I had a conversation with a Republican the other night about Liza Murkowski’s vote. I suggested that given the demographics of her state voting against repealing the ACA was perfectly understandable and given her position as chair of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee it was equally understandable that Zinke reached out to her to mend fences.
My Republican friend looked at me and loudly said Murkowski was a traitor. We didn’t talk about the vote any more, but I wondered, traitor to what? The Republican party? Republicans have really lost their way.
I don’t think Murkowski can realistically switch parties to become a Democrat. Too many voters interpret party-switching as being an opportunist or a turncoat - cf. Arlen Specter.
Murkowski’s best bet, if she wants to dissociate herself from the GOP (or caucus with Democrats), would be to simply drop her Republican affiliation and run as an independent going forward. Frankly, I’m surprised she didn’t remain an independent after winning the 2010 election as one.
Unfortunate, but … Repubs know how to hate. And electorally speaking, I wish we would learn from them. They’ll troop to the polls like zombies every TWO years, while too many on our side apply purity tests and throw rolled-up cash at our presidential nominee, and stay home because a bird landed on some old lemon-sucker’s podium.
She did campaign in all four of the midwest states and when the polling(which is never as off as it was in 2016) shows you are leading you go to different states to campaign. A statistician friend pointed out that Penn., Ohio, Michigan and Wis. all switched by 1% and at exactly the same time which is a really sketchy algorithm. More will be revealed about this anomaly by Mueller’s investigation I hope. Add to the this the issue of the bots pouring disinformation into the Sander’s Facebook sites and you see tens of thousands of Bernie’s most devoted followers writing in his name out of principle or voting for Stein as an alternative and you have Michigan losing by 20,000. And Comey. Never forget Comey’s direct and inexcusable interference during the last weeks of the campaign. Bernie so poisoned the trust well for Clinton that even when he, late in the game, exhorted his devotees to vote Clinton they simply couldn’t come back to drink the water.
And I bet the Right Honorable Lady from Alaska LOVED sticking the shiv into Donnie’s ribs
I’m inclined to agree with my fellow commenter a few posts up … When the Dems take back power in about 15 months, they will need a credible, sensible opposition party. The GOP Is devolving into the Cray Cray Party – we need the Rockefeller Republicans to tear themselves away and form a third party that is fiscally conservative but socially moderate. Only when there is a blend of Dems and sane (and truly principled) conservatives will we have solid governance.
She’s already said she wasn’t threatened. It’s her fellow Senator from Alaska, Sullivan, who said Zinke threatened to punish Alaska. Apparently the Inspector General for the Interior Department has opened a preliminary investigation.
I hope it is just the start. Let’s also remember, though, that they weren’t standing only against Trump but against most of the GOP. In other words, it’s not just Trump trying to break the country. It’s the GOP. They’ve been trying for a long time, and they won’t stop when Trump is gone.
An insightful post, but let’s be honest - Sanders endorsed Clinton earlier, and campaigned harder for her, than she did for Obama. We’re all entitled to our opinions, but if it was ok for Clinton to do it, not sure why Bernie still gets raked over the coals.
