Neither Senator Susan Collins nor Senator Lisa Murkowski is stupid so why do they expect voters to be. Or maybe they don’t expect voters to be stupid but they certainly are counting on them to have a short memory. Perhaps they are thinking, based on many voters’ records, that they likely will have a short memory. That has to be it because polls show that Judge Brett Kavanaugh is extremely unpopular with the American people. And certainly these senators can see that not only has he been extremely evasive during his confirmation hearings, but he has obviously lied under oath! Considering that, along with all of the other baggage that he is strapped with, how can either one of them vote to confirm him?!
Perhaps Senator Susan Collins can vote to confirm him (if the oath that she took when she was elected means absolutely nothing to her) because the word on the street is that she is not going to run again. But as for Senator Lisa Murkowski, the Alaskan voters saved her bacon in the last election and, at the time, she vowed to always fight for them. I don’t recall her saying anything like she would fight for them as long as it was in line with the Republican party’s thinking and it did not hurt the party. Anyway, they cannot fool themselves by clinging to what he said to them about Roe v Wade being settled law especially when he is a proven liar and they know this! Therefore it has to be that they feel that they can somehow dupe voters. What a sad commentary for these two women if this ultimately turns out to be their way of thinking!
Even if they decide to vote to confirm Judge Kavanaugh and are able to dupe voters, they will never be able to look at the woman in the mirror and say that she is a true statesman who puts country before party; who values her oath of office and puts country before personal political gain. Our country is in a desperate situation and badly needs Senator Collins and Senator Lisa Murkowski to stand up, woman up and defend our Constitution! Women have taken the lead in politics in many ways lately and each one of these two incumbent senators needs to do their part to protect our country while at the same time supporting and reinforcing the strong effort of these other neophyte women, in the words of President Obama, to bring some semblance of sanity to politics.
The true sad part of this article is that I have not even mentioned any other Republicans’ names who might vote against confirming Judge Kavanaugh. Surly, one would think, there will be plenty of Republicans who – after hearing Judge Kavanaugh lie (again) while testifying before congress – will vote against confirming him. But these are not normal times. We must remember that a major part of the reason that Judge Kavanaugh was exposed as a liar during his testimony was because Democrats forced the release of documents concerning Judge Kavanaugh that were classified as ‘committee confidential’ by Republicans and, therefore, barred from public consumption. The senate, after issuing threats to do so, still might punish Senator Cory Booker for his part in forcing the release of these documents.
American politics have all but gone completely insane and there is no one in sight who has the courage, determination, strength and support to reintroduce that lost sanity. As a matter of fact, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Paul Ryan are complicit in enabling Mr. Trump in the outrageous and unorthodox things that he is doing. They have completely abdicated their responsibilities and are blindly rubberstamping everything that he is doing even though they know that many of those things are detrimental to the United States and her allies. This is altogether shameful and neither of these men, after their current term, should ever be elected to a political position again!
The upcoming 2018 and 2020 elections are extremely important. What we do as American voters at those times will say who we want to be. What is happening in this country right now does not reflect who we really are as Americans! We need to rid ourselves of “Trump’s America” and return to being the true America: the America that we have always been and always been proud of! We do not need to, or should we ever want to, pattern America after the countries run by despots! They should be patterning themselves after us; the land of the free! Let’s not let Mr. Trump or the Republican party or anyone else lure us into being anything other than that shining city on a hill that we have always been.
So if there is anyone, no matter who they are, who is trying to sabotage America and lead her down the primrose path, let’s fight back with all of our strength and refuse to allow it. We can do this! We can do it by way of our vote, staying informed, always challenging our elected officials when necessary and demanding that they put country first and do the right thing. So always remember, whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line