Retiring Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) said that the “sensible center” has “eroded” since she came to Congress in 1979.
And that, she told MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, is a main reason why she chose not to run for re-election this November.
“Knowing what I know right now, and realizing it’s not going to change dramatically at least in the short term, that I wouldn’t be able to do the things that I think are so important for the country,” Snowe said.
She stressed that she has remained a Republican — and never considered switching — because of her core GOP beliefs. “That is being fiscally responsible, limited government, individual opportunity, and freedom,” the senator said. “I happen to believe that I represent a traditional Republican. I have not changed as a Republican.”
Snowe said that even though independents must pick a side to caucus with in Congress, that doesn’t mean they can’t be independent.
“I’m independent as a Republican because people expect me from the state of Maine to be independent,” she said.
Having served in the House and then the Senate under six presidents, Snowe urged women to think about a future in politics “because I do think it’s important to have more women voices in the political process. It’s healthy for our country. It’s more representative of our country, frankly.”
“When I ran for office and when I decided to run for the Senate, I mean, I didn’t think about the fact that I was a woman. I just, you know, knew that I could do it and I wanted to do it. And I think that it’s going to have to be that way for women who want to change whatever’s happening in their world.”
As far as the GOP, Snowe advises that the party return “to our basic traditions and principles and speaking to those issues that matter to be more relevant in their daily lives.”
“I think when we were talking about so many of the social policy issues, because frankly, even when we were in the majority, we spent more time concentrating on those issues than talking about what we should have been doing about the future,” she said.
Hmmm….Olympia Snowe…name rings a bell.
Wasn’t she one of those “moderates” who helped keep Obamacare alive as it traipsed through Congress?
I realize she eventually voted against it – but as a Senator didn’t she vote FOR it at some point before realizing just how unpopular it was?
Exactly how is voting for Obamacare – at ANY stage of that corrupt process – compliant with her supposed ideals of “That is being fiscally responsible, limited government, individual opportunity, and freedom,”?
This foul animal forfeited any chance of respect or even tolerance from me when she voted Clinton “not guilty” during the Senate trial. I’m still amazed that I didn’t throw something through the television then. I wrote her and the other disgrace from Maine, Collins, that Joshua Chamberlain hadn’t taken three bullets on Little Round Top to see contemptible wenches like them refuse to convict criminal behavior when they saw it. While every word in that letter was printable on the front page of any newspaper in the country, I still consider that the most scathing missive I’ve ever written anyone. They deserved, and still deserve, every demeaning word.
Anyone who votes Democrat is a liar and one who condones lies. That’s what they are, there is no denying it, and one needn’t expect anything better from them. Snowe and Collins were Republicans, though, and they knew what was right. They just chose not to do it because it wasn’t politically expedient. My contempt and disgust for both of them knows no bounds. They disgraced the State of Maine that day and I hope it’s never forgotten. “Sensible center?” No, “corrupt cabal” would be a more appropriate term.
What constitutes “the center” anymore? And how “sensible” is a center that helped get us to the point where a feral calamity like Obama could use the presidency as a national wrecking ball?
What gets me about Senators from Maine is that there have been quite a few “distinguished” ones, and not one of them, not Muskie, not Mitchell, not Snowe, have ever done a damned thing worth mentioning to turn Maine into a prosperous place. And on the national level they have simply helped the status quo drift us into the iceberg.
The “sensible center” is made up of Democrats who ran as Republicans because they could not be elected as Democrats: either the electorate was Republican or the Democrat candidate was entrenched in the party’s slot!
Adios, RINO!!
RINO , good bye to her. she is nothing but a disgrace.