Senate Republicans Like Susan Collins And Lamar Alexander Decide To Show Their True Faces And Forget The "Moderate" Charade

Collins even abandons Lieberman to prove she's still got what it takes to be a brainless rubber stamp

Although some of the most endangered Republican senators, like Norm Coleman (R-MN) and Gordon Smith (R-OR), crossed the aisle and voted with the Democrats, while others likely to have hard times in November, like John Sununu (R-NH) and Liddy Dole (R-NC), hid under their desks and refused to go on the record one way or the other yesterday, most Republicans-- endangered or not-- stood up for what they believe in as a party: unfunded cancer research and child predators. Showing solidarity with deranged Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn and with creepy Republican perverts and sex addicts like Larry Craig, Mitch McConnell and David Diapers Vitter, the vast majority of Senate Republicans-- 43 of them-- voted against yesterday's Advancing America's Priorities Act or "Tomnibus package" of 35 non-controversial, bipartisan bills. As Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid put it, this was purely obstruction for obstruction's sake. This is the absolute perfect example of why every Republican senator just be defeated in November. Among the smirking chimps voting no yesterday-- often again bills they themselves had authored or sponsored!-- were electorally vulnerable Republicans like Mitch McConnell (KY), Susan Collins (ME) Roger Wicker (MS), Lamar Alexander (TN), Saxby Chambliss (GA), James Inhofe (OK), John Cornyn (TX), John Barrasso (WY), Ted Stevens (AK) and Pat Roberts (KS).

The bill to help combat Lou Gehrig's Disease, for example, passed the House 411-3. But Coburn, a crank and a clown, put a hold on it, regardless of how it affects ALS sufferers. Maybe no one in Oklahoma has Lou Gehrig's Disease or knows anyone who does. Actually, no one is against the bill-- not even Coburn; he's just a dick. Last week we talked about why Coburn is considered the biggest clown on Capitol Hill and the scope of the bills he has been holding up. No one who knows anything about Coburn expects anything different of him.

They do, however-- although often without reason-- expect better of Susan Collins of Maine who never tires of billing herself as an "independent voice" and a "moderate." She wasn't very independent or moderate yesterday when it was time to vote. As she usually is, she was in lockstep with the GOP extremist leadership-- for them and against fighting diseases and child predators. A DSCC spokesperson, Matthew Miller, pointed out that "Anyone who thinks it doesn't matter who represents them in Washington should pay attention to what Susan Collins did in the Senate today. Susan Collins chose to follow her party's marching orders over protecting our children and helping victims of stroke and paralysis. Maine deserves better than a politician who plays partisan games with vital legislation."

All the bills passed the House and all passed a Senate committee with Republican co-sponsors and by unanimous voice vote. A third of them were actually written by Republicans! They voted against their own bills! These are the bills independent, moderate Susan Collins voted against today because Mitch McConnell told her to:

HELP Committee bills

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Registry Act (S. 1382/HR 2295)
Christoper and Dana Reeve Paralysis Act (S. 1183/HR 1727)
Stroke Treatment and Ongoing Prevention Act (S. 999/HR 477)
Melanie Blocker Stokes MOTHERS Act (S. 1375)
Vision Care for Kids Act (HR 507/S. 1117) 
Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act (S. 1810/HR 3112) 

Judiciary Committee bills

Emmitt Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crimes Act (S. 535/HR 923)
Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Reauthorization and Improvement Act (S. 2304/HR 3992)
Drug Endangered Kids (HR 1199/S. 1210)
Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act (S. 2982/HR 5524)
Effective Child Pornography Prosecution Act (HR 4120)
Enhancing the Effective Prosecution of Child Pornography (S. 2869/HR 4136)
PROTECT Our Children Act (HR 3845/S 1738)
Star-Spangled Banner and War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission (S. 1079/HR 1389)

Foreign Relations Committee bills

Senator Paul Simon Study Abroad Foundation Act (HR 1469/S 991)
Reconstruction and Stabilization Civilian Management Act (HR 1084/S 613)
OPIC Reauthorization (HR 2798/S 2349)
Tropical Forest and Coral Conservation Reauthorization Act (S. 2020/HR 2185)
Torture Victims Relief Reauthorization Act (HR 1678/S 840)
Support for the Museum of the History of Polish Jews Act (HR 3320)

Homeland Security Government Affairs Committee bills

National Capital Transportation Amendments Act(S. 1446/HR 401)
Preservation of Records of Servitude, Emancipation, and Post-Civil War Reconstruction Act (HR 390)
Predisaster Hazard Mitigation Act (HR 6109/S. 3175)

Commerce Committee bills 

Broadband Data Improvement Act (S. 1492/HR 3919)
Hydrographic Services Improvement Act Amendments (S. 1582/HR 3352)
Ocean Exploration, Mapping & Research (HR 1834/HR 2400/S. 39)
National Sea Grant College Program Amendments Act (S 3160/HR 5618)
Integrated Coastal and Ocean Observation System Act (S. 950/HR 2342)
Federal Ocean Acidification Research and Monitoring Act (S. 1581/HR 4174) 
Training for Realtime Writers Act (S. 675/HR 1687)

Environment and Public Works Committee bills

Captive Primate Safety Act (S. 1498/HR 4933)
The Chesapeake Bay Gateways and Watertrails Network Continuing Authorization Act (S. 2707/HR 5540)
Beach Protection Act (S 2844/HR 2537)
Appalachian Regional Development Act Amendments of 2008 (S. 496/HR 799)

Rules bill

Smithsonian greenhouse bill (HR 5492)