“Her failure to respond more courageously to the president’s actions equals in my mind, acceptance, and by acceptance, complicity”
“I suspect Senator Collins’ judgment was clouded by her eagerness to please her donors and her party”
Senator Susan Collins has had an awkward few weeks trying to distance herself from her own party. When President Donald Trump visited Maine, she hid out fundraising in Washington and refused to answer whether she’s supporting his reelection for the eighth time. Last week when Brett Kavanaugh argued that the landmark ruling LGBTQ+ individuals from employment discrimination was a “mistake of history and sociology,” she dodged accountability for her role in putting him on the court.
Despite Collins’ attempts to mislead voters about her record, Mainers are seeing through her act. This month, letter writers from all over the state have pointed out exactly what Susan Collins has become: A rubber stamp for Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell’s extreme agenda who fights for corporate special interests, not Mainers.
Bangor Daily News: Judy Bielecki: Questions for Susan Collins
As Trump descended on Maine, Collins was conveniently “working” in D.C. But make no mistake, she is part of the Republican Senate that enables him. I’m tired of playing her “will-she-or-won’t she” game.The only questions the media should be asking her are, not will she vote for Trump, but does she support his re-election. The other is whether she will support Mitch McConnell as Senate Republican leader. These are two easy yes or no questions that require no equivocation from an honest politician.
Bangor Daily News: Nico Jenkins: A clear choice with Collins
Collins, as a representative of the people of Maine, and a member of the GOP, has a unique opportunity to condemn this behavior, and refuse to participate in this charade any longer. Her failure to respond more courageously to the president’s actions equals in my mind, acceptance, and by acceptance, complicity. Either she must have the moral courage to leave the GOP immediately (joining perhaps her colleague Sen. Angus King as an independent) or she must be voted out of office in November; the choice has never been so clear.
Portland Press Herald: Mary Ann Larson: Collins’ Kavanaugh vote set stage for polarized Supreme Court
Collins went out of her way to lecture Americans on jurisprudence before voting for Kavanaugh, convinced of his exemplary qualifications. Yet a recent case from California exposed his biases and his sloppy work. In a case involving a southern California church claiming religious discrimination due to pandemic related limits placed on numbers of attendees at church services, the court’s 5-4 ruling prompted New York Times opinion columnist Linda Greenhouse, a journalist who spent 30 years covering the court, to conclude that the “polarization roiling the country has the Supreme Court in its grip.”[...] I suspect Senator Collins’ judgment was clouded by her eagerness to please her donors and her party.
Lewiston Sun Journal: Phyllis Caron: Elected officials turn a blind eye
If anyone thinks Sen. Collins is going to have their backs now, they are wrong. I couldn’t believe it when I heard how much money she sold the public out for. Congress has taken away everything — jobs, now unemployment checks, and now possibly a second stimulus check. Compare two stimulus checks to one paycheck for U.S. senators. Most people would still have to work for three weeks to make one of their checks. They don’t care how the people are going to pay rent or mortgages or even feed our families. They don’t care, they have money. Going without is not in their vocabulary, only in ours.
Bangor Daily News: Jo Trafford: The rest of the story
Sen. Susan Collins finally came out with a statement condemning the president’s despicable church photo op....But for too long she has allowed a deeply conservative and, I believe, corrupt Republican Senate to manipulate and use her to, in particular, appoint ultra conservative judges.
Portland Press Herald: Peter Thoits: Former supporter won’t vote for Sen. Collins again
If Sen. Collins succeeds with her run for the Senate, it helps to keep Mitch McConnell in power as the Senate President able to set the agenda, decide who will get voted into judgeships and other positions of power, and continue his nearly illegal partisan and divisive methods.
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