Do they give out year-end cash bonuses in Alaska and Maine when their elected Republican senators act like liberals in Washington? That’s the only thing we can figure, because every time there is a time to get tough with the Democrats on Capitol Hill, you can bet your bottom dollar that Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) will be the first ones to break with the pack. What is the deal with these two? Are they trying to set up some cushy gigs on CNN once their political careers come to an end, or is this literally as conservative as we can get from these two states? We know the latter can’t be true, because Paul LePage and Sarah Palin both put these two phonies to shame.
In any case, as the shutdown continues, we need to have all hands on deck for the president and his vision of a tightly secured border. If you can’t bring yourself to tout that message, then do the rest of the country a favor and keep your mouth shut.
Alas, neither Murkowski nor Collins are very good at that.
“The operations of the Department of Interior and the National Park Service or the operations of the IRS and whether or not tax refunds go out don’t have anything to do with border security,” Murkowski said. “So let’s bifurcate these issues. Let’s set them aside. Let’s allow for the operations, these government functions in these six other departments, allow for them to continue.”
To be fair, we understand where she’s coming from, and this statement is far from her worst offense since joining the Senate. Even so, the Democrats are never going to go for this kind of bifurcation, because they think (they ACTUALLY think) they hold all the leverage here. So if you know this is a go-nowhere solution, why bother bringing it up? The only reason is to send up a virtue flare that says, “Look at me, I’m the adult in the room.” Not helpful.
“My goal is to get the government reopened as fast as possible. And six of those bills, we’ve got agreements on and so I’d like to see those signed into law,” Collins said. “I’m not saying their whole plan is a valid plan. But I see no reason why the bills that are ready to go and on which we’ve achieved an agreement should be held hostage to this debate over border security.”
And it’s the same kind of nonsense from Collins. The “I’m above all this bickering about the wall” statement. It’s unnecessary and it’s irritating.
Ah well, RINOs are gonna RINO.
