In May of 2017, Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine started flipping her opinions faster than morning breakfast at the Waffle House. Collins expressed her belief in the United States intelligence agencies declaration that Russia interfered in the Presidential election of 2016. Subsequently, her first opinion on the firing of Jim Comey was, “Well, the president didn’t fire the entire FBI. He fired the director of the FBI.” This obvious switch from alarm to an obsequious acceptance was a warning shot, that she would continue to fire blanks. Later during the debate over what turned out to be a tax cut for corporate America, Collins promised her constituents she was a no vote without concessions to save healthcare. She believed the promise made by a man [Mitch McConnell] who is known to bend, break or make up a rule to win. Collins voted for the tax bill and of course, she got nothing later in return.
Will Democrats allow themselves to be duped again…
Democratic leadership has already started the backflips to woo Sen. Collins in the impending Supreme Court Justice fight to replace Anthony Kennedy. The time to fight has come, the innate decency of Democratic politics has not swayed Republicans to fight fair. Republicans will kick you in the shins, poke you in the eyes and execute the Ric Flair low blow and smile the entire time, wooooooo… Democrats need to follow the lead of the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”— Winston S. Churchill. Politics ebbs and flows like a tide, sometimes your ship comes in, and at other times it drifts out to sea but you do not let your rival pilot the boat.
The disturbing words coming from Democratic leaders in recent weeks, turning their backs on a fighter, like California(D) Rep. Maxine Waters, along with past admonishment of Texas (D) Rep. Al Green and California Democrat Jared Huffman, is a losing strategy. Donald Trump stood before throngs of his sycophants and literally threatened and offered financial support to those who would violently strike his dissenters. Following that he would immediately dispatch his spokespeople to say,” just kidding” that is just the way he talks. Democrats responded with righteous indignation and polite condemnation and moved on. Maxine Waters is right, it is time for some indignant outrage.
This perceived weakness, by enemies of the Democrats, is then exposed to relentless editorials and think pieces on their “civility.” That is predictable from a press looking to justify their compliance to Trump’s celebrity during the campaign. What is not acceptable is the cannibalism from within the Party. I have read at least four pieces this morning sounding the alarm about the Democrats move toward dreaded, “socialism” all but naming Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as the courier of anti-Americanism. America has practiced a form of Democratic Socialism since the formation of a national army but let us not talk facts. It is much more interesting to glamorize and sensationalize the word socialism that in turn ignores solid evidence of Trump’s conspiracy with Vladimir Putin, that has so far resulted in 23 indictments, five guilty pleas and two men in jail. So, while we wait on the Republican Unicorn of fairness, please spare me Susan Collins and her pronouncements of blocking an anti-Roe v. Wade jurist.
Vote in ’18 for Change.