The Immoderate Susan Collins: After a long career voting across the aisle, why did the Maine senator gamble her legacy on Trump?
Spoiler: The article doesn’t really answer that question. It’s one of those dealing with why people who might have been principled in another time, and who like to present themselves as principled, have bent the knee to our would-be king.
It’s a good article, though, with lots of material for thinking about that question. Some excerpts:
In the span of Trump’s administration, Collins has gone from being broadly beloved, understood as one of the more humane and thoughtful Republicans in her party, to being widely reviled, regarded by Democrats as a loyal foot soldier to her ever-more-extreme right-wing cohort and party leader and by some members of that cohort as an unreliable waffler.
It’s a recent thing, definitely since Trump was elected.
Multiple organizations that had previously endorsed or supported Collins have turned on her for the first time: NARAL. The League of Conservation Voters. Planned Parenthood, which gave the officially pro-choice Republican an award as recently as 2017, in January endorsed her leading Democratic opponent, Sara Gideon. In the final quarter of 2019, Gideon, the Speaker of the Maine House who has not even won the primary yet (she is running in a big field which includes Democratic Socialist Betsy Sweet, Bre Kidman, Tiffany Bond, and Ross LaJeunesse) raised $3.5 million — $1.2 million more than Collins. The race is expected to ultimately draw close to $50 million, the most expensive in the history of Maine.
Former senator Harry Reid recalled how during Obama’s first term, when he was majority leader, “one of the first things we had to do was get a stimulus bill passed.” Reid said he immediately went to Collins, who agreed to help. The stimulus bill that passed, Reid told me, “wasn’t as good as Obama wanted it to be” (in part because Collins worked to reduce its scope before she signed up), “but the reason I give you that example is to show you how she’s changed.”
Anyhow, read the whole thing.
WaterGirl
I would say it was more flushing her legacy down the toilet, as opposed to gambling her legacy. But maybe that’s just me.
Cacti
She didn’t change.
She was always a huge phony.
JPL
@Cacti: this.
Betty Cracker
Trump doesn’t degrade the character of people in his orbit; he reveals it.
Kraux Pas
Ooh, I see an opportunity to peg the Democrats with charges of reckless spending and reduce the effectiveness of their efforts. Teehee…
Edmund Dantes
Yes. She didn’t change.
it’s just the world polarized so much around her, she could no longer hide in all the free passes.
They became rarer to have, and the party base less understanding of the need for them.
Barbara
@Betty Cracker: Exposing the shit beneath the shine . . . When you dig beneath the surface with Collins, you will find that she is hardly ever put in a position where she has to sink a Republican priority or be the decisive voter for either a Democratic priority or a Republican priority that is deeply noxious to Maine voters. The exceptions stand out, like the recovery act and the ACA.
My dad pointed out to me once how the tennis player Steffi Graf would run around the court so that she could hit every ball with her forehand. Bud Collins used to call her Fraulein Forehand. Susan Collins runs around the court trying her best not to exercise the power that would almost certainly be hers as a swing or independent vote in Senate. She is a weak person, and her “reasonableness” is often simply the mask that she wears to avoid having to actually cross important people. The ACA vote is probably the stand out vote, but even then, you can see how it was made because her back was against the wall. So, you know, self-preservation is still a thing even in the world of quislings like Collins.
Roger Moore
@WaterGirl:
She’s gambling that history will be written by Trumpists.
MattF
Collins has been a Senator far too long, she’s run out of places to hide.
cmorenc
What are the chances the Rs will entice a 3rd party (or independent) spoiler into the Maine US Senate race and covertly back them, with the aim of squeaking Collins through to re-election with a just-enough plurality, the way LaPage squeaked through to win the Maine governorship with barely 40% of the total vote?
bemused
@Betty Cracker:
He revels in it.
Villago Delenda Est
This one is really easy. Susan Collins is a ceckless funt.
Villago Delenda Est
@Betty Cracker: DING DING DING DING DING
Mike in NC
Flipping the Senate is imperative. Might be doable with Bloomberg or Klobuchar. Sanders would cost D seats in both the Senate and House.
guachi
@cmorenc: Maine now has ranked choice voting. It’s how one of the current Democrats won his seat.
schrodingers_cat
She was always a phony. I lived in Maine during her earlier terms.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@cmorenc: Didn’t Maine switch to ranked-choice voting? I didn’t check the google because I realy need to get writing, I have two deadlines for short articles today and tomorrow and I’m procrastinating by reading BJ comment threads as usual.
Doug
The word people keep dancing around is “Führerprinzip.” Can the umlaut be so hard to find on a modern computer?
Jim Parish
@cmorenc: Since Maine now uses ranked-choice voting, that possibility is much less likely, if not outright impossible.
dww44
O/T, but I received a call yesterday afternoon from CA Polling Company. I decided to participate in the poll and the first couple of questions were standard ones, like if I were planning on voting in the upcoming Presidential primary. The third question asked if I had heard of Tulsi Gabbard and gave me only 2 options from which to select: “Did I have a very favorable opinion of her,” or did I have a “mostly favorable opinion of her”. I said nothing and waited to hear the other options. The question was then repeated with only the two choices of favorability. Then I hung up. What kind of poll was that?
Interestingly, the only other call I’ve received was a call from the Mike Bloomberg campaign out of Atlanta (or at least the call was) asking who I was supporting among the Dem primary candidates. This was also a call from an actual live human being. I pleasantly responded Elizabeth Warren and thanked him for the call.
kindness
A recent thing? No. Not really. Collins did the same thing during Obama’s 2 terms. She deserves to be booted.
MattF
@dww44: Results are: 100% favorable!! You didn’t wait long enough for the questions about Putin.
Barbara
@cmorenc: Didn’t Maine adopt ranked choice voting? With or without ranked choice voting, I think the kind of person Rs could induce to run third party would be just as likely to siphon votes from Collins. The candidates who ran against LePage were not induced by Rs to run. They were just stubborn.
James E Powell
It would be more accurate to say that Collins turned on those organizations and their priorities.
@WaterGirl:
If she is re-elected, the press/media will shower her with praise for her principled stand against leftist bullies. If she and Trump are re-elected, then we are so f**ked that nothing she says or does will matter anymore.
Cheryl Rofer
@dww44: Push poll. Interesting that Gabbard, or someone in whose interest it is to push Gabbard is doing this.
MattF
@Cheryl Rofer: Another reason to ignore polling requests. There’s a lot of lyin’ out there.
Kraux Pas
IIRC,AITID, it was the same independent candidate both times, Elliot Cutler. And to be fair to him, he actually outperformed the Democrat the first time. Would that make the D the spoiler?
Elliot Cutler may actually be single-handedly responsible for the implementation of ranked choice voting. In the long run, it may have been worth it.
Jerzy Russian
@Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!):
You an me both.
Duane
Rudy Colludi is on the Glenn Beck show now. Keep talking you traitorous rat.
trollhattan
@dww44:
Huh, push-polling disguised as a poll. Who’d-a thunk?
Reminds me of the old Colbert interview bit: “George W. Bush–great president or greatest president?
Citizen Alan
@cmorenc:
There’s already a spoiler in the race: “she is running in a big field which includes Democratic Socialist Betsy Sweet
EDIT: I had forgotten Maine had ranked choice. That alleviates my concerns about Sweet. Never mind.
trollhattan
@Duane:
Glenn Beck has a show again? These assholes never go away, do they? I suppose Rush has a solution for that, unless it’s a gimmick.
Don K
@Doug:
Well, in place of the umlaut one can add an “e” behind the umlauted vowel. I usually do it that way to avoid having to look up the ASCII.
Kraux Pas
@Jerzy Russian:
And another one…
paradox
From a history perspective I’m glad to see that stimulus catastrophe kept fresh. If we ever get unified Democratic government it’s a supreme lesson in what not to do. At the time I was furious for Collins and Obama letting $200 billion get taken off, god, how many families left on the street did that mean?
The second act came next year with nothing done. It was the dumbest political non-action any of us will ever see. All the country got disgusted, the Democrats totally demoralized and our asses completely handed to us in the mid-terms, way to go, Barrack.
Don’t go hating on our brother, he could only do so much. Bullshit, and I resent the implication that for whatever reason Obama is immune to criticism.
I do what I can to remember what happened to Glenn Greenwald, he let so many problems of the infuriating Democratic Party get to him he eventually went berserk and hated us more than Republicans. Not many things have gone right for a while, it happens, I’m still with my people. Yes there’s nowhere else to go, but still, there are many times when it’s all right.
Kraux Pas
I believe this refers to the primary.
Kraux Pas
The ACA was nothing. A mere trifle.
Don K
@Barbara:
Maine these days seems to have a monopoly on the supply of moderate-to-liberal former Republicans who think it’s icky to identify as, run as, or vote for, Democrats, and instead go Independent.
Barbara
You can compare Collins to Max Baucus or Joe Lieberman, to name two infuriating examples. They made Democrats earn every swing vote by demanding policy changes (almost always to benefit the insurance industry). There is no reason why Collins and others could not do the same thing with Republican legislation. Instead, they opt for tactical and procedural positions that allow them to skate through by ensuring that Republican priorities prevail while preserving the barest fig leaf that they actually cared about their constituents’ interests. Kavanaugh is where Susie’s usual game became too transparent for people to be fooled. It’s totally noxious.
Cervantes
How about Vladimir Putin has dirt on a lot of Republican senators and he’s blackmailing them? That would explain a lot.
Barbara
@Don K: Maine is the oldest state in the nation, although I think it vies with West Virginia for that claim. There are a lot of backward looking people ready to reward that gambit.
MattF
@Don K: Probably true for ex-Republicans generally— their views haven’t changed, but their party is gone, baby, gone.
J R in WV
Having a land-line (as cell service is geographically impossible at our residence) we get polled pretty regularly. I kind of enjoy it, as the pollsters sometimes appear to be trying to outwit those they are polling.
Big news here… our newly rehabilitated little pond now has frog eggs floating in it — the first of this season, after missing several seasons without sufficient and constant water levels in the tiny pond. I had heard a frog call on afternoon earlier last weekend, saw it floating happily, then there were a couple of days of frozen over lightly, now potential new life!
Also saw late last week on my way to town a giant Blue Heron about half a mile downstream, which could eat a ton of frog caviar and amphibian sushi IF it were to find our tiny pond, but since we are several hundred yards from the creek which Herons primarily hunt in, that’s pretty unlikely. Friends who had a koi pond down in NC had a Heron take all but a couple of their fish. Bob was like “What exactly am I allowed to do in defense of my fish? Nothing!” because Herons are protected! heh heh. Me too. Just watch, take pics if possible.
Anyways, glad to see the frogs, hope we will have tons of peeps and croaks and splishing around all spring. We typically have 4 or 5 species of frogs and some toads gleefully reproducing in the tiny pond, and love hearing them out the front door. I have posted pics of froggy love in the long ago, will do so again if we have any major success to report. Other amphibians as well, salamanders of various types.
zhena gogolia
Kent
This exactly. Trump is a mirror. Hold him up to someone and he reveals who they are.
Evangelical Christians have completely failed the test.
The entire GOP minus Romney and Justin Amash. failed the test.
Most of Trump’s executive branch appointees failed the test other than those few who bravely chose to testify.
Those who tried to thread the needle like Rex Tillerson and John Kelly failed the test.
And Collins has most certainly failed the test.
Every one of them has betrayed their oath’s of office. Nothing else the say or do means anything after that.
Kent
@zhena gogolia: My vote is for New Mexico. Smaller population than Iowa. 10% of the population is Native American, 50% is Hispanic. Let them spend all winter tramping around the Navajo reservation begging for votes. And listening to the opinions of the abuelas in the comedors in south Albuquerque for a change, instead of all the grumpy old white men in Iowa diners.
CT is the New York media market which is most expensive in the country. Hard place to start a campaign.
The Moar You Know
@Cacti: What has changed is us. I’ve got a “moderate” friend who really wants to be a Republican but doesn’t want to lose all his friends. He was raving about Bloomberg this weekend and I just snapped at him “just go ahead and register Republican, I don’t fucking want to hear the excuses anymore”. And I think a lot of Dems are getting pushed to this point – we don’t want to hear the bullshit anymore. Fucking vote GOP or don’t. But don’t expect it to come without a cost. Because we’re not handing out passes to “the nice ones” anymore.
Barbara
@Kent: No, the world has changed. What Bloomberg is proving is that you might actually be able to sit out these “tramp around the state for months on end” activities and go directly to online and tv advertising. It’s obscene that Harris and Warren, to name two, had to spend so many resources in Iowa rather than cultivating a wider range of states. Iowa and NH distort the process in more than one way. The insistence on going first isn’t because they really care about being first it’s because they want to generate a lot of dollars being spent in their backyard. But that makes those dollars unavailable for other states. Unless you have limitless dollars. This really, really can’t continue. Democrats (and Republicans too if they want to continue being a party) have to change the primary landscape.
gene108
@paradox:
No one should be free from criticism.
No matter how successful they have been, we must always focus on the things they didn’t accomplish.
We must always zero in on the negatives.
Praise leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to the dark side.
Always be critical. Always point out mistakes. Give no one credit for anything, because nothing humans do is ever perfect.
WaterGirl
@Cervantes: Do we still have a Cervantes and a cervantes?
randy khan
The way I think of Collins is that in rational Administrations – more or less every one that preceded Trump – she had a lot of opportunities to look like a principled centrist while staying loyal to the party where it mattered. In this Administration, where the Republicans have a relatively small margin in the Senate and where the outrageous is normal – she has a lot fewer opportunities to act like a centrist without incurring significant potential costs within the party. She’s chosen not to incur those costs, and is now at risk in the general.
This, by the way, is something of the story for a lot of Republicans in Congress – they fear their own party more than they fear the broader electorate, and act accordingly.
Barbara
@paradox: The “second year” is the year the ACA was passed. In what sense was that “nothing”
ETA: I do think and thought at the time that the ACA needed to offer more up front sweeteners. That’s what they did with Medicare Part D, which also had a three year lead time before going into effect.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Kent:
And it’s pathetic that they still try to act like anything they say or do means anything anymore. Susan Collins has no credibility anymore. Neither does Secretary of State Pompous. Neither do any of the other GOP Sentors who voted to “acquit” Trump. Yet they’ll still go on the Sunday morning shows and bloviate like they always do. It’s infuriating and I just wish somebody would scream in their faces that their assholes and phony fakes.
What do you call a politician that’s not popular, has no credibility, and yet gets re-elected anyway? Bonus points if their district is heavily gerrymandered and/or get lots of dark money contributions? Illegitimate
Nelle
@Barbara: Speaking from Iowa, I agree. Oh, sure, I liked getting to see everyone up front and close. Yay, me. And we lost the candidates I most liked. Warren is a favorite of those I know yet she has just vanished from coverage. I mean really, of that vast and interesting field, I’m told that some old white men and one young white man are my choices? Iowa likes grabbing the cash, but it is short-sighted and unpatriotic. (It feels like Putin is running the Democratic primary, hand in hand with the media. It’s getting to be his dream field. I’m down to endurance. Most nights, my husband comes up from the basement and says, “Uh, I gave Warren some more cash.” I think I might do so in penance for this comment.)
Kent
@Barbara: Lord knows I don’t have the answer. But if you go with more of a national primary than Biden would probably have been our nominee. I don’t know how you whittle it down to a final candidate if you have 15 candidates with no one getting more than about 10-15%. Maybe some sort of 2-tier national primary. Run a preliminary primary then a final primary with the final two choices or something. Or do ranked choice voting.
I agree the system is broken. If Bloomberg accomplishes anything it may be the nail in the coffin of IA and NH. But I hate also to see the precedent be only billionaires can run for president. Something is wrong when Bloomberg can give $300 million to his OWN campaign, but he can’t give it to say Kamala Harris’ campaign.
Baud
@dww44: Be thankful you had two options.
Kent
At least the centrist Dems like Lieberman managed to get some policy concessions for their dickish moves to the center. Show me one example, just one, of some policy concession that Collins has extracted out of McConnell or Trump for all her hand-wringing. You can’t because there aren’t any. It’s all just performance art. They bought her vote for nothing more than giving her an occasional platform to grandstand in front of the cameras.
Barbara
@Kent: Many things could be change. First, you could refuse to honor any primary before February 15, and then stage primaries with, say, five relatively small but representative states holding primaries. And then have a rotating schedule of primaries over the next 10-12 weeks. Refuse to accept caucus results, period.
Nelle
@J R in WV: Keep these bits of respite coming. They are sorely needed these days. Two days ago, fat robins began showing up in the backyard, making the finches and juncos I’ve been watching the last few months look rather petite. There’s a farm pond about half a mile to the west where a huge herd of Canadian geese have over-wintered (yes, I chose the word “herd” deliberately). All morning, they have been flying low and slow over the house to the northeast, big V-shaped shadows across the snow. It strikes me that there will actually be a spring this year.
schrodingers_cat
@zhena gogolia: Massachusetts
Kraux Pas
@schrodingers_cat: I’d like to agree with Massachusetts because I’m selfish, but we’re also an expensive media market. Maybe Rhode Island? I don’t know how expensive they are.
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Roger Moore:
That’s a thought that sometimes keeps we awake at night.
gene108
@Kent:
New Mexico replaces Iowa.
New Jersey replaces New Hampshire.
NJ is geographically smaller than NH.
Plenty of diners.
More diverse, both racially and economically.
DNC puts a cap on what Democratic candidates can spend in advertisements, so candidates can manage advertising budgets in the NYC / Philly markets.
joel hanes
@Barbara:
The insistence on going first isn’t because they really care about being first it’s because they want to generate a lot of dollars being spent in their backyard.
This may be true, but it’s not what Iowans say (I’m an Iowa expatriate).
Iowans justify it to themselves by saying that, because Iowa is small and rural, Iowa needs to first, because otherwise “our voices won’t be heard”. A majority of Iowa voters apparently believe that their own self-interest is best served by strong government support for corn ethanol and export soybeans, fervent opposition to abortion, reduced estate taxes, etc.
I have never seen a Des Moines Register op-ed or letter to the editor that suggests that Iowa’s priority and the concomitant strength of its “voice” are bad things for the nation as a whole, and that the needs of the many should outweigh the needs of the few.
Kent
@Barbara: Probably the biggest obstacle will be the states, especially red states who may want to undermine or just ignore DNC-led primary reforms. Since primaries are state-administered I’m not sure how much leverage the DNC has to push forward things like ranked choice voting or closed primaries, or even set primary dates. Especially if they are going to piggyback off local primary elections and it is more than just the presidential candidates the ballot.
J R in WV
@Nelle:
I grew up on a dry mountain ridge top, so amphibians and water birds were new to me. First flying geese I ever saw I was in boot camp at Great Lakes, Illinois, back in 1970.
A small formation flew overhead, honking gently, free as the wind, while I was for all intents and purposes a prisoner of the Military behind a fence. It was a moving learning experience!
Now we have our tiny frog pond right by the front door, and a small ephemerial stream by the house, flowing down to the full-time creek in the big hollow. Owls nesting on the ridge top behind us hooting at twilight. Hawks calling in the afternoon, and frogs calling as soon as it warms up a little bit.
I’m spending more time with fiction and comic strips, and less time with politics, for my health. And contributing to Warren and Klobuchar, both.
gene108
@Kraux Pas:
I am guessing a small state like RI gets most of its media from Boston, and very little actually exists in the state.
Kraux Pas
@gene108: No, they have their own media market with decent penetration into southern MA.
I used to get RI channels on Tv when I had satellite and Ri is fully half of my radio dial.
Kent
I’d maybe pick a state like Georgia or North Carolina over New Jersey to pair with New Mexico. One that is trending blue but not quite there yet. You get the same diversity without having to deal with the incredible problem of the fact that both of New Jersey’s media markets are actually out-of-state. Maybe that matters less these days with cable and internet. I don’t know. Not my area of expertise.
Nelle
@J R in WV: Just remembering an owl hooting at night, whether in Kansas or New Zealand, helps me remember to breathe again. I mostly don’t realize that I’m holding my breath much of the time. (Thanks!)
Planetjanet
@gene108: You sure got up on the wrong side of the bed.
Skepticat
Put me down as one of her “constituents” in the category of those who revile her.
ThresherK
Collins is Invisible Boy from Mystery Men: A moderate until someone looks at her.
gene108
@Planetjanet:
Get sick of the Obama slagging, like @paradox did.
He did more to advance the Democratic agenda, than any President in ages.
He pulled us out of a terrible recession. What he did wasn’t perfect, but between right-wing hatred and liberal hatred, you’d think he was no better than GWB.
Why do Republicans seem stronger than Democrats, when their policies objectively suck? Because Republicans would praise and praise any President, who could do even half of what Obama accomplished (ex. Reagan, Ronald W.). They wouldn’t worry about, if the size of the tax cut for rich fuckwads was big enough. They would just be joyous a tax cut for rich fuckwads got passed, and go all over the media talking about how this tax cut would will supercharge the economy, and cure male pattern baldness.
There were so many good things that happened during the Obama years, but all 2016 ended up being about was how Obama failed. A lot of it driven by people supposedly on our side, who would rather be right, than win elections.
gene108
@Kent:
The Philly market (Southern NJ) gives the added bonus of introducing candidates to southeastern PA, which Democrats need to turn out, in order to win the state, as well as Delaware.
NYC market also reaches CT, and NYS areas adjacent to NYC.
Gets a lot of exposure over a larger region.
Brachiator
I guess I am not that interested in Collins. The Republicans en masse decided to back Trump all the way. Unless she finds ethics and courage, she is just another co-conspirator.
I am mildly interested to see whether Mitt Romney falls back into disrepute or stands up to Trump and the other GOP traitors.
Duane
@Barbara: Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont have the oldest average populations, followed by West Virginia and Florida.
Jay
emjayay
@Doug: u with an umlaut is Alt 0252.
Bill Arnold
@J R in WV:
There are heron decoys available. Male IIRC. A heron will often avoid another hunting heron if possible.
Brachiator
@Jay:
Ha! I tend to skip over anything like this. I also tune out pundit show segments where a conservative starts to opine about what the Democrats should do.
MoxieM
@Doug: On an Apfel, Option-u for an umlaüt; Option-s for an eßet. easy peasy.
polyorchnid octopunch
@gene108: Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to stress. Stress leads to doobies. Doobies lead to twinkies.
Commenting at Balloon Juice since 1937
Both the RNC and DNC were hacked. Only DNC materials have been released. That batch of embarrassing black mail is the only explanation that I can think to explain the en masse conversion of every GOP member into lock step Trumpers.
Planetjanet
@gene108: Amen.
Geoboy
@Barbara: Actually, West Virginia didn’t become a state until the Civil War, when it was split off Virginia due to being a bastion of Union support in an otherwise Confederate state. How times have changed.
Barbara
@Geoboy: “Oldest” meaning average age of residents of Maine and West Virginia is higher than in any other state. Not the age of the state. I thought that was more obvious in context than it probably was.
Barbara
@Duane: Thanks. It’s moved around since I last looked, probably several years ago.
patrick II
@joel hanes:
Corn. You will never hear a candidate, democratic or republican, say that using alcohol made from corn is inefficient and actually harms the environment. And corn subsidies will remain as long as Iowa has the first primary.
catclub
The nothing was referring to the stimulus bill that was too small (thanks to Collins) and NOT heavily advertised as ‘brought to you by the Democratic party”. So when unemployment was still over 8? 9? %, it became nothing.
catclub
@polyorchnid octopunch: So what about Doritos?
Archon
@catclub:
“Nothing” and “too small”, usually mean different things.
catclub
@Kent: That seems sensible. But why not Pennsylvania?
I also think that jumping NC in front of SC would make for squabbles. [Although NH and IA would be whining the loudest, by far.]
I wonder if there is some requirement that GOP and democratic primaries have to coincide?
Barbara
@catclub: They don’t have to coincide but if they don’t the state has to go through the exercise twice. It’s better for turnout and for the number of polling places and so on that they be conducted at the same time. Of course if more states moved to mailing ballots it could be much less expensive.
Bobby Thomson
What an unmitigated crock of shit. Collins has been a highly partisan Republican since being elected, casting meaningless “moderate” votes when they didn’t matter. I can count on one hand the time she was the deciding vote on anything really important.
Bobby Thomson
@ThresherK: This.
Bobby Thomson
@randy khan: also, this.