The attempts to short-circuit the assault on reproductive rights in the Congress must have reached critical mass, because the issue has been Collinsized. Please furrow your brows accordingly. From the Los Angeles Times:

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said Tuesday she opposes the Democrats’ bill, which would prohibit states from enacting restrictions on abortion through fetal viability. The House is expected to approve the bill Friday. In the Senate, Democratic leaders are considering whether to bring it to a vote.
But in a brief interview, Collins said the bill goes further than that by interfering with existing law that ensures health professionals who object to abortion are not required to participate in it. “I support codifying Roe. Unfortunately the bill … goes way beyond that. It would severely weaken the conscious exceptions that are in the current law,” Collins said, adding that she found parts of the bill’s language “extreme.”

(I assume that Collins meant “conscience exceptions” there, but who the hell knows at this point?)

I, for one, leaped immediately to the conclusion that, a couple of weeks ago, when Justice Brett Kavanaugh joined the decision to let stand the Texas Vigilante Law, and when Collins subsequently got roasted again for having cast a crucial vote to confirm Kavanaugh, she would react defensively and purely out of pique. I am standing by this wager, because Susan Collins is so predictable that it was the easiest bet on the board.

There is lingering hostility from liberals over Collins’ vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh. He voted in favor of the Supreme Court’s decision to allow the Texas law to take effect and is viewed as a likely vote to undermine Roe. Collins defended her support for Kavanaugh. “People ought to read what the decision actually said. It said there’s serious constitutional and procedural issues which clearly the court is going to take up,” Collins said. “I think we need to wait and see what happens.”

Don’t worry, though. Senator Collins is “talking with other senators” to put together her own bill that will “codify” Roe vs. Wade, and if you believe that, I have a bridge in Kittery I can let you have cheap. And, if you still doubt that she’s operating on pure own-da-libz vengeance, here she is endorsing the very disturbing comeback of Human Bowling Jacket Paul LePage for governor of Maine. From The Hill:

“As Maine recovers from the pandemic, Paul is the best candidate to grow our economy,” Collins will say in a pre-recorded one-minute video, according to The Portland Press Herald, which obtained the video and first reported Collins’ coming announcement…“Paul and I believe that Maine’s small businesses our the backbone of our economy,” Collins will say, according to the news outlet. “We must support our job creators and Maine’s hard-working families. Paul is a job creator, that’s his background, he’s done it before and he will do it again.”

Oh, shut yer gob, senator. LePage is a guy who brags—brags—that he was Trump before Trump, and who probably is right about that. He was a bully and a fool and a constant embarrassment to popular government. Collins knows all this, but people have been mean to her on Twitter, so there we are. Mr. LePage is her man. Heads up, Smitty, Smoothy, and D-Money. Your reign of terror is ended.

Headshot of Charles P. Pierce
Charles P. Pierce

Charles P Pierce is the author of four books, most recently Idiot America, and has been a working journalist since 1976. He lives near Boston and has three children.