Susan Collins is a Republican. She is one of the few non T party Republicans left un purged in the Senate, which is not to say she votes like a Democrat. She wants to undo Obamacare and she would vote down any Supreme Court nominee presented by President Obama. If I had my druthers, a Democrat, any Democrat would be sitting in her seat.
But her op ed in the Washington Post was an actually bone fide exercise in conscience, as she detailed all the reasons she could not vote for Donald Trump: 1/ his denigration of the parents of Captain Khan, including the suggestion the mother could not speak because Muslims do not allow women to speak 2/ His taunting and denigration of a handicapped reporter 3/ His attacks on Meghan Kelly, the Fox News reporter, who, he suggested must have been made emotionally unstable by her menstrual cycle, as women are wont to be 4/ His insistence no Hispanic could render an unbiased and fair opinion on his legal case, despite the fact the judge of Mexican heritage was born and raised in Indiana, thus maintaining you are what your ancestors were and nothing more.
She continued down a list of other offenses, although she did not mention his promise to build a wall along the Mexican border and make Mexico pay for it and she did not mention his assertion we should ban all Muslims from crossing the borders of the United States, which he then tried to walk back as all people from countries vexed by terrorism, wink, wink, which are, of course the Muslim countries. Well, those and France, England and the United States.
Even omitting mention of these points, her op ed is persuasive, if you read op ed's. If you read the Post, which excludes nearly all Trump supporters, who, for the most part, like Mr. Trump himself, stopped reading years ago, well stopped reading anything more than Tweets. More than 140 characters and their eyes glaze over.
So, Senator Collins had a moment of moral clarity.
Remember, she's not up for re election this time.
Her Republican buddy, Kelly Ayotte is up for re election. What have we heard from Senator Ayotte. Well, I'm supporting him but not endorsing him. I voted against it before I voted for it. I'm a Republican, but not one of those Republicans.
The fact is, electing Hillary Clinton will not be enough. We have to defeat every Republican we can, clean house, clean Senate. As Bernie noted, it's not enough to defeat Trump; the Tea Party has to be cleaned out like baby rattle snakes.
Then, maybe once we've hit reset, the Republican party can rebirth as a worthy opposition.
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