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As I write this, the “I really, really wanna testify, but…” goalpost has moved west right past my house and out over the Pacific Ocean. You get the distinct impression that Christine Ford’s handlers are making it up as they go along – “She can’t testify on Monday because, I dunno, she’s afraid of airplanes. Yeah, that’s a thing now.” The GOP is, as usual, afraid to be seen as insufficiently submissive. We have Chuck Grassley announcing, by tweets that sound like they were composed by a twelve-year-old texting her girlfriends after breaking into mom’s cooking sherry, that he’s ready to...

I am not so surprised at the scheming Democrats are doing to stop President Trump and his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh. I am surprised that Republicans have scurried to their safe spaces and have been missing and silent. No one defending Kavanaugh, speaking up for him, for the institution, and for President Trump. Granted many are GOPe but still, Kavanaugh is an incredible pick for the Supreme Court and here they, our Senators, sit on their hands. WHAT ARE YOUR SENATORS DOING?

Judge Kavanaugh’s prospects were further clouded on Sunday when The New Yorker reported on a new allegation of sexual impropriety: A woman who went to Yale with Judge Kavanaugh said that, during a drunken dormitory party their freshman year, he exposed himself to her, thrust his penis into her face and caused her to touch it without her consent. The Times had interviewed several dozen people over the past week in an attempt to corroborate her story, and could find no one with firsthand knowledge. Ms. Ramirez herself contacted former Yale classmates asking if they recalled the incident and told...

The New Yorker published a story written by Ronan Farrow and Jane Meyer proving that theory correct. This story centers on Deborah Ramirez. ....udge Kavanaugh has already released a statement denying the allegation. “This alleged event from 35 years ago did not happen. The people who knew me then know that this did not happen, and have said so. This is a smear, plain and simple. I look forward to testifying on Thursday about the truth, and defending my good name — and the reputation for character and integrity I have spent a lifetime — against these last-minute allegations.” 1....

Every day on the football field or the baseball diamond, kids and grownups give each other a high-five to celebrate the victory or a good play. But Democrats in the United States Senate used the fun move to celebrate camaraderie and a job well done on something dark and disgusting. After the vote to defeat the bill to ban abortions after 20 weeks, Democrats on the Senate floor gave each other a high-five. How members of the Senate can explain their actions is beyond most Americans — as fully two-thirds of Americans believe late-term abortions on viable unborn babies ought...

President Donald Trump today is slamming Senate Democrats for blocking a pro-life Senate bill to ban late-term abortions — a bill that would save as many as 18,000 unborn babies form abortions each and every year. The Senate voted Monday on whether to stop the Democrats’ filibuster of the Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, legislation that would ban abortions after 20 weeks — as neither Congress nor state legislatures can vote to ban all abortions under Roe v. Wade. The bill highlights how unborn babies feel intense pain when they are killed in abortions. Fifty-one senators (forty-eight Republicans and...

FULL TITLE: Vice President Mike Pence “Disappointed” 44 Democrats and 2 Republicans Voted for Late-Term Abortions The Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, which bans abortion after 20 weeks, failed to pass the Senate Monday. The legislation passed the House of Representatives last year, but Democrats derailed it today in the upper chamber, with a final vote of 51-46. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) could not understand how his colleagues on the other side of the aisle could be so heartless. “I am truly shocked by those who declare it ‘extreme’ to oppose late-term abortions that we know to cause fetal pain,”...

While Sen. Orrin Hatch expressed his ‘shock’ Monday that most of his Democratic colleagues could vote against the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, it wasn’t just Democrats who opposed the measure. Two Republican senators joined Democrats in voting against the 20-week abortion ban: Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine. Meanwhile, Sens. Joe Donnelly of Indiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Bob Casey of Pennsylvania—all Democrats—voted in favor of the ban on abortions at the point which unborn babies can feel pain, with certain exceptions such as rape, incest and to save the mother’s life. With...

Mainers for Accountable Leadership is sending a dire message to their elected representative Sen. Susan Collins (R). In a new video, a group of women tell the senator their varying reasons for why she needs to vote against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. The reasons range from: He will reverse Roe v. Wade, to people will die. If @SenatorCollins votes for Kavanaugh, we will replace her. Join the campaign - pledge $20.20 to a Collins opponent at https://t.co/tngVyH7BG3 #StopKavanaugh #mepolitics pic.twitter.com/ioUS7HUY0Z — Mainers for Accountable Leadership (@mfalpac) September 3, 2018 "It has been pretty demoralizing to know your elected representative...

Activists have pledged more than $360,000 to Sen. Susan Collins’ (R-Maine) future Democratic opponent should the Maine Republican vote to confirm Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. A fundraiser through the site CrowdPAC has attracted donations from more than 13,000 people as of the second day of Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing, and is working toward a $500,000 goal. “The people of Maine have made it clear that they want you to vote NO on Kavanaugh, and we’re counting on you to do the right thing,” the fundraising site reads. “You have the chance to stand up for the people of Maine –...

Activists have sent Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) 3,000 coat hangers, referencing back-alley abortions, in their efforts to persuade her to vote against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The mail-ins accompany TV ads aimed at swaying the senator’s vote and pledges to fund her Senate opponent in 2020 if she votes to confirm Kavanaugh, The Associated Press reports. The centrist Collins is seen as a critical swing vote in Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearing and has said she wouldn’t vote to confirm a nominee who was hostile to Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortions. She...

Staffers for GOP Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), viewed as a key swing vote in the Supreme Court fight, say they are receiving "vulgar" phone calls over Brett Kavanaugh's nomination. Aides for the moderate senator, on social media and in multiple reports published on Tuesday evening, detailed calls and voicemails Collins's offices have been receiving as the battle over Kavanaugh kicks into high gear ahead of an end-of-the-month Senate vote. "We've had some very abusive callers. ...We've had some very vulgar calls and sort of harassing the staff," Steve Abbot, Collins's chief of staff, told a Maine TV station. The TV...

And who knows — they may be right. While the Left melts down at the retirement of centrist Justice Anthony Kennedy, the path to confirming a conservative activist to the court looks much more fraught than people might think. Thanks to the GOP’s threadbare control of the Senate, it might be tough to round up 51 votes for a bold shift to the Right.At least, that’s what Democrats are hoping, according to NBC: Within hours of Wednesday’s surprising retirement announcement from Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, two moderate Republican women in the Senate became an important focus of Democrats...

Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) said on Sunday that any nominee for the Supreme Court that had demonstrated hostility to Roe V. Wade would not receiver her support. CNN host Jake Tapper asked Collins about how President Donald Trump expressed desire to nominate justices who may vote to overturn Roe V. Wade if offered the opportunity. Collins, who supports Roe V. Wade, is a key vote in the Senate, where Republicans only have a one vote majority in the chamber. "With all due respect, the Supreme Court, as we know, it overturns its own rulings all the time," Tapper said....

As battle lines are drawn for the coming fight over Donald Trump’s second supreme court nominee, a senator who could help to decide the fate of the nomination warned on Sunday that a justice who would seek to reverse federal abortion rights protections “would not be acceptable”. “A candidate for this important position who would overturn Roe v Wade would not be acceptable to me because that would indicate an activist agenda that I don’t want to see a judge have,” Republican senator Susan Collins told ABC’s This Week, referring to the 1973 court decision protecting abortion rights. Trump, however,...

Social media activists say they are sending coat hangers to the office of Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) in a symbolic message about the legacy of anti-abortion policies and court decisions. They want to remind lawmakers about the urgency surrounding the replacement of retiring Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy. The social media users are specifically targeting Collins, a key vote in the process to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick. The hashtag campaign appears to have started organically late last week, with participants tweeting #HangersForCollins. The users also shared screen grabs of online shopping carts with coat hangers to show they were...

Just hours after Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy announced his retirement, media legal analysts and commentators began forecasting what this will mean for women’s reproductive freedom. On CNN: “Roe v. Wade is doomed.” Huffington Post: “It’s time to prepare for life without nationwide legal abortion.” Reuters: “a death knell for Roe v. Wade.” Or, as one commenter remarked, invoking Dylan, “looks like it’s all over now, baby blue.” I share the despair, but have we forgotten something? Republicans have a one-vote majority in the Senate. Their number includes two female moderates, Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski, both of whom support...

Judge Brett Kavanaugh is going to be a weeks-long torment for some on the Hill—and I’m talking about red state Democrats. Senate Republican moderates Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski have been very receptive to Kavanaugh’s nomination, easing pressure from the right that they could sink this SCOTUS nominee if they defect. That could be the case, but for now, pressure has ramped up on Sens. Jon Tester (D-MT), Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND), Joe Manchin (D-WV), Joe Donnelly (D-IN), and maybe Bill Nelson (D-FL). Nelson needs help. Republican Gov. Rick Scott is outworking him on Hispanic outreach, and he’s beating Nelson...

The opposition to the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as a Supreme Court justice has evolved from the merely desperate to the hilariously desperate. A good example of the latter can be seen in the July 10 New York magazine in which writer Ed Kilgore suggests that the Maine Democrats politically bribe Republican Senator Susan Collins with a promise by their state chairman to endorse her when she is up for re-election in 2020.Perhaps I am old school enough to believe that a bribe should be given in its traditional form as cash wrapped inside a brown paper bag but Kilgore somehow...

A Public Policy Polling survey released Tuesday shows a plurality of Maine voters want Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) to reject Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court and many will be less likely to support her for reelection if she votes to confirm him. The poll found 49 percent of Maine voters think Collins should not vote to confirm Kavanaugh, and an additional 47 percent saying they’d be less likely to vote for her reelection in 2020 if she helped elevate him to the Supreme Court. That number grows to 53 percent if Kavanaugh hypothetically votes to overturn Roe...