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."
Daines, I wouldn’t trust her. She could scuttle the vote and you are sunk. Be there and vote.
Gee, I must have learnt it wrong. I thought it was Advise and Consent, not advice.
[How is this different than a no vote?]
See this:
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/lisa-murkowski-steve-dainess-brett-kavanaugh-vote/
“Note: A paired vote is absolutely not the same as voting “present,” which is tantamount to a no vote because it pushes up the total votes needed for a simple majority. Instead, it is literally not a vote at all, as if both senators are absent.”
You POS, he was falsely accused of assault and gang rape
What temperament do think he should use?
It counts as a non-vote so we can win 50-49.
I would love to see Sarah Palin challenge her in the next primary.
So this means they knew she was a no or present. I really wish Daines could somehow pull it off to do both walk down the aisle and vote It is a 3 1/2” flight can’t President come and pick him up and fly him over and back?
A no vote would add to the Dems. Present at least dosen’t add to their total.
If only we gain a couple seats in the Senate, McConnell can strip her of her committee positions. Unfortunately, both AZ and NV are not looking good, so even if we pickup ND and MO, we just break even. Any other gains are probably wishful thinking, unless the Kavanaugh circus really gets conservatives motivated enough to get off their asses and vote.
Or at least have the jet fueled up.
Military money used. - Trump could hire a jet to bring him for the vote.
Cheap enough for him.
Liar! If you knock on her head, you would find NOBODY is home!!
Collins is from a liberal state so it’s understandable.
Murkowski is from a relatively Red State, but they care more about earmarks than ideology.
Remember Murkowski -—all you get when you straddle the fence is a sore ass.
This is like her pulling the pin on a gernade and dropping it at her feet.
Watched most of her floor speech and she needs to find another line of work. She was very unimpressive and scatterbrained.
Apparently, she didn’t read the FBI report the rest of the republicans did. She knows darned well that none of Ford’s witnesses corroborated her testimony! And anyone believing Avenatti’s fruitcake clients needs a brain transplant. Difi got her grodie claws into her, somehow. Well, with Manchin, we’ve still got enough votes. I seriously doubt he’ll change his mind. If I lived in his state, I’d almost vote for him, if it weren’t for us needing a bigger margin. He’s popular in his state. Now that he’s voting for Kavanaugh, he may win, but we need his opponent to win. Here’s a bad thought -— since they know we have enough votes, and their no vote won’t matter, some red state dems may go ahead and vote yes, in order to win their elections. I pray God they DON’T win.
It’s ok. By doing this it doesn’t matter if Koe is honest or Jeff changes his mind
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