Tag: Susan Collins

A Wine Snob Reviews the Political Class

David Deeble
David Deeble
2319
 

Nancy Pelosi
Aged over a period of 80 years, Pelosi will strike many political connoisseurs as almost pickled. Imperious, regal, and with an extraordinarily high alcohol content, Pelosi’s bouquet almost washes over you like the tide or the administrative state. Most palates outside Mill Valley will find this varietal has lost a step.

Mitch McConnell
McConnell almost teases you with a laconic nature. With a fragrant bouquet redolent of bourbon and cocaine, McConnell is an excellent choice for anyone whose palate favors character and mastery above all. A superb choice for reshaping the federal judiciary into the originalist mold for at least a generation.

Joe Manchin
Technically a red but with unmistakable blue streaks yielding a kind of wishy-washy purple hue, Manchin is a rarity on the current scene. Widely disliked, Manchin is nevertheless redolent of rich dark coal and finishes delightfully with hints of fiscal sanity and the second amendment.

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Member Post

David Foster
David Foster
45
 

The mobbing of Judge (now Justice) Brett Kavanaugh is one of the most vile things I have ever seen in American policies, with echoes of the Salem Witch Trials, the ‘recovered memory’ hysteria, the McCarthy era, and the lynchings and mob violence that have darkened our history.  Two senators stood up strongly and with some […]
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Three Martini Lunch

Israel-UAE Peace, Dems’ Maine Problem, Jobless Numbers Drop Again

23
Hosted by Greg Corombos & Jim Geraghty

Join Jim and Greg as they sip three good martinis today. First, they’re thrilled to hear that Israel and the United Arab Emirates are normalizing relations. They also shudder to learn the Maine Democratic Senate hopeful Sara Gideon repeatedly blocked legislation to ban female genital mutilation, but are thankful the story is coming to light for voters to consider. And they cheer weekly first-time jobless claims dropping below one million for the first time since the pandemic began.

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Bring On the Witnesses

Clifford A. Brown
Clifford A. Brown
4015
 

McSally Collins GardnerYes, new witnesses will prolong the process by weeks at a minimum, and voting for witnesses under a Cocaine Mitch-Ted Cruz plan is likely necessary to a Trump and Trump-voter-supporting Congress winning this November. On Friday, there will be a series of votes. It is now more likely than not that there will be 51 votes, including Susan Collins (Republican-Maine), Mitt Romney (Snake-Self Serving), Lamar Alexander (Retiring-Chamber of Commerce), and Lisa Murkowski (Scheming-Big Union and Oil).

Senator Collins faithfully represents her state. She is a woman of honor who will take a tough vote when needed. It is she who reportedly first floated the common-sense proposal that the Senate trial should be run on the same rules as for the President Clinton trial. There was a basic sense of turn-about as fair play in this. She prevailed; these are the rules in the current Senate trial.

Senator McConnell is reportedly maneuvering for a single basket of witnesses vote, no chance for troublemakers and RINOS to actually work with the Democrats to inflict maximum damage on the president and the Republican majority in the Senate. This will work if he also insists on the Cruz control: paired 1-for-1 witness approval. You want the ‘Stashe? You have to vote for Biden’s boy. You want Mick Mulvaney? You have to vote for Eric Ciaramella. “Do ya really wanna jump?” [officially sanctioned clip, so “R” rated]

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Three Martini Lunch

Kavanaugh Confirmed, Libs’ Call SCOTUS Illegitimate, White Women = ‘Gender Traitors’

22
Hosted by Greg Corombos
With guest Alexandra DeSanctis

Alexandra DeSanctis of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America applaud the Senate for confirming Brett Kavanaugh and, more importantly, for standing up for defending some of the most fundamental principles of the American system of government.  They also sigh as former Attorney General Eric Holder says the legitimacy of the Supreme Court is now in question and only upcoming rulings can answer the question, and Justice Elena Kagan questions whether the high court is legitimate now that there’s no obvious swing justice like Anthony Kennedy or Sandra Day O’Connor.  Alexandra sounds off on a New York Times op-ed calling white women gender traitors who benefit from keeping the patriarchy in place.  And they roll their eyes as Columbus, Ohio, stops observing Columbus Day.

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Senator Collins: Lioness of the Senate

Clifford A. Brown
Clifford A. Brown
8429
 

Senator Susan Collins stood forth on the Senate floor; today she was our Deborah. Senator Lamar Alexander, following her, praised her speech as one for the ages, linked to Senator Margaret Smith. Majority Leader McConnell then said he had been a young staffer when Senator Margaret Smith was the first to denounce McCarthyism. Senator Collins’s speech is important, not only for guaranteeing Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation, but also for marking off the bounds of decency — as her state’s first female Senator did over a generation ago.

Two weeks ago, I wrote “Senator Collins has been a true stateswoman in the Kavanaugh hearings.” A week ago, I observed:

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Three Martini Lunch

Bredesen Breaks Ranks, Libs vs. Reality on Ford, Stumped by Stamps

22
Hosted by Greg Corombos & Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer Tennessee Democratic Senate hopeful Phil Bredesen for bucking the talking points from Washington Democrats and saying the Senate should move forward on the Kavanaugh nomination if Christine Ford refuses to testify.  They also roll their eyes as California Rep. Anna Eshoo claims Ford does not have a political bone in her body, which is patently false, and another California congressman mocks the threats liberals are making against Maine Sen. Susan Collins over this issue.  And they have fun with the news that many college students request and fill out absentee ballots but never mail them in because they have no idea where to get a stamp.

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Three Martini Lunch

Tax Reform Passes, GOP Flirting with Taxpayer-Funded Abortions? Rosie’s Bribery

00
Hosted by Greg Corombos & Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America cheer House and Senate passage of tax cuts and tax reform, noting the vast majority of Americans will see bigger paychecks while the Obamacare individual mandate gets repealed and energy exploration in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is given the green light.  They also recoil at reports that Senate Republican leaders may have agreed to Obamacare bailouts and taxpayer-funded abortions in exchange for Sen. Susan Collins voting for the tax bill.  And they discuss Rosie O’Donnell offering two million dollars apiece for Collins and Sen. Jeff Flake to vote against the tax legislation.

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Member Post

Phil Turmel
Phil Turmel
1312
 

Well, that was quick.  We may never know what part Tuesday’s shellacking of Moore played in the urgency to complete this task, but I’m delighted with the result. Per PowerLine’s quick review, it seems the pieces of each bill that I liked the most have made it into the final bill.  The devil is in […]
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Member Post

Albert Arthur
Albert Arthur
02
 

Susan Collins, John McCain, Rand Paul, and Lisa Murkowski have repeatedly blocked repeal of Obamacare. So where’s their bill? I didn’t address it in the video, but I do know that Paul put out a bill for repeal. However, all it said was, essentially, “Obamacare is repealed.” That’s not a real bill. A real bill […]
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Three Martini Lunch

GOP’s Healthcare Failure, Iran Deal Angst, Sessions Sanctions More Seizures

22
Hosted by Greg Corombos & Jim Geraghty

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America endure three bad martinis today as two more GOP Senators bail on the plan to overhaul Obamacare and a new effort to vote on a clean repeal is already in grave danger of failing.  They criticize President Trump for keeping Obama’s infamous Iran Nuclear Deal without giving his advisers enough time to develop a new policy.  Attorney General Jeff Sessions is another source of disappointment today as he declares his intention to increase the use of civil asset forfeiture, which allows the federal government to seize the property of suspected criminals — without charging them with a crime.

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Get It Together, Senators

Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
Tom Meyer, Common Citizen
3518
 

Good news: Republican members of the US Senate are excited to repeal and replace ObamaCare. Bad news: Even at this late date, they can’t decide on how to do so.

Via the WSJ, one plan comes from Senators Susan Collins (R-ME) and Bill Cassidy (R-LA), who describe it as an “an off-ramp” for the GOP and, likely, amenable enough to Democrats to overcome a filibuster:

The bill would take major decisions out of the hands of Congress and let states choose whether to keep the current law’s core insurance structure, with the promise that if a state opts out it will get the federal funding it would have received to enact its own ideas instead. […] The senators’ proposal, called The Patient Freedom Act of 2017, would effectively allow states to opt out of many of the provisions that form Title I of the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, including the requirement that everyone must obtain health coverage or pay a penalty and an edict that insurers cannot charge older people significantly more than younger people.

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