Murkowski has more balls than Manchin

[musicblind]

I'm not saying I would vote for her over him. We need as many Democratic senators as we can get.

I disagree with Murkowski on a vast majority of things. However, it takes guts for someone who lost their Republican primary because they were dubbed too "moderate" to put that aside and vote their conscience.

Not only that but to give a speech like she is giving.

[guillaumeb]

1. Actions speak loudly.

Words are just words.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

3. She voted against Kavadrunk.

[guillaumeb]

4. And Manchin claims that he will vote for Kavanaugh.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

6. I'm not a fan of his but we need his vote if we hope to recapture the Senate.

[guillaumeb]

8. I agree.

At a 51-49 split, we need more than 3 GOP Senators with the integrity to vote against Kavanaugh.

[musicblind]

10. There are two silver linings about Manchin's vote.

These silver linings are only in the context of knowing that Kavanaugh's nomination was, at the point Manchin declared his vote, unstoppable.

The first silver lining is the Republicans were hoping for a 50/50 split in the Senate because they believed having Pence break the tie would be a great photo-op and boost for his Presidential aspirations. By voting with the Republicans, Manchin denied them this opportunity.

The second silver lining is that Manchin's vote could not have stopped the confirmation in any way, however, he could try and use his vote to help us get a Senate majority to fight against Kavanaugh.

Had the Republicans only had 49 votes, there is no way Manchin would have voted how he did. He voted how he did in order to deny Republican's talking points about partisanship, Pence a photo-op, and his opponent more fodder in the WV race.

It is cynical to vote for an attempted rapist to achieve those means, but that is why he made the decision he did.

[guillaumeb]

12. Nice arguments.

Only if there existed a GOP Senator or 2 with integrity could Kavanaugh have been stopped.

[musicblind]

16. We had one, in Murkowski, but we needed two.

Just having one would have given the GOP the 50/50 they wanted and allowed Pence to break the tie.

I don't agree with Collins on almost anything, but I am still disappointed in her. I thought she was better than this. I thought she had some semblance of a spine. I hope she enjoys fighting against that $2,000,000 war chest and hopefully against Susan Rice.

[GoCubsGo]

2. I really hope she goes Independent.

I don't see her ever becoming a Democrat, but I can't imagine she's feeling very comfortable in her current party, either.

[musicblind]

11. She could do it, too.

She won her state by WRITE IN after the Republicans refused to give her the nomination.

That's a pretty ringing endorsement that they like HER more than the party she represents.

Also, it's not like Alaska hasn't had a Democratic Senator before.

[musicblind]

17. The downside is, she would likely still "caucus" with the Republicans. n/t

[GoCubsGo]

18. I would like to see her do it for the optics alone.

There would be the symbolic desertion of the GOP, and she'd be sending the message that she's not beholden to them.

[Awsi Dooger]

5. I wrote the exact same thing in a recent post

Then I deleted the sentence before posting, because I didn't want to hang around and defend it.

Apparently it wouldn't have needed defending. I know one thing...Manchin is not capable of a speech like Murkowski gave. I was very impressed. You could tell she ad libbed much of it, after looking at basic notes on where she wanted to go.

[Meadowoak]

7. Manchin was always a Dino.

[Separation]

9. You have to remember its Alaska

If you haven't lived there....you just won't get it. Alaska has been fairly liberal for a long time but still seems to elect Republicans.

Alaska gives the lower 48 its middle finger often and really doesn't care what's going on down there unless it affects them personally. (again just my reflections from the times Ive lived there) I don't think pot was ever criminalized there, at least as far back when I lived there in the early 80's and then again 2000-2010. A lot of Alaskans go to live there to get away from something.

Murkowski has a lot more leeway when it comes to political posturing than other Republicans.

(Again just my opinion)

[musicblind]

13. I'm surprised Alaska goes red so often in Presidential elections.

According to ballotpedia, Alaska has had 8 senators so far. 4 Republicans and 4 Democrats. Judging by that, you'd think they'd be a swing state.

Maybe we just don't pay enough attention to Alaskan's? Maybe that's a mistake on our part and we should work harder on listening to the interest of the people in that state?

[Awsi Dooger]

20. I'm not surprised

Something is screwed up in Alaska. The polling is obviously lazy and inept because the results never match the polling. I've seen that for more than 25 years and I've posted about it here since 2002. Democrats always far better in polling than the actual result.

Look at this sorry Pew sample. Pew is normally very reliable. The table looks fancy, until you check below and the sample includes 310 people.

http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/state/alaska/political-ideology/

I laughed when I saw that because it screams as representative of Alaska polling. Nobody wants to do enough actual work and come up with a polling model that adequately represents the state. When Pew did that in state after state in 2014 the sampling was never particularly high anywhere. But the other states didn't share the same problem as Alaska...consistently inaccurate polling.

[Tavarious Jackson]

14. Heidi Hiedcamp had the most polical bravery. imo nt

[RhodeIslandOne]

15. So does Heidi

I hope every single last North Dakota Dem does their job and votes for her.

[moriah]

19. I still have this insane hope Manchin just said that to make Daines go to the wedding.

It's the same hope I had when I went to sleep on Election Eve when things weren't in... and so likely will be disappointed. Though if Daines goes to the wedding believing this is in the bag, it'd make Manchin THE deciding vote. (And electorally I think either way he goes he's screwed, but worse to lose base support even if stalwarts will come out anyway for him hoping for a Dem majority -- not all the base are stalwarts).

But it's also the hope that let me go to sleep that night without drinking. Which, despite this being a weekend, I'd rather not be hung over AND have my blood pressure any higher tomorrow than it has been since Election Eve.

But then again I know my religious beliefs all come from a similar point of view -- highly unlikely explanations, but they keep me from doing something drastically unlikely to do any good in the long run each day.