Arbor Update

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Jim Jeffords: "Worst Fears Have Come True"

3. June 2004 • jlnathan
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Three years ago, U.S. Senator Jim Jeffords (I-VT) defected from the Republican party because he felt that the Bush administration left no room for moderates. This week, though still an independent, he is pushing hard-core for a Democratic Senate in 2004. Here’s an excerpt from a letter he has drafted to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s e-mail list:

Three years ago this week, I left the Republican party. I felt the party had abandoned its fundamental principles of tolerance, moderation and fiscal responsibility—the party of George W. Bush clearly was no longer the party of Lincoln. And I differed with the GOP on issue after issue: the need to protect public health and the environment, the need to invest in education, our obligation to balance the federal budget. Looking back, I can honestly say my worst fears about the Bush administration have been confirmed, and then some.



  1. In all honesty, I think this type of post is better suited for a diary entry on Daily Kos, or on one’s personal weblog. Here, it tends to dilute the utility of the site. (Signal to noise ratio comes into play here, for example.) I’m as much of a flaming liberal as the next Dean-loving long-haired vegan, but I think these frequent political posts are only relevant to the stated goals of the site insofar as there happen to be plenty of liberals in Ann Arbor, which, to me, isn’t a good enough reason to be posting so much recycled, non-Michigan-related news.
       —Liana    Jun. 3 '04 - 01:45PM    #
  2. I concur with Liana. I like the site, and this is a neat post. But it doesn’t seem to have utility within the overall theme of a local, indie news site.
       —Eric Goldberg    Jun. 3 '04 - 02:20PM    #
  3. I hadn’t seen it before, and particularly liked it. I think the discussion on the wiki is about how many non ann arbor post to ann arbor posts we should have.
       —Mark    Jun. 5 '04 - 03:42PM    #