Posted on 10/05/2018 5:38:59 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Friday evening that she opposed Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination, becoming the only Republican senator to come out against President Trump's nominee.
"I will be a no tomorrow," Murkowski said in a speech on the Senate floor after describing how she had come to lean against voting to confirm Trump's second nominee to the high court in a final vote on Saturday.
But Murkowski said that in the final tally she would ask that her vote be recorded as "present," saying she was doing it as a courtesy to Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.), who is slated to attend his daughter's wedding back home on Saturday.
"I do this because a friend, a colleague of ours is in Montana this evening and ... he's going to be walking his daughter down the aisle and he won't be present to vote," Murkowski said. "I have extended this as a courtesy to my friend. It will not change the outcome of the vote."
Murkowski, who voted against ending debate on Kavanaugh earlier in the day Friday, said during her speech on the Senate floor that she "was leaning toward supporting Judge Kavanaugh in his nomination."
"But we know that in our role of advice and consent, it is not just the record itself. There is more that is attached to it," she added, mentioning "matters of temperament" and "demeanor."
Murkowski announced her decision hours after it became clear that Kavanaugh had enough votes to be confirmed.
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) announced during her own speech on the Senate floor earlier Friday that she would back his nomination ahead of a final vote set for Saturday afternoon.
Collins's support gave Republicans the necessary 50 votes to allow Vice President Pence to cast a tie-breaking vote if necessary. Collins was soon joined by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.), who said he would vote for Kavanaugh, giving him the support of 51 senators.
Murkowski said Friday night that she agreed with many of Collins's comments defending Kavanaugh, saying she didn't think he would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade or represented a threat to protections for people with preexisting conditions.
But she indicated that her confidence in his nomination was not high enough to bring herself to voting for him, given controversy swirling around allegations of sexual assault leveled against the nominee.
The Alaska senator acknowledged that it appeared that Kavanaugh would be seated on the Supreme Court "without my vote."
Murkowski pointed to Kavanaugh's combative testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, saying "that appearance of impropriety has become unavoidable."
She called the bitter nomination process for Kavanaugh "horrible" and "gut-wrenching," saying it had left "good people ... needlessly hurt."
Something tells me that photo is ....’PHOTO SHOPPED~AND DOCTORED UP’
Just does not appear to be DIFI body..face yes..rest no...hair no...
and photo experts can do that very well..
My son is an artist..I’ve watched him work..but to me that is not DIFI body...
JMO
I agree 100% and posted similar comment.
Dear Senator Daines,
I doubt you’ll be reading this, but I hope you do.
Congratulations on your lovely daughter’s wedding. As a father who has walked two of his daughters down the aisle, there is no privilage that compares to it.
I was, however not in a position of consequence when they were married...unfortunately you are at this time. My heartfelt condolences are with you.
From an emotional perspective, your decision would be obvious...to trust that Judge Kavanaugh’s vote remains as it stands tonight. With Sen Murkowski’s word to vote “present”, it effectively stands at 50-48.
I would ask you to consider, though, that a certain Mr. Schumer is hard at work tonight to reverse at least one or more of those votes before tomorrow. Even if you trust Ms. Murkowski, do you really trust Jeff Flake +1 ? Or worse, that some Senate technicality might obviate the advantage of VP Pence’s tie-breaking vote?
If there is any way for you to vote tomorrow, could you PLEASE make that happen?
Again, congratulations for your wonderful family.
If Jesus had not attended the wedding in Galilee, they would have run out of wine, but the wedding would have taken place, the bride and groom would have been legally/legitimately married, and while it was lovely to have him there, it was NOT necessary!
This is 2018, Daines' daughter, I take it, is not in an arranged marriage, there is no doubt that the bride or groom won't show up, there's no dowry, a brother, uncle, grandfather, GODfather, or make family friend can walk her down the aisle, or she can ask her mother to do so...or even walk down it on her own!
Her father is NOT really "giving her away" and when that question is asked, the father of the bride usually responds: "HER MOTHER AND I DO"!
OTOH...this is an HISTORIC vote! There has NEVER been anything even remotely like this whole nomination and conformation disaster/mess/witch hunt in the entire history of this nation. And to abrogate one's duty and responsibility to be there and vote, for his selfish, infantile reason, is, quite frankly, not only unconscionable, but disgusting in the extreme!
One of the TEN COMMANDMENTS is HONOR THY FATHER AND MOTHER; not "honor your daughter or son!
He has played all kinds of stupid word games about whether or not he'll show up to vote or not. HE IS NOT AN HONORABLE MAN!
Just because someone claims to be on the same team, doesn't mean that they really are; nor would I want to have a shirker with me in a foxhole, or as a partner in any kind of endeavor!
Am I passionate about this? Yes, I am.
WHY? Because of my values...values that once were common, respected, and should still mean something!
Taking money for a job and then NOT fulfilling the required duties is THEFT!
And no, I can not just agree to disagree about this matter. Call me names, insult me, impugn me, condemn me, disagree; none of that soils ME!
I’m a bit more direct:
Daines:
On Saturday your ass should be in you seat in the senate chamber, not in Montana while possibly the most important vote in your career is being cast. You trust Murkowski to vote “present”? Really?
That’s a very threatening posture she’s taking there.
Definitely trying to intimidate.
If the Senator does not grasp the HISTORIC importance of his being there to vote Yes for Judge Kavanaugh (and voting BEFORE leaving for the wedding), then something is clearly wrong with the Senator’s priorities. And that’s putting it mildly.
“I need to attend an ancient Copulating ritual, the Country can screw itself”.
Our government is disgusting
Obviously he does NOT understand any of this and clearly, there is something EXTREMELY wrong with him and his morals and values.
We don’t wish death on anyone, and a wedding is always important to celebrate.
But the Senator should understand how important every vote is for Judge Kavanuagh. The Senator should do his duty, vote first, then fly home for the wedding events.
Daines is doing what is BEST for Kav: allowing Murk to pair her vote.
That avoids any quorum problems.
Yeah Senate rules are idiotic to us, and Murk doesn’t deserve this consideration... but that’s how things are done.
Anyway, I hate to see Daines hit for doing what Mitch wants him to, for good reason.
Hands off not only deprived the Demons of propaganda options it allowed the rest of the country to see just how insane they are. This will give us at least another two seats.
Don’t forget that the majority of the country has no idea of just how insane our opponents are.
So you are saying the Senator should leave and not vote. And somehow this is better than his staying and voting Yes, and putting aside his personal life for the good of the country.
Not a PhotoShop - The encounter really happened.
There is more than one photo and there were multiple witnesses.
The encounter was photographed from different angles.
It was also covered on network news shows
It was reported that Feinstein was pounding the wall with her hand.
Read it again if you’re confused (Senate procedure isn’t easy for normal people to understand).
BY allowing Murk to pair her vote Daines insures that there will be a quorum for a vote on Kav.
Would the Dems and Murk all walk out to prevent a quorum? I don’t know, but his opponents have done very bizarre things to stop him.
Pictures of a female (the Dems would insure that it’s a female) being dragged in to vote would ensure that Kav would be branded as the “anti-woman Justice” forever.
It depends on what news people are reading, listening to, and watching, re what has been happening. But by and large, it appears that the majority of the American populace, right, Indie, and even some DEM voters are sick of this garbage, shocked at what we have all just lived through, and are more than enthused about voting for the GOP candidates in the November election cycle.
The braindead, lying, FUGLY POS Ford needs to be gone after, as do her BFF/ex-FBI colluding DEEP STATE COUP b*tch, her lawyers, DiFI and other Dems, WaPo, and whoever else is a member of this stinking pile of evil! It can and should happen after the midterms, Kavanaugh is seated on SCOTUS, and when every I is dotted, T is crossed, and there is hard copy FACTUAL evidence neatly accumulated, printed up, and on hand.
These subhumans ALL need to be EXPOSED and PUNISHED!
I’m sorry, my first post to you didn’t explain my point.
By pairing her vote to Daines’ Murk makes the vote valid under Senate rules.
Otherwise the Constitutional requirement for a quorum would allow her and the Dems to prevent a vote by walking out.
Hope that is clear.
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