Well actually we quit him first.

“PROVIDENCE ‚Äî Lincoln D. Chafee, who lost his Senate seat in the wave of anti-Republican sentiment in last November‚Äôs election, said yesterday that he has left the party.

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.

“It’s not my party any more,” he said.

Chafee’s departure is another step in the waning of the strain of moderate Republicanism that was once a winning political philosophy from Rhode Island and Connecticut to the Canadian border. For the first time since the Civil War, the six New England states combined now have only one Republican U.S. House member, Connecticut’s Christopher Shays.

Chafee said he disaffiliated from the party “in June or July,” making him an unaffiliated voter. He did so quietly, and until yesterday, he said, “No one’s asked me about it.” He said he made the move because “I want my affiliation to accurately reflect my status.”

“There’s been a gradual depravation of … the issues the party should be strong on,” and the direction of the national party, he said.

That‚Äôs no secret. In a Journal Op-Ed piece published on the Thursday before the election, Chafee himself laid out some of the ways he disagreed with his party, notably as one of only 23 senators and the only Republican to oppose the resolution supporting the invasion of Iraq. He went on to criticize the ‚Äúpermanent deficits‚Äù caused by Republican tax cuts.”

And other “conservative issues”. The fact is that he won’t be missed and even if we have to decend to the minority for a season it’s worth it if we clean house of these RINOS.

Chafee was never a friend of the party fighting us all the way and casting no votes where it counted.

So long RINO, don’t get your horn stuck in the door on the way out.