What Lisa told reporters

By
Suzanne Downing
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29

AND SUSAN COLLINS EXPLAINS WHY SHE IS A YES VOTE

In the Senate today, Maine Sen. Susan Collins has indicated she is a “yes” vote on the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. Her decision is in stark contrast to the one made earlier today by Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

Collins said the Senate must not abandon the legal presumption of innocence until proven guilty.

“Our Supreme Court confirmation process has been in steady decline for more than 30 years,” Collins said. “One can only hope the Kavanaugh nomination is where the process has finally hit rock bottom.”

LISA MURKOWSKI, AS TRANSCRIBED BY THE NEW YORK TIMES

Senator Lisa Murkowski’s statement to reporters this morning following her “no” vote on the cloture — the proceeding to the floor with the confirmation vote of Brett Kavanaugh:

I did not come to a decision on this until walking onto the floor this morning. I have been wrestling to really try to know what is fair and what is right, and the truth is, that none of this has been fair.

This hasn’t been fair to the judge, but I also recognize that we need to have institutions that are viewed as fair and if people who are victims, people who feel that there is no fairness in our system of government, particularly in our courts, then you’ve gone down a path that is not good and right for this country. And so I have been wrestling with whether or not this was about qualifications of a good man or is this bigger than the nomination.

And I believe we’re dealing with issues right now that are bigger than the nominee and how we ensure fairness and how our legislative and judicial branch can continue to be respected. This is what I have been wrestling with, and so I made the — took the very difficult vote that I did.

I believe Brett Kavanaugh’s a good man. It just may be that in my view he’s not the right man for the court at this time. So I have taken my vote here this morning, I’m going to go back to my office and write a floor statement that is more fulsome and have the opportunity to have that.

But this has truly been the most difficult evaluation of a decision that I have ever had to make, and I’ve made some interesting ones in my career. But I value and respect where my colleagues have come down from in their support for the judge, and I think we’re at a place where we need to begin thinking about the credibility and integrity of our institutions.

29 COMMENTS

  1. That’s one hell of a confusing statement, Ms. Murkowski!

    You are supposed to be voting on this confirmation based on the qualifications of the nominee, not the current political atmosphere or which side has the loudest demonstrators or who contributes the most to your campaign.

    If you vote against Kavanaugh, I think you might as well forget about running for re-election in 2022. I, like a lot of other Alaskans, will not forget a ‘no’ vote and will not vote for you in 2022.

      • Why wait for 2022, it’s time to start a recall for jumping Lisa and remove her before she can hurt alaska anymore……

    • Fairness and truth cannot be built on a foundation of corruption or by destroying innocent people, Senator Murkowski . Clean out Congress first. And you are right, William. We will not forget.

  2. Unlike Sen. Lisa Murkowski, I have not been ‘wrestling around’ with a difficult decision. My understanding that Lisa is totally unqualified to represent this Alaskan [Or, I should say a majority of Alaskans] . If her job is to represent those who voted for her, she’s done a poor job and she ‘is not right for Alaska at this time’.

    • Murkowski is plenty qualified, she’s just wrong. She is soft on a lot of issues that are important to conservative and middle of the road Alaskans.

  4. Funny, Lisa….irony of ironies….you had no problems voting for him before.

    But now, with a claim that cannot be validated, he’s not the right person? What?

  5. Once again Lisa has made a poor decision. Don’t understand how this woman keeps her job. Susan Collins stated it so well, to my surprise, I might add. This should have been about qualifications and innocence till PROVEN guilty. That should have been the litmus test. And yes, some woman do lie. Hope she is not re-elected.

  6. Actually, you were elected to ‘represent’ your fellow Alaskans, something I believe you, like many others in Congress have forgotten. I’m sure Alaskans will remember this betrayal the next election cycle!

  7. Lisa needs to listen to Senator Collins speech! Surprisingly excellent!

    She has lost this family’s vote.

  9. What she meant was that Planned Parenthood and other special interest groups wanted her to vote no, so she did. Pretty simple really.

  11. I lived in Alaska for a total of 6 yrs with the military. I loved Alaska then and I still love Alaska. It’s a beautiful place and I enjoyed all the things I did up there, fishing,etc. I was able to meet local folks while I lived there and all I can say is Alaskans are macho people. It’s takes guts to live up there. That’s why I liked them. And I have a lot of respect for Alaskans and if y’all are saying that L. Murkowski does not represent y’all anymore than more power to you and get rid of her. You will be doing the rest of us a favor.

  12. Lisa has had her 15 minutes of fame. Now it’s time to kick back and retire to that mini-mansion in AZ.

  14. I’ve never felt you legitimately got this seat as your daddy handed to you. Now you have confirmed that the time has come for us to put someone who will represent us and be faithful to the foundations of due process in this seat.

    • Right on, Roy. Not in a million years would Alaskans had voted for Murkowski had her daddy not wrapped up and gave it to her in a bow. But then we voters so short sighted lay and ignorantly put senate seniority above all else we keep plugging our noses up as we go to the voting booth. No more. We’d be better off cycling Begich through her seat for one term and dislodge her incumbent-always-wins-the-primary advantage.

  15. Kavanaugh lied and dissembled under oath—repeatedly. He displayed full on arrogance, anger, viciousness, partisanship and vindictiveness. This is utterly disqualifying for any judicial position, let alone that of the highest court in the land. Whether you believe the sexual assault allegations or not, he does not have the judicial temperament for this office. Murkowski did the right thing.

    • That’s right, keep screeching the “resistance” talking points as if they were true. Never mind the total luck of supporting evidence.

  17. Lisa gave into the leftist mob. This is not the first time she has. Once you give into the mob, they will never leave you alone, as they now know she can be rolled. That’s why the AK ACLU flew 100 women to DC to confront her.

    Interesting concern about judicial temprament from her, as Kavanaugh was cornered enough that he started fighting back. For a fighter like Lisa who was the one that pulled Frank’s first campaign for governor out of the fire, and ran the write-in in 2010, this is surprising. And she does not one single thing to punish the false accusations of sexual assault or the democrat senators who gamed the whole event.

    Amy Coney Barrett is likely up next. I wonder what she is going to do then. Cheers –

  18. We put up with milk toast meadiocrity for what, seniority?Years ago we could have had a true conservative building seniority and righted the wrong of Frank appointing his little girl to fill his seat. This isn’t the first betrayal from murkowski, nor will it be the last time she knives us conservatives. Will we ever learn? She is not a conservative. She is not one of us.

  20. News flash….she was not elected to vote her personal agenda! She was elected to represent Alaskans and that did not happen today nor when she voted to reduce Veterans retirement. Time for Lisa to be replaced.

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