Ahead of Kavanaugh confirmation vote, Sen. Collins receives 3,000 hangers from pro-choice activists

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Andrew O'Reilly | Fox News


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Following a week of contentious hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, the focus has shifted to swing voters in the Senate and the crucial role they will play in the confirmation process.

One of the lawmakers on the hot seat ahead of the vote is Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, who recently received a particularly unusual gift in an effort to sway her opinion.

A package of 3,000 coat hangers arrived at Collins’ office in Washington, D.C. -- symbolizing back-alley abortions that took place before they became legal with the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling -- in the hopes of convincing the pro-choice senator to vote against Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court confirmation.

Collins, a centrist Republican who fought the GOP effort to junk the Affordable Care Act, is one of a few Republicans being targeted by activists hoping to block Kavanaugh from joining the bench as abortion has become a front-and-center issue in the debate over the judge.

Democrats argue that President Trump picked Kavanaugh because he will vote to overturn the Roe v. Wade decision. Liberal groups are running TV ads encouraging the senator to reject the nomination.

Activists have also pledged to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fund an opponent to Collins if she votes in favor of the president's nomination. She is up for re-election in 2020.

If Collins votes yes, then he is likely confirmed. She and Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – another pro-choice Republican -- probably would have to both vote "no" for Kavanaugh to be blocked.

For her part, Collins has kept mum about how she'll vote.

Still, she's sent signals that Kavanaugh cleared a hurdle by telling her that Roe v. Wade establishing abortion rights is settled law. A spokeswoman for Collins said Saturday that a recently released email from Kavanaugh — in which he disputed that all legal scholars see Roe as settled — didn't contradict what he told the senator because he wasn't expressing his personal views.

"I always wait until after the hearings are complete before making a decision, and I'll do so in this case as well," Collins said.

Collins, for her part, is following the same process she used with GOP nominees John Roberts, Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch, and Democratic nominees Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan.

"I have voted for Justice Sotomayor, and I've also voted for Justice Alito," she said, referring to justices at the opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. "I respect the fact that one of my jobs is to determine whether or not the candidate is qualified for the court, has the requisite experience, and has the judicial temperament, as well as respect for precedence," she added.

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While she's never voted against a Supreme Court nominee, Collins has vowed to reject a candidate who's hostile to the Roe v. Wade ruling. She said Kavanaugh told her during their face-to-face meeting that he views the 1973 decision as established legal precedent.

But Kavanaugh said in a 2003 email while working for the administration of President George W. Bush some legal scholars may view the idea of precedent differently and that the Supreme Court "can always overrule its precedent." Kavanaugh said that the comment did not reflect his personal views, but "what legal scholars might say."

Collins voted last month to preserve funding for Planned Parenthood a day after the same organization rallied in Washington to encourage her to vote against Kavanaugh. On Thursday, the group delivered letters to her office in Bangor.

"I've learned not to expect a 'thank you,'" Collins said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[Teh One Who Knocks]

Cameron Cawthorne - Washington Free Beacon



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MSNBC host and reporter Kasie Hunt said on Wednesday that the tactics being waged by liberals against Sen. Susan Collins (R., Maine) in an attempt to pressure her to vote against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh are "not the way to go about it."

Hunt, a Capitol Hill correspondent for NBC, appeared on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," where she reacted to the abusive calls Collins' office has received in the past week. Activists opposed to Kavanaugh have attempted to pressure her to vote against his confirmation or face repercussions when she is up for reelection in 2020.

"Here is one thing that I will say, if you are trying to convince Susan Collins to do something, the tactics that some of these people are using is not the way to go about it," Hunt said. "Her offices received 3,000-plus wire hangers. She had one 25-year-old female staffer have somebody walk up to them and say they hope she is raped and impregnated."

NBC News reported on the profanity-laced voicemails and letters Collins received from activists.


One caller on Friday, September 7 at 6:11 p.m., left a message saying, in part: "If you care at all about women's choice, vote ‘no' on Kavanaugh. Don't be a dumb bitch. F*** you also."

In a second voice mail, the caller calls Collins "a feckless, feckless, feckless woman standing there letting Trump and his appointees steal the right to choose what women do with their bodies. And you stood by, ‘Oh, I don't know. I'm so naive.' F*** you. F*** you."

And in a letter sent to her Portland, Maine office, the writer on August 9 says that "EVERY waitress who serves you is going to spit in your food, and that's if you're lucky, you f***ing c***! Think of that every meal."

Hunt said many of the sources she has spoken to are "uncomfortable" with how some of the tactics are playing out.

"Susan Collins really values her reputation as being independent. She did vote for Neil Gorsuch, which of course went along with the president here, but she has acknowledged … that if in fact some of the charges Democrats have leveled at Kavanaugh–that he has not told the truth at these hearings–that that would be a very serious concern for her," Hunt said.

Hunt then shifted to talk about liberal activists launching a crowdfunding campaign to raise money against Collins.

A group associated with Maine People's Alliance, Mainers for Accountable Leadership, and activist Ady Barkan created a crowdfunding campaign that has raised more than $1 million in the form of pledges. The group says that if Collins supports Kavanaugh, those pledges will be given to whoever challenges the senator in 2020, and if she votes against the nominee's confirmation, the money will never be withdrawn.

"We talk a lot about how there's no bipartisanship in Washington. These kinds of tactics don't encourage independents like Susan Collins to stay in the ring," Hunt concluded.

Hunt's response to the abusive phone calls contrasts the reaction another MSNBC panel had to the profanity-laced voicemails.

After playing audio from two callers, both of whom said "f*** you" to Collins, MSNBC contributor Yamiche Alcindor focused on the callers' "passion" for "life-and-death issues."

"When you listen to those and having been out on the campaign trail, it's the passion of people," Alcindor said. "It's obviously abusive, and the language that's being used is abhorrent, but you also feel like they're talking about life-and-death issues."

"They're talking about women's rights to choose," Alcindor went on. "They're talking about whether or not you can have health care, pre-existing conditions—these are things that can lead people to die."

"These are the life-and-death things people are talking about," she concluded.

Panelist Jim Messina, President Barack Obama's 2012 campaign manager, nodded in response to Alcindor's assessment. Another panelist, Alexi McCammond, noted the two calls played were from men and said it showed abortion "is an issue that’s not just affecting women."

"And that was from two men, which I think really shows how this is an issue that's not just affecting women," McCammond said. "Brett Kavanaugh's confirmation hearings absolutely bring abortion and reproductive rights as a top midterm election issue, in a way it might not have been otherwise."