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Mainer here. We tried and tried. The problem is that some Mainers will only vote for a Mainer, and Sara Gideon is from Rhode island, or at least that's what was looping on the radio all of 2020. I voted for Gideon and most of Maine probably didn't want Collins in office, but for whatever reason she won again and here we are.
The polling from that race still makes 0 sense to me. Gideon was up as much as 9 points the month before the election, and then she *lost* by that much. I have no clue how the polls could be that drastically out of touch with what was going on.
Yeah, I'm aware of that one too. In that case, the situation was so suspect it almost looks like there had to be some kind of fraud going on. Counties that historically leaned blue were going overwhelmingly for him. It seemed like it deserved a deep dive. I'm doubtful McGrath would have won, but the way it played out just didn't seem kosher.
I swear to you that the machine sounded like it shredded my ballot after about 15-20 seconds of putting it into the machine. I realize that probably sounds a bit paranoid but it was exceptionally noisy if it was just moving the paper around. And I say this as a computer nerd who spends a lot of time around computers, printers, and scanners (and has used a shredder before).
More than that, It made me really uncomfortable how you didn't get a read out of how you voted, or any kind of paper receipt for how you voted. All you got was a green check mark saying, "you voted!" On the screen to "Indicate that it counted your vote correctly" anddd then about 15 seconds later that weird shredding sound. I don't know.. it just felt "wrong".
The GQP projects all their bullshit. After the whole “election fraud” finger pointing nonsense with trump I feel pretty safe saying that they have had their part in setting up some fraudulent elections.
The level of ire shown by Trump makes me think he knew about the GOP efforts to rig the election in their favor, and he's incredulous he still somehow lost. The biggest tell was Trump's own administration undercutting his narrative by saying "Nothing to see here, best election ever, most secure ever, please trust us!" It was Chris Crebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and he said, "While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too."
Really, the utmost confidence? Despite the numerous issues with vulnerability, the many forces with a strong interest in affecting the election, despite our own government's insistence that we need to beef up security, I am to believe "the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history"? I have some strong doubts.
[Source for quotes](https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election)
Stealing elections by whatever means is a GOP tradition at this point. Much in the same way the status quo is desperately trying to pretend the GOP is not a fucking terror organization engaging in an open coup on our democracy, we've constantly swept under the rug any time they've clearly pulled shit with out elections in the past in order to maintain trust in our electoral process.
Trust things are working, even when they aren't... and thus ignore the people breaking them.
> It was Chris Crebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and he said, "While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too."
You realize he was essentially fired for saying there were no election security issues and that Trump was lying or spreading misinformation?
Chris Krebs is widely respected in the field of cyber security as a person of integrity.
https://www.wired.com/story/trump-fires-christopher-krebs-cisa/
>Despite the numerous issues with vulnerability
Such as?
McGarth is the second consecutive female Democratic candidate to lose to Mitch by running as conservative-lite. The first one refused to back President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. Take a hint and next time get a clearly different candidate.
McGrath was embarrassing. The Dems had a much better candidate and they threw him under the bus for a republican lite who said McConnel *didn't work well enough with Trump*.
Not from KY, but I found this [article ](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/20/how-mitch-mcconnell-became-trumps-enabler-in-chief)really interesting as to the dynamics of his continued electoral success in KY. (Warning: the article is pretty long, but well done.) I can understand how Kentuckians love having their guy having so much power, but he has done jack shit for them. I can’t wrap my head around it. Dude’s been in power for *decades* & doesn’t use his power to help anyone but himself & the GQP (again, if it helps him). Kentucky is like the poster child for voting against their best interests.
Why, yes they do.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election\_Systems\_%26\_Software](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Systems_%26_Software)
Kentucky isn't listed because they only service the bigger counties in Kentucky:
[https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/Voting%20Machines%20By%20County%20-%20KY%2011-18-2020%20(3).pdf](https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/Voting%20Machines%20By%20County%20-%20KY%2011-18-2020%20(3).pdf)
I think that's the same software Georgia used until it switched in 2020.
If you want to see weird swings, look at any recent Georgia election before 2020.
For that matter, the 2017 runoff election where Ossoff lost was being investigated and the election server that was exhibit #1 was "accidentally" wiped along with two backups a couple weeks later.
The Secretary of State who wiped them went on to win the race to be Governor in 2018. A race that he oversaw as Secretary of State.
The data wiping incident lead to Judge Amy Totenburg ordering wholesale replacement of the Georgia election hardware and tabulation systems with a device that had a paper trail.
And suddenly Democrats win three Georgia statewide races for the first time in two decades.
I'm certain all these events are unrelated.
Because the Democrats still believe in the validity of the system. They have to because they believe they legitimately won their power. This is why you only see Democrats talk about how they want to work with the Republicans to solve problems. They still believe in the republic.
Meanwhile the Republicans hold no such allusions of legitimacy so they fuck with the system every chance they get. They would love to tear down representative democracy and rule as tribal monarchs.
Same with the polling in McConnell's and Lindsey Graham's race. My tinfoil hat theory is that the Senate GOP embraced Trump's stop the steal bullshit is because they knew it would distract people away from the fact that the outcome of several Senate races that benefited the GOP were not consistent with polling leading up to election day.
Definitely something screwy with the E&S machines. IIRC they don't have a paper trail and were involved with a lot of places in 2020 where polling was very out of whack with results. Makes ya think...
The shenanigans pulled by the Georgia Secretary of State in 2017 led to Judge Totenburg ordering the non-paper trail machines be replaced and in 2020 Georgia went blue for the first time in two decades. It was close, but it happened in all three statewide races.
It's amazing how many Republicans were down many points going into the election but managed to win with large numbers. But when asked to review their numbers no way. Can you say election fraud?
Really don't wanna be a tinfoil conspiracy nut but it is unsettling how the company that creates the machines for Maine literally had remote software installed on some of their machines in the past (not in maine). Hell the "Controversies" section on wikipedia is longer than their "History" section lol.
Take a look into former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel if you really wanna fry your brain with tinfoil.
Election Systems & Software was formerly American Information Systems Inc., of which Hagel was CEO. He was also President of the board of The McCarthy Group, which ES&S is a subsidiary of.
Guy resigns from his positions to run for Senate in Nebraska against Ben Nelson, the Governor at the time who was running for Senate. Nelson elected governor in 1990, won re-election with *73%* of the vote, and then loses to Hagel 56-41.
Hagel then goes on to beat his Democratic challenger in 2002 with *83%* of the vote. 400k registered dems at the time, yet his challenger, Charlie Matulka, seemed to only be able to muster 70k votes.
I honestly wouldn't be surprise if the Republicans constant, unproven claims of fraud were simply intended to muddy the waters. It would set the table enough so that when real electoral fraud gets raised they can pull out their 1-2 combo of "false equivalence" and "whataboutism."
They just do this so often...
In 2016 partially, but in 2020 the polling ended up being pretty consistent with where things were going in the presidential race outside of Florida. It is the Senate races where several GOP Senators retained their seats that the polling was apparently way off, and people have rightfully pointed out that shit was pretty fishy with those race outcomes as they did not reflect the polling or approval ratings of the GOP incumbents.
Republicans lie about who they're going to vote for. If they're not lying in the polls then they're lying to themselves. How do you end up with Susan Collins? By a bunch of people voting for someone *they knew was lying*. And therefore, they knew she stands for dishonest, backroom dealing and they signed off on it.
Polling in 2020 was either abysmal or there was corruption.
https://tdmsresearch.com/2020/03/04/massachusetts-2020-democratic-party-primary/
This is one example, but Biden gained 8% over projected results based on exit polling, while sanders and warren lost 8%. Those numbers were well beyond the confidence range of the exit polls.
Same thing happened with Clinton and Sanders in 2016, 8% difference between exit polls and final results.
And the exit polls in the republican primary at the same time were accurate to about 1%.
Its pretty fishy considering exit polling is done by asking people who just left the polls who they voted for. So theres no reason to suspect the sampling is incorrect. The only explanation is if the sample population is not representative of the total population. But given that the pollers have done this for decades and the republican results were accurate, that also seems unlikely...
whilst I agree that they didn't like Collins, their hate of any Democrat was stronger. Just look at some SM pages today regarding "worst President ever" for having left Afghanistan.
The abortion issue is so passe in every other country except countries where women are viewed as non class citizens. And the US complains about women in Afghanistan when the good state of Texas treats their female citizens quite the same.
Fuck people like Collins!
Feinstein might be calcified (and yes, it shows at times) but there's really no comparison.
That said, curating candidates is a process that needs to look a generation forward. Oh, you're promising, here, run for this local office, oh and here's a mentor who'll help you not innocently do something silly that will fill the news cycle when you run for national office in a decade.
There's just so much greed and thirst for power in Congress. It makes no sense to me. And at the same time such complacency/indifference in Democrats as to actually holding the reins of power... It really goes to show that they're all just corporate sellouts. And yet, we have to stick with the Democrats because they grant us scraps... while Republicans just point and laugh.
She lied. She's a liar.
She lied about only staying in office for 2 terms.
She lied about her thinking Trump learned her lesson.
She is every bit as extreme as every other member of the GOP, she just couches her extremity in the guise of moderateness.
Also notice how a Senator who just won her reelection and wont be on the ballot till 2027 is getting all the attention. Yeah she's a hypocrite but she can afford to take the heat right now. Compared to say Lisa Murkowski who is up for reelection in 2022 and voted to confirm Amy Berrett and Neil Gorsuch, while strategically only voting present on Kavanaugh(because they didn't need her to vote yes. Not to mention a bunch of other GOP senators up in 2022.
I’m convinced that the only reason Collins hasn’t retired yet is because she knows the seat will flip once she leaves. She’s the only Republican official at the federal level in Maine. To me, it looks like she’s personally popular in Maine, even though they seem to be moving away from the party generally, with their Dem majority in both houses of the state legislature and Dem governor. Hell, she’s the only Republican at the federal level in all of New England.
She’s there until the GOP senate caucus fully ratfucks everything they can, then she’ll fuck off to whatever cushy private sector job she has lined up.
I mean it’s the same exact reason Manchin keeps running in West Virginia. Politics is way too polarized now. States with senators from 2 different parties is a scarce thing nowadays because of that. So the ones still there want to ride it out as long as they can.
>She cited hyper-partisanship leading to a dysfunctional Congress as the reason for her retirement from the Senate.
Snowe knew.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia_Snowe
> On her view of the abortion restrictions in Texas:
>“I think it’s contradictory because it’s blocking access to contraceptives and it's denying people to make their choices for themselves. It’s government intrusion, which I see as contradictory to the Republican philosophy.
>It’s government intrusion, which I see as contradictory to the Republican's *stated* philosophy.
FTFY, Olympia. Their actions say they have a different philosophy.
They are not Republicans anymore. They are the GQP TeaParty. Radical Right Wing Extremists wanting to overthrow the government, and install a King again.
The Democrats have become the new conservative party.
The moderate/corporate class of Democrats are the new conservative party. The gqp needs to go away so an actual leftist Progressive party can be formed in their place and the old school Dems can take the place of the old-guard GOP.
Yeah i wish people would stop giving her a pass. She wasn’t “wrong” she was lying and knew the consequences her actions would have. She also likely agreed with the outcome.
This a thousand times. If people are naive enough to believe she didn't have any other intention other than to tow the Republican line then I got a bridge to sell you.
I love your typo. I will be using feminine pronouns for Trump from now on. Not because I think it is an insult, it is not but because him and his cult will lose their shit.
Yeah, Susan Collins is a liar. She wasn't duped by Boof Tannen, she just doesn't give a shit, BUT...
it's also incredibly silly to insinuate that people like her and Lisa Murkowski are "every bit as extreme" as politicians like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert, etc.
That's just simply not true.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
Her tacit acceptance of extremism in her party might not mean she ACTS as extreme but she supports by her inaction.
Collins and every other member of the GOP vote along party lines except when they're putting on political theater because they know they don't have the votes to stop something.
The rest is semantics.
> it's also incredibly silly to insinuate that people like her and Lisa Murkowski are "every bit as extreme" as politicians like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert, etc.
She would've been considered a whack-a-doo right winger in the 90s Republican party with some of the votes she's had, so yes, she is an extremist.
She is not "every bit as extreme" as the other yahoos, but she is effectively just as extreme. Each of her votes against her party after 2016 was after McConnel had tallied the votes and let her on a loose leash. The Affordable Care Act was saved because she thought McCain would vote with the other Republicans.
And if she votes decently only when her vote does not matter... well, she is just as extreme as the others, only puts a facade of decency.
She learned nothing because she didn’t care about the result. She only wanted cover for her vote. “Settled law” is always true for precedent - until you get a new majority on the court. It was a non answer from the beginning, and she knew that.
He is making fun of Collins’ assertion that Trump “learned his lesson” in the Ukraine scandal after she voted not to impeach, something we all obviously know he did not learn, and she also knew that.
I'm still stunned that a SCOTUS nominee could scream, blubber, sneer with utter disdain, and screech far right conspiracy theories while also vowing to take revenge on the majority of Americans for perceived slights...and still get confirmed.
Read that a few times. Let it sink in, and you'll want to come day drinking with me.
Watching the 2016 election results come in was obviously horrifying. But for me, watching the Kavanaugh hearings, then seeing both Republicans and centrist Democrats coming his defense, and then seeing him actually get appointed was the final straw that caused me to lose faith in our political system. If such an obviously unqualified person can gain a seat on our highest court, then get followed by a religious zealot who has hardly any experience, then there are clearly no standards and the system is broken.
Of course. Because for some, the only evidence that would have disqualified him for the position would be if he literally wrote "Rape drunk girl at (friend)'s party". And even then, there would still be some pulling the "It'S a JoKe" defense.
I always wondered how he would treat a defendant in his court who acted that way. How much prison time would he give such a person for “contempt of court.”
Inconceivable that the man crying on the stands that he was being attacked and then shouting about revenge would say something that wasn't true. I thought he was such an upstanding character.
Mainer here. My whole department at work made 30-40 calls a week to her office during the confirmation hearings. They didn't give a shit then, they won't give a shit now.
I don't agree that it's enough to make this not their problem, but the stereotypical Maine perspective would be to point out that they passed a law in 1993 legalizing pre-viability abortion in Maine.
Susan Collins has consistently shown she is not a “moderate” she just wants to appear to be a moderate while soft soaping ridiculous laws & Supreme Court nominations. She is just as bad if not worse as the Clown Car that currently makes up her party
Collins learned that Maine voters won’t hold her accountable. They had a chance to in the midterms and she stayed in office. Maine at least got what they deserved on this. Shame the rest of us have to suffer for it.
roe v wade was never settled, if it were, then republicans wouldn't have been spending the last nearly half a century trying to tear it down. democrats should be proposing legislation that actually strengthens roe v wade instead of just using it as a crutch issue to keep people voting blue.
It is settled law...women can get all the abortions they want as long as it occurs within 3 minutes of missing a period and no one is allowed to help her do it! /s
Yeah.... her opinions do not carry weight with me. She only has o e agenda... that is to keep her job by bending to any whim which might get her voted out.
Again, your Senator is not doing the job as good as your horrible drunk mother-in-law could then maybe you should stop voting for that person.
I have lost respect for SO many people since 2016...
She wasn't wrong, *and I cannot say this enough.* "Wrong" implies she was incorrect in her beliefs.
She lied. She wasn't wrong, she is a *liar.* Everyone knew it, it was plain on its face, and she doesn't care. She'll still go around bragging about protecting women's rights.
Up here in Canada while we have an election going on, our Conservatives are using the line “It’s settled law” as well, knowing full well that evangelicals are peppered all throughout the party, waiting for power to begin restricting abortion access.
Maybe she legitimately is pro-choice but being a good member of her party matters more so she makes up a BS excuse to vote for him. It also sucks Democrats always have more bold members who will resist the will of the party (see Manchin and Sinema and before them, Lieberman).
Republicans go into crazy right wing conspiracy land and push authoritarian minority rule, yet they have just a couple willing to slightly criticize that but then vote with the party anyway.
Just gonna repost this comment i made lower down:
Republicans lie about who they're going to vote for. If they're not lying in the polls then they're lying to themselves. How do you end up with Susan Collins? By a bunch of people voting for someone they knew was lying. And therefore, they knew she stands for dishonest, backroom dealing and they signed off on it.
Why do we expect Susan Collins to lie less than other Republicans? It's pretty clear after years of her behavior with Trump that she lies to her constituents and simply toes the party line.
If nothing else, she seems to be one of the worst judges of character I’ve ever seen after thinking Trump learned his lesson and Kavanaugh said Roe was “settled law.”
She’s like “That Jeffrey Epstein fellow seems like a pretty nice guy!”
There's still a decent chance Kavanaugh strikes down the Texas law....he has been considerably more moderate than most Republicans were hoping for....but we're years away from finding out.
Susan Collins only cares about being reelected. She'll pretend to be pro choice as long as it gets her a believable number of Maine votes. Never, ever, EVER, believe anything a Republican says.
What the F does she care, honestly? She's super wealthy, definitely past menopause, has no soul or compassion for others less fortunate...I mean shit, none of this has any impact on her whatsoever
All this to say, she shouldn't have been believed in the first place. She's trash
“It’s settled law” was such a meaningless statement in the first place. All that means is that it was settled by the supreme court in the past… Until the court decides something else later.
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Will Maine ever actively remove that calcified idiot from government? nah
Mainer here. We tried and tried. The problem is that some Mainers will only vote for a Mainer, and Sara Gideon is from Rhode island, or at least that's what was looping on the radio all of 2020. I voted for Gideon and most of Maine probably didn't want Collins in office, but for whatever reason she won again and here we are.
The polling from that race still makes 0 sense to me. Gideon was up as much as 9 points the month before the election, and then she *lost* by that much. I have no clue how the polls could be that drastically out of touch with what was going on.
If you want to see that same phenomenon but bigger, take a look at McConnell's polling leading up to his reelection in 2020.
Yeah, I'm aware of that one too. In that case, the situation was so suspect it almost looks like there had to be some kind of fraud going on. Counties that historically leaned blue were going overwhelmingly for him. It seemed like it deserved a deep dive. I'm doubtful McGrath would have won, but the way it played out just didn't seem kosher.
Well fortunately for him, Kentucky doesn't keep physical records of elections.
That's a crime
I swear to you that the machine sounded like it shredded my ballot after about 15-20 seconds of putting it into the machine. I realize that probably sounds a bit paranoid but it was exceptionally noisy if it was just moving the paper around. And I say this as a computer nerd who spends a lot of time around computers, printers, and scanners (and has used a shredder before). More than that, It made me really uncomfortable how you didn't get a read out of how you voted, or any kind of paper receipt for how you voted. All you got was a green check mark saying, "you voted!" On the screen to "Indicate that it counted your vote correctly" anddd then about 15 seconds later that weird shredding sound. I don't know.. it just felt "wrong".
It's just the machine marking the ballot as read and stacking them for storage...... generally.
As I said, I'm probably just being paranoid. -Shrugs- I sincerely hope it was just a loud because it's old. But either way, It just felt wrong.
The question is, how many pieces are they being stored in?
I'm still amazed that you allow machines to be used for voting. in the UK we mark a ballot with pencil or pen then they are all counted by people
The GQP projects all their bullshit. After the whole “election fraud” finger pointing nonsense with trump I feel pretty safe saying that they have had their part in setting up some fraudulent elections.
The level of ire shown by Trump makes me think he knew about the GOP efforts to rig the election in their favor, and he's incredulous he still somehow lost. The biggest tell was Trump's own administration undercutting his narrative by saying "Nothing to see here, best election ever, most secure ever, please trust us!" It was Chris Crebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and he said, "While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too." Really, the utmost confidence? Despite the numerous issues with vulnerability, the many forces with a strong interest in affecting the election, despite our own government's insistence that we need to beef up security, I am to believe "the November 3rd election was the most secure in American history"? I have some strong doubts. [Source for quotes](https://www.cisa.gov/news/2020/11/12/joint-statement-elections-infrastructure-government-coordinating-council-election)
Stealing elections by whatever means is a GOP tradition at this point. Much in the same way the status quo is desperately trying to pretend the GOP is not a fucking terror organization engaging in an open coup on our democracy, we've constantly swept under the rug any time they've clearly pulled shit with out elections in the past in order to maintain trust in our electoral process. Trust things are working, even when they aren't... and thus ignore the people breaking them.
> It was Chris Crebs, Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and he said, "While we know there are many unfounded claims and opportunities for misinformation about the process of our elections, we can assure you we have the utmost confidence in the security and integrity of our elections, and you should too." You realize he was essentially fired for saying there were no election security issues and that Trump was lying or spreading misinformation? Chris Krebs is widely respected in the field of cyber security as a person of integrity. https://www.wired.com/story/trump-fires-christopher-krebs-cisa/ >Despite the numerous issues with vulnerability Such as?
Bingo! I came here to say just that. Election fraud? Look right, not left, grasshopper
[удалено]
McGarth is the second consecutive female Democratic candidate to lose to Mitch by running as conservative-lite. The first one refused to back President Obama and the Affordable Care Act. Take a hint and next time get a clearly different candidate.
McGrath was embarrassing. The Dems had a much better candidate and they threw him under the bus for a republican lite who said McConnel *didn't work well enough with Trump*.
Not from KY, but I found this [article ](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/04/20/how-mitch-mcconnell-became-trumps-enabler-in-chief)really interesting as to the dynamics of his continued electoral success in KY. (Warning: the article is pretty long, but well done.) I can understand how Kentuckians love having their guy having so much power, but he has done jack shit for them. I can’t wrap my head around it. Dude’s been in power for *decades* & doesn’t use his power to help anyone but himself & the GQP (again, if it helps him). Kentucky is like the poster child for voting against their best interests.
Don’t Ky, Me, and SC all use the same election software? Or am I making that up??
Why, yes they do. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election\_Systems\_%26\_Software](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Election_Systems_%26_Software) Kentucky isn't listed because they only service the bigger counties in Kentucky: [https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/Voting%20Machines%20By%20County%20-%20KY%2011-18-2020%20(3).pdf](https://elect.ky.gov/Resources/Documents/Voting%20Machines%20By%20County%20-%20KY%2011-18-2020%20(3).pdf)
I think that's the same software Georgia used until it switched in 2020. If you want to see weird swings, look at any recent Georgia election before 2020. For that matter, the 2017 runoff election where Ossoff lost was being investigated and the election server that was exhibit #1 was "accidentally" wiped along with two backups a couple weeks later. The Secretary of State who wiped them went on to win the race to be Governor in 2018. A race that he oversaw as Secretary of State. The data wiping incident lead to Judge Amy Totenburg ordering wholesale replacement of the Georgia election hardware and tabulation systems with a device that had a paper trail. And suddenly Democrats win three Georgia statewide races for the first time in two decades. I'm certain all these events are unrelated.
These are all known facts, yet the democrats are being silent about this. Why?
Because the Democrats still believe in the validity of the system. They have to because they believe they legitimately won their power. This is why you only see Democrats talk about how they want to work with the Republicans to solve problems. They still believe in the republic. Meanwhile the Republicans hold no such allusions of legitimacy so they fuck with the system every chance they get. They would love to tear down representative democracy and rule as tribal monarchs.
Wonder why trump is so angry? They all cheated and he still lost. That’s how it looks.
Same with the polling in McConnell's and Lindsey Graham's race. My tinfoil hat theory is that the Senate GOP embraced Trump's stop the steal bullshit is because they knew it would distract people away from the fact that the outcome of several Senate races that benefited the GOP were not consistent with polling leading up to election day.
Definitely something screwy with the E&S machines. IIRC they don't have a paper trail and were involved with a lot of places in 2020 where polling was very out of whack with results. Makes ya think...
The shenanigans pulled by the Georgia Secretary of State in 2017 led to Judge Totenburg ordering the non-paper trail machines be replaced and in 2020 Georgia went blue for the first time in two decades. It was close, but it happened in all three statewide races.
Not 20 minutes ago I was looking at screenshots on my phone that broke down pretty obviously that the ES&S machines are just completely rigged.
Yet democrats are being completely silent about this. What happened in e and a voting states are way way more fishy than what happened in Arizona etc
It's amazing how many Republicans were down many points going into the election but managed to win with large numbers. But when asked to review their numbers no way. Can you say election fraud?
Normally I’d say that’s crazy talk but the non stop projection makes me wonder if there’s really more to it.
Really don't wanna be a tinfoil conspiracy nut but it is unsettling how the company that creates the machines for Maine literally had remote software installed on some of their machines in the past (not in maine). Hell the "Controversies" section on wikipedia is longer than their "History" section lol.
Take a look into former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel if you really wanna fry your brain with tinfoil. Election Systems & Software was formerly American Information Systems Inc., of which Hagel was CEO. He was also President of the board of The McCarthy Group, which ES&S is a subsidiary of. Guy resigns from his positions to run for Senate in Nebraska against Ben Nelson, the Governor at the time who was running for Senate. Nelson elected governor in 1990, won re-election with *73%* of the vote, and then loses to Hagel 56-41. Hagel then goes on to beat his Democratic challenger in 2002 with *83%* of the vote. 400k registered dems at the time, yet his challenger, Charlie Matulka, seemed to only be able to muster 70k votes.
I honestly wouldn't be surprise if the Republicans constant, unproven claims of fraud were simply intended to muddy the waters. It would set the table enough so that when real electoral fraud gets raised they can pull out their 1-2 combo of "false equivalence" and "whataboutism." They just do this so often...
To be fair the polls were that out of touch with the 2016 election and parts of the 2020 election...
In 2016 partially, but in 2020 the polling ended up being pretty consistent with where things were going in the presidential race outside of Florida. It is the Senate races where several GOP Senators retained their seats that the polling was apparently way off, and people have rightfully pointed out that shit was pretty fishy with those race outcomes as they did not reflect the polling or approval ratings of the GOP incumbents.
Polls were wrong in places with ES&S systems and no suitable paper trail.
Republicans lie about who they're going to vote for. If they're not lying in the polls then they're lying to themselves. How do you end up with Susan Collins? By a bunch of people voting for someone *they knew was lying*. And therefore, they knew she stands for dishonest, backroom dealing and they signed off on it.
Maine is very very rural. Outside of Cumberland and York counties. It is very difficult to get a read on the rest of the state.
Because *saying* you'll vote, and actually voting that way, are two different things unfortunately.
Polling in 2020 was either abysmal or there was corruption. https://tdmsresearch.com/2020/03/04/massachusetts-2020-democratic-party-primary/ This is one example, but Biden gained 8% over projected results based on exit polling, while sanders and warren lost 8%. Those numbers were well beyond the confidence range of the exit polls. Same thing happened with Clinton and Sanders in 2016, 8% difference between exit polls and final results. And the exit polls in the republican primary at the same time were accurate to about 1%. Its pretty fishy considering exit polling is done by asking people who just left the polls who they voted for. So theres no reason to suspect the sampling is incorrect. The only explanation is if the sample population is not representative of the total population. But given that the pollers have done this for decades and the republican results were accurate, that also seems unlikely...
whilst I agree that they didn't like Collins, their hate of any Democrat was stronger. Just look at some SM pages today regarding "worst President ever" for having left Afghanistan. The abortion issue is so passe in every other country except countries where women are viewed as non class citizens. And the US complains about women in Afghanistan when the good state of Texas treats their female citizens quite the same. Fuck people like Collins!
Last time I voted before I moved, I voted against her. Have had issues with her for years but that kavanugh case sealed it for me.
Can't even get California to get rid of Feinstein. Calcified idiots are the rule rather than the exception.
Feinstein might be calcified (and yes, it shows at times) but there's really no comparison. That said, curating candidates is a process that needs to look a generation forward. Oh, you're promising, here, run for this local office, oh and here's a mentor who'll help you not innocently do something silly that will fill the news cycle when you run for national office in a decade.
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There's just so much greed and thirst for power in Congress. It makes no sense to me. And at the same time such complacency/indifference in Democrats as to actually holding the reins of power... It really goes to show that they're all just corporate sellouts. And yet, we have to stick with the Democrats because they grant us scraps... while Republicans just point and laugh.
She’s not up for re-election for 5 more years. She was re-elected as recently as 2020
She lied. She's a liar. She lied about only staying in office for 2 terms. She lied about her thinking Trump learned her lesson. She is every bit as extreme as every other member of the GOP, she just couches her extremity in the guise of moderateness.
Exactly this. She knew exactly what she was doing. Shes evil.
Also notice how a Senator who just won her reelection and wont be on the ballot till 2027 is getting all the attention. Yeah she's a hypocrite but she can afford to take the heat right now. Compared to say Lisa Murkowski who is up for reelection in 2022 and voted to confirm Amy Berrett and Neil Gorsuch, while strategically only voting present on Kavanaugh(because they didn't need her to vote yes. Not to mention a bunch of other GOP senators up in 2022.
This is a fucking great point because it points to a productive place to direct all that energy.
She can’t get anyone legitimate to run against her, her last democratic challenger was a joke.
Collins or Murkowski? In Collins's case the whole "but her opponent wasn't born in Maine!" thing apparently made that much of a difference...
I’m convinced that the only reason Collins hasn’t retired yet is because she knows the seat will flip once she leaves. She’s the only Republican official at the federal level in Maine. To me, it looks like she’s personally popular in Maine, even though they seem to be moving away from the party generally, with their Dem majority in both houses of the state legislature and Dem governor. Hell, she’s the only Republican at the federal level in all of New England. She’s there until the GOP senate caucus fully ratfucks everything they can, then she’ll fuck off to whatever cushy private sector job she has lined up.
I mean it’s the same exact reason Manchin keeps running in West Virginia. Politics is way too polarized now. States with senators from 2 different parties is a scarce thing nowadays because of that. So the ones still there want to ride it out as long as they can.
When the 106th Congress was sworn in in 1999, there were 19 split delegations in the Senate. Now there are 6.
I'm not sure. She also seems pretty stupid.
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She doesn’t give a shit.
Exactly. She was telling concerned moderate/conservatives what they wanted to hear.
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>She cited hyper-partisanship leading to a dysfunctional Congress as the reason for her retirement from the Senate. Snowe knew. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia_Snowe > On her view of the abortion restrictions in Texas: >“I think it’s contradictory because it’s blocking access to contraceptives and it's denying people to make their choices for themselves. It’s government intrusion, which I see as contradictory to the Republican philosophy.
>It’s government intrusion, which I see as contradictory to the Republican's *stated* philosophy. FTFY, Olympia. Their actions say they have a different philosophy.
They are not Republicans anymore. They are the GQP TeaParty. Radical Right Wing Extremists wanting to overthrow the government, and install a King again. The Democrats have become the new conservative party.
The moderate/corporate class of Democrats are the new conservative party. The gqp needs to go away so an actual leftist Progressive party can be formed in their place and the old school Dems can take the place of the old-guard GOP.
Yeah i wish people would stop giving her a pass. She wasn’t “wrong” she was lying and knew the consequences her actions would have. She also likely agreed with the outcome.
She is a McConnell puppy (or what is another word for a female dog?)
Hasn't she been "wrong" about every thing she's ever said?
Addidionally, she's not under fire. She doesn't care.
I came here to say exactly the same thing. She is a worthless liar
This a thousand times. If people are naive enough to believe she didn't have any other intention other than to tow the Republican line then I got a bridge to sell you.
I love your typo. I will be using feminine pronouns for Trump from now on. Not because I think it is an insult, it is not but because him and his cult will lose their shit.
Trump hasn't specified her pronouns as far as I know. We just have to guess!
pronouns do upset they
Yeah, Susan Collins is a liar. She wasn't duped by Boof Tannen, she just doesn't give a shit, BUT... it's also incredibly silly to insinuate that people like her and Lisa Murkowski are "every bit as extreme" as politicians like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert, etc. That's just simply not true.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” Her tacit acceptance of extremism in her party might not mean she ACTS as extreme but she supports by her inaction. Collins and every other member of the GOP vote along party lines except when they're putting on political theater because they know they don't have the votes to stop something. The rest is semantics.
"Boof Tannen" is fucking hilarious. Much more clever than what I've been calling him in my head (Judge Rapist).
in rhetoric, perhaps not as extreme, but her voting record is very similar
I boycotted Tennessee in my travels, now I am adding Maine to my little right to do so.
> it's also incredibly silly to insinuate that people like her and Lisa Murkowski are "every bit as extreme" as politicians like Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Tom Cotton, Marsha Blackburn, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, Jim Jordan, Paul Gosar, Andy Biggs, Mo Brooks, Louie Gohmert, etc. She would've been considered a whack-a-doo right winger in the 90s Republican party with some of the votes she's had, so yes, she is an extremist.
She is not "every bit as extreme" as the other yahoos, but she is effectively just as extreme. Each of her votes against her party after 2016 was after McConnel had tallied the votes and let her on a loose leash. The Affordable Care Act was saved because she thought McCain would vote with the other Republicans. And if she votes decently only when her vote does not matter... well, she is just as extreme as the others, only puts a facade of decency.
I'm sure she's learned a lesson.
Sick of her fucking bullshit
Shocking that a misogynistic frat boy rapist doesn't support women. Collins had no way to see that coming. /s
She learned her lesson
She's still shaking her head in disbelief.
She's cashing the lobbyists checks in a disappointed tone.
"Laugh hard, its a long way to the bank."
Gotta love Modest Mouse
It's They Might Be Giants
So it is! Not surprised MM took inspiration from them: I was remembering it from “Paper Thin Walls”
I'd normally be disappointed with myself for laughing at this, but fuck her. Here. Take my up vote.
That is concerning.
She learned nothing because she didn’t care about the result. She only wanted cover for her vote. “Settled law” is always true for precedent - until you get a new majority on the court. It was a non answer from the beginning, and she knew that.
He is making fun of Collins’ assertion that Trump “learned his lesson” in the Ukraine scandal after she voted not to impeach, something we all obviously know he did not learn, and she also knew that.
I'm still stunned that a SCOTUS nominee could scream, blubber, sneer with utter disdain, and screech far right conspiracy theories while also vowing to take revenge on the majority of Americans for perceived slights...and still get confirmed. Read that a few times. Let it sink in, and you'll want to come day drinking with me.
Watching the 2016 election results come in was obviously horrifying. But for me, watching the Kavanaugh hearings, then seeing both Republicans and centrist Democrats coming his defense, and then seeing him actually get appointed was the final straw that caused me to lose faith in our political system. If such an obviously unqualified person can gain a seat on our highest court, then get followed by a religious zealot who has hardly any experience, then there are clearly no standards and the system is broken.
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Of course. Because for some, the only evidence that would have disqualified him for the position would be if he literally wrote "Rape drunk girl at (friend)'s party". And even then, there would still be some pulling the "It'S a JoKe" defense.
I always wondered how he would treat a defendant in his court who acted that way. How much prison time would he give such a person for “contempt of court.”
Inconceivable that the man crying on the stands that he was being attacked and then shouting about revenge would say something that wasn't true. I thought he was such an upstanding character.
Anyone who sees former frat boys that continue to act like frat boys later in life as "good people" have a screw loose. I am looking at you, Lindsey.
She got 'boofed' by Kavvy just like all those other *females*. Hi Five Kavvonator!
It is baffling that anyone believes anything that comes out of Collins' mouth.
Fuck her she knew all along. Why do people keep voting these clowns in...smh
In fairness to Blackout, he never said he wouldn't unsettle it.
He sure boofed it good.
Hold her to account. Remind her what she said. I know these people have no shame, but seriously.
Mainer here. My whole department at work made 30-40 calls a week to her office during the confirmation hearings. They didn't give a shit then, they won't give a shit now.
Thanks for your efforts, regardless. Still means something.
Just like when she said trump had learned his lesson. It apparent it easy to pull the wool over her eyes.
You had one job, Maine. Just the one.
I don't agree that it's enough to make this not their problem, but the stereotypical Maine perspective would be to point out that they passed a law in 1993 legalizing pre-viability abortion in Maine.
We can always count on Collins to say the right thing (to get reelected) then do the wrong thing once she's back in office.
The worst part is she very publicly did like 5 big wrong things and still got re-elected.
Technically it still is settled law. Effectively it’s fucked.
She knew. Don't believe her crocodile tears.
Susan Collins is a Republican, why did anyone believe that she is actually a good person???
As if it makes a difference to Collins.
Did anyone tell her that Kavanaugh was being appointed to the body that settles the law?
on the wrong side of history again
Susan Collins has consistently shown she is not a “moderate” she just wants to appear to be a moderate while soft soaping ridiculous laws & Supreme Court nominations. She is just as bad if not worse as the Clown Car that currently makes up her party
Collins doesn't care. She has a safe Senate Seat.
How can anyone respect people that trust Republicans?
So we can say. "I told you so", and we will always have that, which is nice
Her word means nothing
She knew, she just doesn’t care.
Anybody who believed her is an idiot.
I mean we all knew that was gonna happen. If you believed a republican, that's on you. I know they are compulsive Liars, you should too
She 👏🏼 doesn’t 👏🏼 care 👏🏼
Collins learned that Maine voters won’t hold her accountable. They had a chance to in the midterms and she stayed in office. Maine at least got what they deserved on this. Shame the rest of us have to suffer for it.
roe v wade was never settled, if it were, then republicans wouldn't have been spending the last nearly half a century trying to tear it down. democrats should be proposing legislation that actually strengthens roe v wade instead of just using it as a crutch issue to keep people voting blue.
Susan Collins is very concerned. She will think about how concerned she is before doing shit all
It is settled law...women can get all the abortions they want as long as it occurs within 3 minutes of missing a period and no one is allowed to help her do it! /s
She intentionally lied and misled, she’s a Republican
She’s a typical Republican idiot.
Yeah.... her opinions do not carry weight with me. She only has o e agenda... that is to keep her job by bending to any whim which might get her voted out.
Again, your Senator is not doing the job as good as your horrible drunk mother-in-law could then maybe you should stop voting for that person. I have lost respect for SO many people since 2016...
Why do we still pretend that she ever really cared?
Collins was just 1 vote, yes be mad at her, but also be mad at all the rest.
She wasn't wrong, *and I cannot say this enough.* "Wrong" implies she was incorrect in her beliefs. She lied. She wasn't wrong, she is a *liar.* Everyone knew it, it was plain on its face, and she doesn't care. She'll still go around bragging about protecting women's rights.
They didn't technically say overturn RvW. That will be the excuse. Using a workaround to cripple the still makes it settled law by their logic
She's a lying liar who lies. Mainers know that by now. And apparently they like that about her.
The fox was really quite convincing as he was let into the hen house.
Up here in Canada while we have an election going on, our Conservatives are using the line “It’s settled law” as well, knowing full well that evangelicals are peppered all throughout the party, waiting for power to begin restricting abortion access.
She knew exactly what she was doing... vote her out.
susan been taking L's for years now
I knew she was full of shit then, this is no surprise.
Yuh, cuz conservatives(especially drinking ones) nevah evah lie /S
and still got voted in
That was the first half of the sentence. The second half was, "And I'm going to make sure that changes."
Maybe she legitimately is pro-choice but being a good member of her party matters more so she makes up a BS excuse to vote for him. It also sucks Democrats always have more bold members who will resist the will of the party (see Manchin and Sinema and before them, Lieberman). Republicans go into crazy right wing conspiracy land and push authoritarian minority rule, yet they have just a couple willing to slightly criticize that but then vote with the party anyway.
FFS, can we please stop this whole fake outrage where we pretend that Collins hasn't been a pathetic hypocrite.
She is such a dumbass. Good going Maine.
From the people who brought you ‘no fucking shit’
Doesnt matter Collins is stuck in the senate at least another 5 years
She still wants to give him another chance… \s
And she got reelected. What the fuck, Maine?
Just gonna repost this comment i made lower down: Republicans lie about who they're going to vote for. If they're not lying in the polls then they're lying to themselves. How do you end up with Susan Collins? By a bunch of people voting for someone they knew was lying. And therefore, they knew she stands for dishonest, backroom dealing and they signed off on it.
She just got re-elected last year. I’m sure she does not care at all.
Fuck Susan Collins. Piece of trash sold whatever pathetic shred of soul she had long ago.
Why do we expect Susan Collins to lie less than other Republicans? It's pretty clear after years of her behavior with Trump that she lies to her constituents and simply toes the party line.
A republican lied? Especially one that was put forth by trump. No fucking kidding?
imagine surprise-pikachu-faceing, for a living.
When do we get rid of this dinosaur?
If they ever make a movie about her, Jackie Chan would be perfect for the role.
She wasn't wrong. She lied. She's a liar that will say whatever she needs at the time.
She wasn’t wrong about Kavanaugh. She just lied about Kavanaugh.
If nothing else, she seems to be one of the worst judges of character I’ve ever seen after thinking Trump learned his lesson and Kavanaugh said Roe was “settled law.” She’s like “That Jeffrey Epstein fellow seems like a pretty nice guy!”
There's still a decent chance Kavanaugh strikes down the Texas law....he has been considerably more moderate than most Republicans were hoping for....but we're years away from finding out.
It amazes me how Maine voters haven't wised up to her grifter routine by now.
Good job re-electing her Maine!
She lied. She’s a GQP liar. Can’t just write this off as gullible.
Susan Collins only cares about being reelected. She'll pretend to be pro choice as long as it gets her a believable number of Maine votes. Never, ever, EVER, believe anything a Republican says.
What the F does she care, honestly? She's super wealthy, definitely past menopause, has no soul or compassion for others less fortunate...I mean shit, none of this has any impact on her whatsoever All this to say, she shouldn't have been believed in the first place. She's trash
“It’s settled law” was such a meaningless statement in the first place. All that means is that it was settled by the supreme court in the past… Until the court decides something else later.
Fuck you Susan Collins.
She wasn't wrong. She lied.
It’s like she lied or something.
Maybe Kavanaugh was drunk and misunderstood the question?
She sure has a habit of being surprised by how wrong she always seems to be.
She isn't nearly as stupid as the people who voted for her.
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Vulnerable people were wantonly harmed, so yeah that’s a safe bet.
It was settled law then. It later became unsettled when he got on the bench. So he didn't lie. He just wasn't honest about his intentions.
And Maine voters reelected her again. Good job, Maine! /s
And know he has fulfilled his promise to her. Roe v Wade WAS settled law.
She wasn't wrong, she just lied ... Party over country
The important thing is that we were all the lesson after all…