ANCHORAGE DAILY PLANET
Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski says it is time to consider “the credibility and integrity of our institutions” and indicates she will be – and who really is surprised? – a ‘no” on the final confirmation vote on Judge Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to the Supreme Court.
While admitting to reporters, “I believe Brett Kavanaugh is a good man. I believe he is a good man,” she added, “It just might be, in my view, he is not the right man for the court at this time.”
Murkowski today was the lone Republican “no” on advancing his nomination for a final vote, and her action flew in the face of her past procedural votes on other difficult issues to allow votes by the full Senate. Just not in this case.
Sadly, her decision follows in the wake of one of the most unfair, vicious, orchestrated Democratic smears in the Senate’s history. She appears to have joined with Democrats in deciding to vote against a “good man” accused of uncorroborated, unsubstantiated, unproved sexual assaults that simply cannot be proved – despite an FBI investigation.
We are unsure how her voting “no” under those circumstance does much for the “credibility and integrity” of the Senate. In fact, she and the Democrats have reduced that institution to not much more than a Third-World kangaroo court.
What Murkowsi is likely to do tomorrow during the full vote, is, in effect, say it is OK to deny a man or woman a federal post if they are accused of baseless or unprovable claims from more than three decades ago; that due process and the concept of innocent until proved guilty mean nothing; that obviously concocted accounts should be accepted on faith, especially if from tearful women.
She and the Democrats have done no less than make a mockery of the confirmation process.
We suspect the real reason behind Murkowski’s procedural vote – and will be the reason behind her confirmation vote tomorrow – is abortion rights, which she wholeheartedly supports. The Left fears Kavanaugh would vote to overturn Roe v. Wade. We agree it is an important issue – one that should have been settled politically rather than by the high court – but it is far down the list of what is important to most Alaskans. There are many other issues that affect the state and its future.
Kavanaugh could tip the court to the right for a generation on issues such as resource extraction, economic development, gun rights, federal overreach and bureaucratic roadblocks. Those are all issues that often reach the high court, where a conservative outlook would benefit Alaska. None of that apparently mattered as Murkowski considered the “credibility and integrity of our institutions.”
There is no other way to say it: Murkowski has let down Alaska.
