Will Mainers Remember In 2020? Perhaps Justice Kavanaugh Will Remind Then Now And Then

Ted Cruz never hesitated or thought twice about his vote for Brett Kavanaugh. He fund-raised off it. It's who he is, who he's always been and will always be. Yesterday, after the 50-48 vote roll call, Beto send a note to Texas voters saying, clearly: "Today, the Senate voted on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. If I were in the Senate, I would have voted no. Maybe that's why Schumer and the DSCC aren't supporting his race-- way too plain-spoken; no hedging there. No Republican-lite bullshit either.

The events of the past two weeks--  including Dr. Ford’s courageous, powerful, and credible testimony and Judge Kavanaugh’s temperament in his response--  have only added to my concern that he does not meet the bar to serve on the Supreme Court.

I am disappointed that he was confirmed. I know that today’s news and the headlines we’ve seen over the last few weeks have been extremely difficult for many Texans and especially painful for survivors of sexual assault and sexual harassment-- so many of whom bravely spoke out, shared their stories, and continue to lead the way. The news has also been hard on those who might feel let down after making their voices heard by calling their senators, organizing with one another, uniting for what we believe in. Today, we are going to come together for one another.

But tonight and tomorrow and in the days that follow, I want you to know that we are going to meet this disappointment weighing on many of us with the power of people who want to make sure that our government represents all of us. In a democracy, the government is the people and the people are the government. If the government does not represent the will of the people, we will change the makeup of the government.

We will ensure that the senators voting on lifetime appointments to the Supreme Court fight for people, for our rights, for our future. That they put country over party. That they bring a sense of civility and decency to what is supposed to be the greatest deliberative body in the world.

Together-- not as Democrats or Republicans but as Texans and Americans-- we will ensure that the next nominee to be confirmed to the Supreme Court represents all of our interests.

We will do it because in a state that is last in voter turnout--  not by accident but by design-- we understand the importance of voting rights.

We will do it because in a state that is the epicenter for the maternal mortality crisis--  three times as deadly for African American women--  we understand that.

Roe vs. Wade is the decided law of the land and that women should be able to make their own decisions about their own bodies, and have access to the healthcare that will save their lives.

We will do it because in a state where you can be fired for being gay and where the justice system does not serve everyone, we understand the importance of civil rights and equal justice under law.

And we will do it because we understand the need to put people over PACs, people over corporations, and people over special interests.

Thank you for staying strong for one another, for Texas, and for this country. We will not let one another down.

Writing on his Facebook page, Dan Rather pointed a finger directly at the senator most responsible for yesterday's debacle-- and it wasn't Mitch McConnell. "So Collins misses her moment to be a hero, and the old bulls win again. Trump, McConnell, Grassley, Hatch, Graham-- the whole lot of them-- win. Again. They are laughing, congratulating one another, and at least metaphorically are popping Champagne. For most women and many men it’s a bitter, devastating loss. Which makes it all the sweeter for the old bulls, and for the forces of power, privilege and money everywhere. A sense that the nation’s climate of justice has taken another turn toward dark clouds rises. The age-old question for the country of whether we prioritize power, privilege and money over justice takes on renewed importance."

Will Collins be held accountable? The PressHerald in Maine warned that With a ‘yes’ vote, Sen. Collins ties her legacy to that of Brett Kavanaugh. "If Kavanaugh," the wrote, "joins a five-member bloc of Republican judges that makes it more difficult for women to get an abortion, or interferes with the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to control air pollution that comes to Maine from the Midwest, or protects President Trump from legal action, Collins will own a share of the blame. And it should also be part of her legacy if more evidence emerges to support the charges of sexual misconduct that have been made against the judge. Without the benefit of a real investigation, Collins decided that he deserved a lifetime appointment to the Supreme Court unless the charges against him could be proven up to the civil court standard of a preponderance of the evidence or 'more likely than not.'... Collins’ vote should be remembered for a long time."

In the same newspaper, Beth Quimby wrote that her vote is parking interest from potential 2020 Democratic challengers.

Speculation about who might challenge U.S. Sen. Susan Collins if she seeks re-election in 2020 began before she finished her speech Friday afternoon on the Senate floor about why she would vote for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.

Not only did a former Obama administration official, Susan Rice, drop a hint Friday that she might make a run for the senior Maine senator’s seat, but two Maine Democrats indicated an interest just minutes after Collins cast her vote in favor of Kavanaugh on Saturday afternoon.

Maine House Speaker Sara Gideon of Freeport said in a telephone interview that she is seriously thinking about a challenge in a vote that is more than two years away.

“It is definitely something that I will be seriously considering, although it will probably wait until Nov. 6 to really dig deep into really exploring that,” Gideon said.

...Emily Cain, a former state legislator from Orono who ran unsuccessfully for the 2nd District U.S. House seat in 2014 and 2016 and is now executive director of EMILY’s List, said she is seriously considering a run.

Collins hasn't committed to running again in 2020 yet. Probably if a really weak candidate who couldn't win an election for dog-catcher-- say... Emily Cain-- were to run, Collins might enjoy an easy race just to go out on a high note. After yesterday's floor vote, CNN was also reporting that the effort to unseat Susan Collins in 2020 is already underway. Even before this, she was a big DSCC target for next cycle. This will make recruitment easier and money-raising easier. No doubt there will be plenty of really terrible candidates eager to run, not just Emily Cain. I'm already hearing about some of them. It's important that whomever the Democrats choose be someone who wants to represent all Mainers, not just one segment of the population. There isn't anyone on the "Congress Needs More Women" thermometer on the right who will be a 2020 candidate in Maine or anywhere else. I sure hope Maine state Senator Shenna Bellows agrees to run, though.

Joel Peter Witkin doesn't usually do overtly political art but last year, it looks like he couldn't help himself. This lovely photographic collage print is "The Great Masturbator And The Country He Rode In On." [Thanks Valley Girl for sending it along.]

I'm a bit of a JP Witkin aficionado. I have one of his pieces hanging over my fireplace. Whenever I get an opportunity to see an exhibition of his, whether in a museum or in a gallery, I always go. I was happy that Valley Girl sent me this monologue from Witkin explaining his relation to Señor Trumpanzee.

Trump is a child living in a narcissistic hollow man-- with the power to destroy the world...

Trump is not qualified to be President. His election to that office represents the ignorance of the American electorate and the corruption of our political representatives. Ours is not an intellectual culture in which thought and reason are unselfishly presented. It is a “Pop Culture” of materialistic escapism which has elected an autocratic, draft dodging, corrupt business man, who has made this country the laughing stock of the world.

'The Great Masturbator And The Country He Rode In On' took several months to create. The Trump model was willing to pose nude. In his right hand is the nuclear button. On his extended left arm is written: 'The Only Conquest Left Is Ivanka.' On his right arm, he is wearing the symbol of Communism, the secret agenda Russia is promoting today under Putin. And for reasons yet unknown, all of us look forward to know why Trump is Putin’s marionette.

I made this photograph because I am involved in mankind. As a citizen of this formally great country, and as an artist, I made this photograph to help defeat the Republican party in the 2018 elections for its cowardice in putting their party ahead of their country. Where are our elected leaders, the Lincoln’s, the Kennedy’s of today? Where are our citizen’s hero’s, the César Chávez’s, the Martin Luther King’s, the Rosa Parks of today?

What ever happened to morality, courage and integrity?”