Anti-War Candidate Considering Run for Democratic Presidential Nomination

In a surprise announcement. former Rhode Island Gov. Lincoln Chafee says he is considering a run for the Democratic presidential nomination, and has announced that he has formed an exploratory committee.

Chafee is bad, from a libertarian perspective, on almost all economic and social issues. but he appears to be the most anti-war candidate, in a field of war hawks..

The one time Republican, while a senator was the only Republican in the Senate to have voted against authorization of the use of force in Iraq. On June 22, 2006, he was the only Republican to vote for the Levin amendment calling for a nonbinding timetable for a withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

According to Wikipedia, Chafee is now involved in the J Street project, a liberal Jewish group that calls for Israel to withdraw from all occupied territories and advocates for a "two state" solution to the Arab–Israeli conflict.

In November 2006, immediately following the midterm elections, Chafee joined key Democrats in opposing President Bush's renomination of John Bolton as United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

On his new web site, Chafee says:

The tragedies of the Iraq War are manifold; lost and injured lives, hundreds of billions of squandered tax dollars, the difficulty of providing just and proper care for our brave veterans, but maybe the most tragic, the loss of American credibility. I commit to the repair needed to all the harm done. Our credibility will be restored when we respect our world partners and truly listen when they speak. In a world of nuclear weapons, the United States must make international decisions with brains and not biceps.

   -RW