Allow me to end the suspense. Susan Collins is going to vote to confirm President Donald Trump’s latest U.S. Supreme Court nominee.
Unless Brett Kavanaugh turns out to be concealing a side career as a serial killer; an agent of the North Korean government; or a molester of women, children and farm animals (all distinct possibilities, given Trump’s notorious inability to adequately vet candidates for important public posts), Maine’s Republican senior senator is a lock to support him.
Of course, Collins is currently making a show of appearing all independent, undecided and centrist. “I can only do what I think is right,” she told the Associated Press. On a New York Times podcast, she said she didn’t want an “activist judge” who “demonstrated disrespect” for previous Supreme Court rulings upholding a woman’s right to reproductive choice. “A nominee’s personal views on Roe v. Wade are not relevant to my decision,” she said during a TV interview. “What is relevant is whether they’re committed to longstanding precedent.”
After the nomination was announced, Collins engaged in a distant but recognizable variation of honesty by issuing a statement declaring something so blandly noncommittal it was impossible to pay attention.
No matter what Kavanaugh tells the senator about respecting precedent and being fair-minded about abortion and other controversial matters, there are no guarantees. All Supreme Court nominees since Robert Bork in 1987 have been smart enough to conceal their real opinions from senators who are likely to disagree with them.
As the Boston Globe’s Yvonne Abraham put it in a column addressed to Collins, “[Y]ou seem to think we live in a world where judicial nominees are true to their word, and your fellow Republicans have the integrity to put nation above party.
“That frightens me. Please, Senator, wake up.”
Politico phrased it more bluntly, saying Collins is in danger of becoming “the epitome of a toothless centrism that gets steamrolled by ideologues over and over again.”
In reality, though, Collins’ position is a little more complicated than that.
Contrary to what her critics are claiming, Collins isn’t all that worried about this vote negatively impacting her chances of winning re-election in 2020. That’s because there’s a better than even shot she won’t seek another term, instead bowing out with a speech that echoes that of former Sen. Olympia Snowe in 2012, who said she was retiring from politics because the Senate was a seething mass of slime-covered, grabby-handed, greed butts with the empathy of bacteria and the intelligence of poison oak.
Well, that wasn’t exactly what Snowe said. As with Supreme Court nominees, departing senators tend to temper their language, so they don’t damage their chances of getting a post office named after them. But everybody knew that was what she really meant.
Back to Collins. She and her lobbyist husband are wealthy, so she doesn’t have to worry about money. Her once sterling reputation for integrity has been severely diminished by her flip-flopping votes on health care and her increasing tendency to cave in to Trumpian pressure on most matters of major concern. Liberals no longer trust her, and conservatives never did. In two years, she’d face a brutal primary battle against a slobbering right-winger (no, not from lab monster Max Linn, but quite possibly one of the GOP’s gubernatorial rejects, such as Garrett Mason or Mary Mayhew, and maybe even from Congressman Bruce Poliquin).
Considering all that, there’s no downside to calling it quits.
Except that’s a long time from now. In the interim, Collins still holds out hope of getting something accomplished. Defense contracts for Maine companies. Policy changes touching on agriculture, senior citizens, housing and the environment. And if Democrats take control of the House of Representatives, she might get to sit in judgment of Trump after he’s impeached.
To be even marginally effective in any of those endeavors, Collins seems to think she needs to stay in the good graces of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (who’s already reneged on promises he made to her on health care) and other distinguished scaly creatures in her caucus. The easiest way to do that is not to be more than a minor impediment to getting Kavanaugh confirmed.
According to the Globe, Collins has voted for 98.5 percent of all judicial nominees put forward by GOP presidents. She probably figures one more won’t make that much difference, even if turns the United States into a low-budget version of “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Keep in mind that comments sent to aldiamon@herniahill.net may be used against you if you’re ever nominated for the Supreme Court.
Yes, Collins will vote for Kavanaugh. And no, Independent-Angus does not vote against judges nominated by Democratic presidents. Do any any Democrats?
Al raises a question that needs an answer. Who’s the centrist with teeth?
Supporting Donald Trump is now an anti-American activity. You can no longer be pro-Trump and wrap yourself in the flag. You can’t have it both ways. Let’s be clear – if you still support the idiot president, then you are disrespecting everyone who ever fought for this great nation.
@ John Frary: Only a paleontologist would know!
President Trump is making excellent picks for the supreme court! Just imagine if it was Crooked Hillary making these choices-MAGA!
Kavanaugh is a devoted corporate shill. Inherited from his lobbyist father. A beltway insider, born into privilege and extreme wealth. A lifetime of opportunism, and a devotee of Scalia, he of the worst SCOTUS decision since Dred Scott —- “corporations are people, my friend………And Jose —- please tell me when America STOPPED being great……as you drive your SUV, pay more for goods in the stores, etc, etc, etc.
Hey Arnold,,
“Completely Disagree with you” about Trump.
But I would say the same thing if anyone is stupid enough to “still” support the Clintons….
Just to be clear.
Jose…. your are correct… If Prez Trump does nothing else… He saved us from not an idiot, but very sly wicked witch…
To Arnold: The fact that you are calling the President of the United States an “idiot” is disrespectful!!! So what does that make you??
Arnold, You need to pay closer attention to what is going on in the world and specifically the Mueller investigation, No collusion has been found, zero proof of interference has been found, zero proof that the Russian Phishermen swayed the election one way or the other, what there is proof of is, A small company in Russia used a popular Phishing tactic to get Podesta to give up his password, which he did, and he also sold 20,000 emails off the DNC servers to Wikileaks and got canned for it. The emails were proven to contain no false information, which if hackers were going to change anything they would have to add or remove information, the only thing missing was Hillary’s 30,000 emails, to which she admitted to deleting. Chris Wallace of FOX held a paper in front of Putin, that Wallace claimed was one of the indictments, could have been, they are public knowledge and can be viewed by anybody. Wallace rambled off some “unit” numbers which the indictment claims are Russian GRU members, to which Putin laughed at. What these indictments don’t do is, name names, just a bunch of numbers and a company that by Mueller’s investigation found out to be a small bakery. The one thing Putin is pissed about, is Mueller seems to have violated the Budapest Convention on Cybercrime, America drew up and signed the treaty, which pretty much grants power to the US to “raid” another country accused of cybercrimes, but only if they are member states, Russia refused to sign the treaty, who can blame them, this treaty allows the spying by ISPs on member states at the request of other member states. Why would anybody willingly agree to that.
Oh, you mean she’s going to do what she is supposed to? How quaint.
Elections have consequences, remember? Heard that for 8 years…all I’m seeing now is a concerted effort of 1 political party to obstruct the duly elected other party, with zero evidence. Generating mass hysteria by propaganda for political gain…very nearly a coup, which is ONGOING.
The scariest part is that half the nation has lost the ability to use reason, and lets emotion – triggered by biased news media in bed with the DNC – determine their political outlook. God forbid REAL “actual Nazis” ever come to power here – they’ve cried wolf 100s of times too often.
The way to MAGA is to impeach Trump. He has failed in his obligation to protect and defend the United States. He has given comfort and support to our country’s enemy. This man is an idiot who is worthy of being the first President removed from office. That is how you MAGA! And why do Trump supporters have to continue to talk about Clinton two years after the election? Trump has now been screwing up long enough to be evaluated on his own actions. He is a disgrace at home and abroad. He is demeaning to women, to our military, to minorities and to our allies. But he never met a dictator he didn’t love. MAGA! DUMP TRUMP!
Arnold please seek psychiatric help. You can’t leave Clinton out of the conversation when it all goes back to the election you liberals keep crying about.
But Jesse, I’m not a liberal! The two most recent nominees of my party, Romney and McCain, have both denounced Trump’s deplorable antics. What happened to the once great, proud GOP? Now it’s a group of cowqardly men speaking whatever opinions they think will get them reelected. No spine, no morals, no ethics. No, it doesn’t all go back to Clinton. Trump will be brought down by Trump. MAGA! DUMP TRUMP!
Arnold, Why does Hillary have to keep going around the country blaming her loss on everything and everybody 2 years after the election? Russia is not an enemy, people seem to think it is, for some reason. We allied with Stalin to beat the crap out of the Nazis to a point where we could clean up Japan in the Marshalls and the Solomons. The cold war was started by Krushchev and ended by Gorbachev at the request of Reagan, Which lead to the fall of communism in Russia, even though Russia was about to die a painful death behind the Iron Curtain in a matter of years anyway. Russia is now a part of NATO, technically that makes them an ally, not an enemy. Our current enemies are Muslims which Trump has called for several times for tougher vetting, a ban on Muslims from certain countries and an end to the visa lottery, which several liberal judges kept overruling until the SCOTUS heard the case and upheld Trumps executive order. People expected Trump to get up there with Putin and yell at him and scold him like a child who broke a lamp. Why would he? The umpteen dozen US intelligence and law enforcement agencies have shown a bias against the President, the worst of the offenders being the FBI and whose agents are tasked with gathering information during the Mueller fiasco and giving reports to the other agencies, so if the FBI can’t be trusted, their information can’t either. You blame Trump, this ball was rolling long before Trump was elected.
The string of comments here is much like a WWF drama! Jesse, I scored 198 out of 200 on a reading comprehension exam which surprised me too as it seems like everyone should be able to read then assimilate the information they just read but I’m really confused by your last comment to Arnold: “You can’t leave Clinton out of the conversation “, just wondering if you read the comments above?
Arnold’s original comment said nothing of HC or the election but the reactionary defensive comments that follow say:
1. Jose: ” if it was Crooked Hillary making these choices”
2. Hey Arnold: “stupid enough to “still” support the Clintons”
3. Glen Holt: “from not an idiot, but very sly wicked witch…”
4. H B: “the only thing missing was Hillary’s 30,000 emails”
Arnold finally mentions Clinton: “why do Trump supporters have to continue to talk about Clinton two years after the election? ”
And……
5. Jesse then wonders: “You can’t leave Clinton out of the conversation when it all goes back to the election you liberals keep crying about.” Is this a statement or a rhetorical question in your mind?
Please read again.
It’s sad to see the programmed and force-fed vocabulary towards the other of die-hard Trump supporters contradicting itself in these conversations. One thing about Trump and Putin, they are both masters of controlling their base with the specticle of self-promotion and creating a common enemy by slandering opposition. They are both manipulations of a propagandist. It’s clearly demonstrated here.
HB: I don’t agree with what you wrote but I thank you for posting your perspective with some background info. I will have to dig deeper to see if I can catch a glimpse of this version of recent events but with the Presidents record and ability to say what he says on tv and then deny it, I don’t think I will find much. Honestly, I don’t care about the “C” word, they are long gone and we are 2 years into a sitting president who is responsible for his actions and the care for the American people. Anything that is happening now has nothing to do with accusations that cost taxpayers hundreds of millions and amounted to nothing with a party that lost two years ago. How could it? I guess I could wander around the conspiracy sites that seem to obsessively feed the crazies and sell diet pills and viagra but I learned a long time ago to avoid feeding myself that garbage.
Collins is a hard one to read if you read opinions about her but in the end, I think she seems on open to either side of the issue but lean’s Right in the end. It must be really hard being a woman in Washington.
“Arnold”…. I fought for this nation in four different war zones.
I’m a supporter of President Trump and I’m quite sure that others who support him don’t disrespect me for it.
I don’t feel like an anti-American. (Do You?)
I don’t wrap myself in the Flags but I have them displayed prominently at my home and on my automobiles my boat my sno-mobiles etc, etc.
In my opinion you first post here is just plan stupid.
Samo you should retake the reading test. When I said “you can’t leave Hillary out of the conversation ” I didn’t mean he ever said her name.
Arnold the GOP is a political party just as the DNC is. Whether you like the person leading it or not doesn’t mean you throw a tantrum and call them names. People who didn’t like Hillary didn’t vote and the people who don’t like President Trump didn’t vote and some voted for a jack wang that didn’t know what was going on in Syria.
Jesse, thank you for you clearly accentuated my point. Noone but you and most of the defensive commenters to Arnold’s original post has held on to the election and no one is whining or crying about it but hardcore Trump supporters. I see so many comments on here that seem to project what liberals think and do but it all seems to follow exactly what I’ve seen propagated by conservative opinion media. It’s a clear and repeated vocabulary and message but I don;t think it’s for everyone. I know some liberals and I’ve never actually seen them whine or cry about the election lately. I accept that we are operating under a Republican Majority Government at this time and have been for two years. Everything is on DT as our acting President not a has been who lost an election. Now, look at all of the unified vocabularies in the words of the comments that use HC or just “the Clintons”, they all contain derogatory words before or after or they are just derogatory name calling propaganda made by up by DT and Breitbart news like “wicked witch and crooked Hillary”. You are most likely right on board with this vocab and can identify but not 100% prove any of the reasons for its use. Now tell me in clear terms how HC or the election is relevant to this conversation. Please explain this in clear understandable convictions or actual facts and not just here-say citing word of mouth conspiracy theories or what I heard someone say on an opinion segment that seems so popular. Don’t tell me it’s true without providing the context in which you believe it to be true, especially if it seems like it’s just words and scenarios you hear repeated over and over so that you believe it which is what I’m seeing here. Per your comment: I genuinely want to know how it all goes back to the election? I boldfaced “it” because I also need you to clarify what “it” is. I don’t want to assume what “it” is. If you can do this I will gladly read it.
Backcast: Thank you for your service. You are not anti-American. My 2cents: National political views aside: We all need to accept what is but also what is not and work together as one community to make it better. We need to honor and respect each other by seeking truth and the benefit of the doubt as to one’s life experience whether it’s an elderly person trying to pay bills, a vet returning from service who need support and a welcome home, a student trying to gain knowledge and trade before entering society, or a neighbor who just need you to smile and say hello every once and while.
“Patriotism is supporting your country all the time, and your government when it deserves it.”Samuel Clemens/ Mark Twain
OK Samo… you mentioned my comment a couple of times .. but not the person that called the President an idiot.. Does that mean you approve of that… I give up now.. learned a long time ago it is best not to get in a hissing contest with a black animal that has a white stripe..
I do not know why Trump would deserve to be impeached. Oops, I meant to say I do not know why Trump would NOT deserve to be impeached. Whew! I guess I got my double negatives mixed up again. Now that I’ve made myself clear as mud I can start preparing to contradict myself again. MAGA! DUMP TRUMP!
Samo says “Honestly I don’t care about the “C” word, they are long gone. Yet he mentions her at least 13 times in his 2 comments! I cant remember who said it now, but I think the saying was “elections have consequences”. I think Samo and Arnold are some very sad snowflakes :(
Nixon had a 25% approval rating on the day he resigned.
I’d hazard to guess most Trump supporters would vote for him again if it was finally revealed that he’s been laundering money for the Russian mob for the past twenty years.
Little else explains his behavior towards Putin.
seamus…. but, just think of the alternative choice we had.. How much money did she get from the Ruskies when she was Sec. of State? She also belongs in the crowbar hotel.. I’d hazard to guess that those brown dog democrats wold still vote for her again…