Swalwell makes an excellent point. Don't just target Collins

[Roland99]

Link to tweet

[JI7]

1. good point, for now we need to focus on those up for re-election this year

[Squinch]

2. Mitch McConnell is up for re-election in two years. Let's start the funding for his opponent NOW.

[SallyHemmings]

3. Good point

Time for him to be retired.

[Squinch]

4. And turned into glue.

[SallyHemmings]

5. Lol

[lastlib]

15. Yes, and God help whatever that sh*t sticks to........... eom

[bdamomma]

17. exactly

he has a pension plan and payouts from Russian oligarchs. He needs to go. Vile man.

[rpannier]

9. Matt Jones may run against him

Here's an article on him. It's a good read

https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/03/25/adam-jones-kentucky-mitch-mcconnell-sports-radio-217656

[Blue_true]

36. Sounds like a really good choice. An unabashed liberal who isn't ashamed to say he supported

President Obama, even in Kentucky. Seems very smart based upon the article, seem comfortable with taking risks.

[GoCubsGo]

12. Yes, he's the one we need to go after hardest.

He orchestrated this shitshow. May he pay dearly for it, and not just by losing his Senate seat.

[SkipG]

6. Yes, but...

Collins went out of her way to mess with rational heads when it's pretty clear she was always going to confirm the POS.

[Scarsdale]

8. Exactly.

Collins pretended she was unsure, when we all knew she would side with the Gropey Old Pervs. She does this to get time on TV on the Sunday shows. Works every time, and she spews the propaganda for the gop. Surely, the news people are on to her tactics by now?

[Bettie]

14. See, that's where I sit too

SHE made a choice to focus this whole thing on herself by pretending that she might be a no. She never planned on being anything but an enthusiastic yes.

[LakeArenal]

22. Collins called for Franken's head.

Not even a minimal investigation.

She can choke on it as far as I’m concerned.

[progree]

23. So did the vast majority of Democratic senators.

Two wrongs don't make a right. But I'm still perplexed as hell why people are acting like Collins is the worst of the worst, when she has double the number of votes against her party as does the average Republican senator. Including a crucial vote to end the repeal and replace of the ACA.

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/06/full-list-senators-call-for-al-franken-to-resign-282175

[LakeArenal]

26. There is no reason to swear at me.

It’s a valid point. Who are you to scab at me?

You are the one bringing up the other opportunists involved in the Franken Railroad. Not me.

She is the worst of the worst. Why are you defending someone so obviously a sham liar.

By the way I hear no one defending Flake or Manchin. So why you only standing up for a Repuke like her?

[progree]

30. Because we should concentrate on defeating the Repukes with the worst voting records

As I said, she has voted against he party twice as often as the average Republican senator
https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/C001035/votes-against-party/115
including a key vote to save the ACA from the awful repeal-and-replace alternative.

I got rid of the "Oh Jesus C etc." in my previous post.

Flake and Manchin are not the subject of the OP or any comments so far. If people were arguing we should be pouring a disproportionate amount of money and effort to defeat those two, and consequently less on defeating those with worse voting records, I would be speaking up about that too.

Edited to add: Collins is not up for reelection this year (she's up next in 2020). I think we should focus are money and effort on the 33 or so repuke senators that are up for election or reelection this year.

[LakeArenal]

31. Too late. ..

Leave me alone now. Not interested in your backtracking. Or your minority opinion.

[True Blue American]

7. Collins does that

Every time.

When she first ran she promised to serve 2 terms. She is a long time liar.

[Guilded Lilly]

10. They all have lost their souls, but Collins is also a media attention hound player.

[progree]

11. She voted against the Senate's attempt to repeal and replace the ACA (Obamacare)

On July 27, 2017, the Health Care Freedom Act, also known as the "skinny repeal", was introduced. This bill was defeated 49–51, with Republican senators Susan Collins, John McCain, and Lisa Murkowski voting against it along with all the Democrats and Independents.[53]

--https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Efforts_to_repeal_the_Patient_Protection_and_Affordable_Care_Act

(This is the same one where McCain did his famous walk onto the Senate floor and gave a thumbs down right in front of McTurtle. )

I realize that the vast majority of DUers get their health coverage through their employer or Medicare, just as in the general population, so it might seem not to be a big deal. But as an ACA plan member until recently (I moved on to Medicare), I am grateful. So although the vast majority of her votes are horrible (including the Kavanaugh and Gorsux confirmation votes), and her theatrics are disgusting beyond belief, I am still grateful for this one particular ACA vote.

[lark]

16. A broken clock is right twice a day, she's been right one time.

Yes, as a person who's husband relies on the ACA and has great affordable insurance, I most definitely appreciate her one correct vote. However, she just undid that good. Kavanaugh hates all government efforts at healthcare, including Medicaid, Medicare, and wants to stop all these programs including the ACA. He also thinks women do not have the right to abortion OR BIRTH CONTROL PILLS, and thinks eliminating pre-existing conditions is also unconstitutional. He's also said a president could commit treason in office and can't be charged, exactly opposite what the constitution says, but he only cares about implementing his oligarch revolution paid for by Russia. This is a nation killing judge and nothing he did is good enough to wipe out the horrible changes he will install in our nation. He also doesn't believe in LGBT rights or gay marriage and sees no harm in narrowing the voting pool by ridiculous restrictions. This is every bit as bad as drumpf being elected president, because he now has 2 SCOTUS who have personally sworn loyalty to him and who will kill the constitution to ensure they have power forever. It is an unforgivable breach. Coryn & Grassley and their ilk were always horrible woman hating troglodytes, inhuman asses, so knew they'd vote Russian Repug party over common sense or the law, but I had hope for Collins & Murkowski and only 1 of them didn't stab the country in the back. Flake is just a lying asshole & I knew never to trust him.

[progree]

20. So we pile on the person with one key good vote against her party instead of the 49 or 50 with none

that's the part I'm not getting.

Actually, it's not just one vote (although admittedly I don't know how many of these are consequential. Or key).

Votes Against Party Majority by Susan Collins (R-Maine)
Sen. Collins has voted against a majority of Senate Republicans 49 times (9.9%) in the 115th Congress (2017-18). She ranks 23rd among all senators in voting against her party. The average Senate Republican votes against his or her party 4.2% of the time.

-- https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/C001035/votes-against-party/115

Let's concentrate more on those with the 4.2% or less correct votes instead.

[lark]

25. Most of the 48 are in safely batshit repug areas.

She lives in a state that's more moderate, so is more likely to be deposed than say Coryn or Hatch that have been there forever & in states that approve of drumpf by high percentages. They don't pretend to be moderate, they are rw crazies. She pretends to be moderate but is a partisan 90% of the time. Any repug is who we should be fighting against, every single one of them, including her.

[progree]

27. I'm all for voting her out, and if she is one of the most vulnerable, then that is a good use of

extra money and effort.

Edited to add: I just discovered that she's not up for reelection this year (she's up next in 2020). 33 repukes are running for election or reelection to 33 senate seats this November.

Edited to add: In 2008 she won by 61.5%-38.5%. In 2014 she won by 68.5%-31.5%. She carried every county in Maine both times.
-- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Collins

[lark]

38. Yes, she was popular.

But she shed all her moderation by putting the most extreme partisan and hateful candidate ever on SCOTUS and I'm sure the women of Maine were watching her shred every single promise she'd made to them and lying about it all the time.

[progree]

39. I eagerly await any poll results. Hopefully people will even remember in 2 years. n/t

[Demit]

33. So you admit you don't know how many of her votes were consequential.

You do know that within the party caucus, sometimes certain members are allowed to vote against because their vote won't change the outcome of what the party wants. So they can keep their cover of being a "moderate," in order to mollify parts of their constituencies at home.

Susan Collins, with her soft quavery voice, has cultivated a reputation as a moderate, and McConnell will do everything he can to accommodate that facade. Her act also gives her leverage, so she can horse trade with him for whatever it is that is important to her.

Which certainly isn't women's rights. SOMETHING sure was more important than that to her this time.

[progree]

35. I know one key vote was - the ACA vote.

Which certainly isn't women's rights. SOMETHING sure was more important than that to her this time.

And to all the other Repuke senators except arguably Murkowski. So again, I'm finding it impossible to understand why we should pour disproportionate resources against the Repuke senator with one of the two or so best Repuke voting records (albeit still horrible) because we're pissed she didn't buck her party more often. And consequently less resources against the Repukes with nearly 100% deplorable voting records.

And considering that she is not up for election this year, while 33 Republicans are running for 33 seats this November, well....

[Pacifist Patriot]

13. Not a compelling argument. And my ire has nothing to do with her gender.

Cruz and Heller's votes were a foregone conclusion. Collins falsely positions herself as a pro-choice moderate Republican while intending to fuck over the country, especially the women in this country, with a yes vote on Kavanaugh all along. I'm not beating up on a woman. I'm beating up on a disingenuous complicit enabler.

[FakeNoose]

18. Susan Collins has done this many times over different RW issues

She plays a game with Mitch McConnell and the other party leaders, called "How badly do you really want my vote?"

She waits to see what deal McConnell offers her, and if it's good enough, she takes it. She can't take the deal every time because then ol' Mitchy-boy will figure out that her vote isn't really in play after all. I think this is a form of senatorial liar's poker, or maybe it's something more sinister.

Either way, she's not doing the Maine voters any good. I hope the voters have finally figured this out.

[The_Counsel]

21. "I'm not beating up on a woman. I'm beating up on a disingenuous complicit enabler."

Exactly.

+1

[Duppers]

37. 2nd that. But she did betray her gender.

I've fought with my own mother most of my life over her misogynistic attitudes. It's made me bitter.

[PaulX2]

19. All Republicans Are Corporate Owned - Say It Swalwell

It's about unlimited corporate power.

Billionaires have the entire government helping them grow their fortunes.

The poor/working/needy, the environment? Families?

They don't give a sh*t.

[sandensea]

24. As seldom as I disagree with Swalwell, I have to on this one

Cruz, Heller, Assley, and the rest of the knuckle draggers were hopeless yes votes.

If God Himself (or Herself) had come down to ask them to reconsider, they wouldn't have ("We can't," they would have told God, "we made a deal with the Devil" ).

Collins and the likes of Murkowski, Flake, and a few others were a different story.

They had been actively signalling their misgivings - their "concerns," in Washington-speak - for weeks.

They obviously realized the gravity of what voting yes would've meant - and did so anyway, just to placate Bitchy Mitchy.

And of course the Devil.

[MontanaMama]

28. Swalwell is correct in that

we should hold all of the Gropers to account BUT, Collins’ vote to confirm Kav was especially offensive because she led people to believe she would do the right thing when she had no intention of doing it.

[LakeArenal]

29. As pointed out on CNN: Many feel she betrayed women.

That’s pretty much the reason. On top of that is the faux angst, the camera whorary,
the frenzy it stirs up in her base and the final capitulation to her overlords.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

34. So true... we need fundraiser campaigns to fund opponents for all of them! n/t