Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski has been pretty quiet up until now. But in the last 12 hours, a flurry of quotes from her suggest that she actually wants answers about the character of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, not just platitudes and a sham hearing so they can proceed with a confirmation vote, as fellow Republican and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has promised to do.
The first Murkowski pronouncement that turned heads was her assertion Tuesday that an FBI investigation "would sure clear up all the questions, wouldn't it?" She basically called B.S. on Donald Trump's claim that the FBI just doesn't do these kind of inquiries and the blanket acceptance of her male counterparts that such an investigation just isn't necessary.
Murkowski followed suit by urging Kavanaugh's second accuser, Deborah Ramirez, to step forward while other Republicans were trying to dismiss the allegation by Ramirez as “pretty thin.”
“If there are allegations out there, Miss Ramirez needs to be willing to come forward with them,” she told reporters on Capitol Hill. Just like with Dr. Christine Blasey Ford, Murkowski added, "In order for us to take it under consideration, she needs to take the next step.” That short but direct remark stands out as the sole suggestion from a Republican senator that Ramirez would not only be taken seriously, but that her input is welcome. (Collins has at least said Ramirez should be questioned under oath by the Judiciary Committee panel.)
In essence, what Murkowski is calling for is a full airing of the facts. That sets her apart from almost every one of her GOP colleagues who have indicated they are clearly keen to confirm Kavanaugh to the high court as long as he can emerge from Thursday's hearing on Dr. Blasey Ford's sexual assault allegation with at least a whiff of credibility left. By comparison, Sens. Bob Corker of Tennessee and Susan Collins of Maine have said respectively that they have "positive feelings" toward Kavanaugh and are "very close" on him.
In other words, the other supposed GOP swing votes desperately want to get to "yes" if they can just maintain some slim semblance of integrity while doing so. Murkowski is saying: not so fast.
“We are now in a place where it’s not about whether or not Judge Kavanaugh is qualified,” she told the New York Times Monday night. “It is about whether or not a woman who has been a victim at some point in her life is to be believed.”
To that end, she was reportedly central to the hearing negotiations to make sure Dr. Blasey Ford would have the opportunity to tell her story to the Judiciary Committee.
“We need to be able to listen,” she said, pledging to take Dr. Blasey seriously. “We have to listen to what she will say on the record, under oath, and what Judge Kavanaugh will say on the record, under oath.”
The idea that Murkowski is not only open to listening to Dr. Blasey Ford but also wants to hear Ramirez does not fit neatly into McConnell's confirmation timeline. The Republican caucus has been told to stay in town this weekend so they can run time off the procedural clock and get to a final vote as early as Tuesday. McConnell and the vast majority of Republican senators view Thursday’s hearing as a speed bump on the way to doing what they have already decided they want to do: confirm Kavanaugh.
But losing Murkowski’s vote with a 51-to-49 seat majority would put a lot of pressure on Sen. Collins. Indeed, the contrast between how the two perennial swing-vote senators are handling the sexual assault allegations against a man who’s on the cusp of a lifetime appointment to the highest court in the land is already striking.