Campaign Action
So much for that promise from Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) that she was going to stop commenting on the Brett Kavanaugh nomination. Since she said she was going to shut up, she's been spewing Mitch McConnell's talking points about Kavanaugh's accuser, Christine Blasey Ford to anyone who will listen. And since she's got a captive audience again, she's whining again about her constituents being mean to her.
"My office has received some pretty ugly voicemails, threats, terrible things said to my staff," she told a Maine radio station. "This has been a very ugly process and I think that’s very unfortunate for everyone involved." Here's an example of one of those "ugly voicemails" from a caller talking about one of Kavanaugh's emails Democrats on the committee surfaced: "Have you seen the emails ... where he talked about Roe v. Wade not being settled law. He [bleeped] lied to you. How [bleeped] naive do you have to be?" How very . . . unthreatening. If that's a threat, then what about what Collins is telling Dr. Ford? She says Ford should appear before the committee because "it would be better for her." Better for her than what? What is Collins implying about what will happen to Dr. Ford if she doesn't appear?
She should be glad that any of her constituents still give her enough benefit of the doubt to think it's naivety and not stupidity or dishonesty driving her right now. Because she also said that the FBI could be asked to investigate Ford's claims AFTER a hearing, even though it "reverses the normal order of things." The Senate's job, she says, is "to assess the nominees, and then if we need additional help from the FBI, the committee could ask for it." She has to know that's not going to happen. She has to know that this process is being rushed to get Kavanaugh through before more shoes drop, before there's even more evidence of his lies to Congress.
She's also still pushing her plan to put Ford on trial, forcing an adversarial procedure that puts Grassley and committee in the position of judge and jury. She says that Grassley has given her a "quite positive" response. "They certainly have not rejected my suggestion," she simpered.
Collins is proving more and more every day what a team player she is. And her team isn't the people of Maine. It's Trump's team.
The people of Maine need to call her on this. Directly. Every day. At her office numbers: (207) 622-8414, (207) 945-0417, (207) 283-1101, (207) 493-7873, (207) 784-6969, (207) 780-3575, (202) 224-2523. But be polite. And maybe record your messages to show how polite you are, and provide those to the local media.
Do you live in Maine? You have a powerful voice in stopping Trump's Supreme Court nominee. Click here to write Sen. Collins.