Lincoln Chafee doubles down on metric conversion

Democratic presidential candidate Lincoln Chafee did not give a centimeter on his defense of the metric system Thursday, touting the economic benefits and the symbolic importance of the United States joining the rest of the world in implementing the measurement scale.

“People say it’s expensive, but the economic benefits outweigh the cost of changing the signs and the light … I think the chambers of commerce, the scientific community, the defense on metric, they’d agree with that,” the former Rhode Island governor said in an interview with CNN’s “New Day.”


Changing over to the metric system is “one of many things” the U.S. should do to become more international, he said, noting as he did on Wednesday that the U.S. is alone with Myanmar and Liberia as the only countries still not using the system. He did not go into further detail.

Chafee, who as a Republican senator broke with his party on the Iraq war authorization vote in 2002, slammed Hillary Clinton, once again calling into question her vote as a senator.

“I think in 2016, this should be a Republican war, a Republican mess,” the Democratic candidate told CNN’s “New Day.” “And we can’t have as Democrats, our nominee having supported that war resolution back in 2002, because we live with all the problems today.”

Chafee reiterated that while he and Clinton agree on most domestic issues, they differ internationally. The recent poll numbers finding that 57 percent of Americans do not find her trustworthy should also be of concern, he added.

“I think it’s the long record just going back over decades of questionable ethical practices … it seems like it just never stops,” he said.

Chafee, who lived in Canada as a race-track farrier and said he saw the benefits of the metric system first-hand, also weighed in on the chances of American Pharoah, who on Saturday looks to become the first horse in 37 years to complete the sport’s Triple Crown.

“He’s looking good,” Chafee said. “I think he’s going to do it.”