HAS MAINE RUBBER STAMP SENATOR SUSAN COLLINS LOST HER MIND?

"My hero!"

Maine's "other senator," Susan Collins, figured out long ago to keep her head down and just do whatever the popular Olympia Snowe does. Then she got into bed-- forgive me for that image; I meant metaphorically-- with Joe Lieberman. She kicked Snowe's sober counsel to the curb and started slavishly following the advise of her new role model, Neocon darling and warmonger extraordinaire, Holy Joe. And if there is one thing everybody can agree with about Collins is that she's a follower. She has been a Bush Regime rubber stamp from the very beginning. In fact, when People For the American Way launched their new program to keep the Supreme Court from becoming a permanent right wing bastion, Vote the Court, the very first-- and as of this writing-- the only race they are focusing on is between 100% Bush Regime rubber stamp Collins and Representative Tom Allen. Here's what the People For the American Way's independent Voter Alliance had to say about Collins:

Senator Susan Collins likes to present herself as a moderate, but her votes to confirm right-wing nominees to the Supreme Court show that when it matters, she falls right in line behind George W. Bush.

The Senate doesn’t need a Bush loyalist who enables the right-wing’s most destructive plans. We need someone who will stand up to ultra-conservative nominees.

Bush has nominated hundreds and hundreds of extreme right-wing activist judges, far more than just Alito and Roberts, judges who are put into lifetime positions for one purpose and one purpose only: protecting the interests of Big Business and Corporations and riding roughshod over the interests of consumers, workers and civil liberties. Collins has been one of the most dependable rubber stamps for the Bush Regime's efforts to pack the court system. Her votes have zero to do with representing Maine; they are indistinguishable from votes cast by reactionaries from Texas, Alabama and Mississippi.

Following Lieberman's advice, Collins has decided the best way to advance her campaign was to launch a hate-filled campaign against the blogger community. Yesterday her off-kilter senatorial campaign launched a full frontal assault on DailyKos, MoveOn.org and Firedoglake. Petrified of the inevitable "Macaca Moment," she has demanded that citizens with video cameras stop taping her public appearances. As we've said before, Republicans hate technology. And, worse, they hate democracy. Collins' deranged blogger went on a bizarre and shrill rampage yesterday referring to Firedoglake, the most successful political blog run by women as "the foul-mouthed fem-blog Firedoglake" and calling them "fringe fanatics."

Childish name calling and demonizing of women exercising their constitutional rights for political participation isn't going to save Collins' floundering career. And as far as "fringe fanatics," FDL has been at the heart of the movement to hold the Bush Regime accountable and to end the occupation of Iraq, positions that are as mainstream in our country as mom and apple pie. If you examine their relative positions on the issues, it is clearly Collins who is out of step and Collins who is the "fringe fanatic."

Collins official web site is over run with far right psychos. Before the fake moderate scrubs it look at this comment from one of her supporters, Arthur Frain, published on her site:

You know what this country needs? Another terrorist attack. Take out SF or some other city full of dirty libs, and then the country will rally behind the GOP for protection.

But move away from Collins' childish, Lieberman-inspired, divisive politics for a moment. People in Maine want to know when the U.S. will be wrapping up Bush's catastrophic and foolish adventure in Iraq. If Collins has her way, the answer is never. Tom Allen was just over there visting with the troops and talking with U.S. and Iraqi officials. He came back more convinced than ever that we must change Bush's disastrous policies. "We should be debating not whether we're going to withdraw, but how soon and how we're going to leave Iraq. That's what I think we need to do." 

It's what most members of the Congress and most Americans think we need to do. It isn't what Susan Collins and her fringe supporters think we need to do. Collins is completely out of step with Maine voters. She represents the Bush Regime, not the voters of Maine. Her voting record would be just about right for Mississippi but is an embarrassment for Mainers.

Olympia Snowe switched away from blind support for the Bush Regime as a matter of principle. It is likely that as her approval ratings sink into oblivion, Collins will also switch her position-- not out of principle, but because of an instinct for survival. After Lieberman was defeated in the Democratic primary, he campaigned in the general election as a born-again anti-war candidate. The day after he was elected by Republicans and low-info Democrats who took him at his word, he was back on the warpath, urging Bush to escalate the war and to expand it into Iran. That's Collins' new mentor. Her old mentor, Olympia Snowe, has taken a very different path, which explains why Snowe is respected and Collins is a reviled laughing stock. Remember 75% of Mainers agree with Snowe and Allen that it's time to end the occupation of Iraq. Even half the Republicans in the state feel that way!

Sen. Olympia Snowe, who split from the Senate Republican caucus and President Bush last month to support a withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, couldn't take more than a few steps before being stopped Thursday on a walking tour of Portland. In small groups, people approached Maine's senior senator to clutch her hand and congratulate her.

...Snowe's call for the removal of most U.S. troops-- and her support for an unsuccessful Democratic amendment to the defense spending bill, which would have imposed an April 2008 deadline-- puts her in the middle of Maine public opinion, which became obvious as she spent Thursday talking to people in Portland, Brunswick and Saco.

... By contrast, several people on Thursday who thanked Snowe for her war stand quickly added that they want Maine's other senator, Republican Susan Collins, to either join Snowe in calling for a withdrawal of troops or lose her seat next year. Collins is being challenged for re-election in 2008 by Democratic Rep. Tom Allen, who opposes the war.

In Washington, Collins spokeswoman Jen Burita said Maine's junior senator does not support a deadline for troop withdrawal...

No she doesn't. She just wants to demonize women bloggers and kiss George Bush's ass. We got this clip from My Two Sense:



If you'd like to show your support for freedom of political participation-- even for "hated fem-bloggers" like Jane and Christy-- please consider making a contribution to the stalwart progressive who can put an overdue end to the miserable rubber stamp career of Collins, Tom Allen. Our Blue America page already has 273 donors for Tom, who have given an average of $26.89. Collins gets her campaign warchest from lobbyists and wealthy donors with a vested interest in keeping another Bush rubber stamp in Congress.


UPDATE: FIREDOGLAKE RESPONDS TO SUSAN COLLINS' NAME CALLING

COLLINS CAMPAIGN IN SEXIST ATTACK ON LEADING BLOG
Firedoglake Calls for Apology and Firing of Collins Campaign Blogger

WASHINGTON, DC AUGUST 15, 2007 - On the same day that Susan Collin's Senate reelection campaign chief of staff Steve Abbott was pronouncing that "we have long prided ourselves on our efforts to maintain a civil level of discourse over the course of spirited political campaigns," Collins' Director of Internet Strategy, Lance Dutson, launched a false and offensive attack against the highly respected blog, Firedoglake, best known for its groundbreaking liveblogging of the Scooter Libby trial.

Firedoglake's founder, Jane Hamsher demanded an apology and the firing of Dutson for his characterization of the blog as "the foul-mouthed fem-blog FiredogLake." (http://www.mainewebreport.com/2007/08/14/desperately-stalking-susan)

"I'm deeply offended that Senator Collins would speak about professional women in such a degrading and offensive manner," said Hamsher. "It is well beneath the dignity becoming a sitting Senator to engage in such coarse and misogynistic rhetoric."

Christy Hardin Smith, featured FDL blogger, said: "The sexist undertones used on Sen. Collins' blog are appalling; the use of "fem-blog" is erroneous and dismissive.  Citizens in this country have a right-- an obligation-- to hold those who ask us for our votes accountable. Women have just as much right as men to speak up for their country and their families, whether Senator Collins likes that or not."

Firedoglake, one of the leading progressive blogs with over 500,000 readers per week, publishes posts by Jane Hamsher, Christy Hardin Smith, Trex and Pacachutec both male bloggers, and guest posts by an additional 4 women and 6 male bloggers. Firedoglake received critical acclaim with its in-depth coverage of the Valerie Plame case culminating in the blog's live gavel-to-gavel coverage of the Scooter Libby trial-- coverage that drew applause from leading journalism professionals. The New York Times, in a page one story noted that "the Firedoglake 'live blog' has offered the fullest, fastest public report available. Many mainstream journalists use it to check on the trial."

Highly engaged in the political arena, Firedoglake joined with Crooks & Liars, Digby's Hullabaloo and Down With Tyranny, to launch the Blue America Pac, which raised half a million dollars during the 2006 election cycle. FDL features weekly interviews with candidates and recently hosted online conversations with presidential candidates Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. Chris Dodd.