. That would embarrass McConnell and shame the other moderates for not doing anything.
I have mixed feelings about Snow. At the start of the national nightmare that was the Bush administration, I sent her office a snail mail letter to express my appreciation for her having supported a bi-partisan bill having to do with women's reproductive health rights. But since the ascension of Mitch McConnell, I've watched with dismay as she joined her Republican colleagues in voting against almost all healthcare and jobs legislation, and in practicing fear-mongering (I particularly remember seeing her on a few pundit shows claiming that the sky would fall in if the "underwear bomber" were tried in the U.S.). I suppose how I most feel about her is disappointed - yet, a glimmer of that old good feeling about her comes through again when I think about how she's sticking it to McConnell with the timing of her announcement. In the end, I wish her well.
I am guessing she does not see a spot for anyone like her in this current GOP.
Yes, it's time. Bye-bye.
At this point I hope she is leaving because she is tired of being associated with the republican party that takes pride in being ignorant. Time will tell what her intentions are. Too early to make a judgement now. It is a necessity to have her replaced by a democrat.