This is my last diary of the day, I swear. I wanted to see if I could beat my record of 6 diaries a day and I did. This is my 10th diary of the day. It was a really big news days in terms of the Senate, especially with Baucus retiring. I don't know if I'll do ten diaries in a day again in the future though. Whatever stories I didn't get to report today will be out tomorrow. Any way, on to my last diary of the day.
So Newsmax is a trashy Newsmax conservative magazine and they now have excepted Senator Susan Collins (R. ME) as a true conservative Republican:
http://www.newsmax.com/...
The fact is, Sen. Collins believes in the Second Amendment. She has earned a solid B-plus rating from the National Rifle Association.
She has also opposed some of the lunacy being pushed by the Democrats. For example, she voted to support legislation in 2007 prohibiting foreign and U.N. aid that restricts U.S. gun ownership. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry recently indicated the U.S. would back such U.N. efforts.
On another key issue important to the NRA, Collins voted to support legislation in 2005 prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. In 1998, she also supported a law allowing the sale of guns without trigger locks.
Again, in 1999 she opposed a bill requiring background checks at gun shows.
The NAGR ad also charges that “Susan Collins doesn’t sound like a Mainer or a Republican.”
Her constituents in Maine would disagree. In 2008, when Barack Obama won the presidential race in the state with more than 57 percent of the vote, Sen. Collins was re-elected with 61.5 percent — a larger percentage than she received in 2002 or 1996.
As for the allegation that she doesn’t “sound like” a Republican, it should be noted that Collins voted against Obamacare, voted in favor of the Bush-era tax cuts and their extension, supported the Iraq War Resolution authorizing President Bush to attack Iraq, and received a 0 percent rating from SANE (National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy), indicating a pro-military voting record.
On fiscal policy, she is a conservative, supporting the idea of a balanced budget constitutional amendment and enforcing existing spending caps in the future. - Newsmax, 4/23/13
I never thought I'd say this but I agree with Newsmax. Collins really is one of them. A conservative Republican hiding behind a moderate label. Newsmax recently had to stick up for Collins because she cried to the New York Times about how her Republican colleagues have been saying mean things about her behind her back and behind closed doors. I think Newsmax is afraid she's really in danger with the Tea Party and they have to stick up for her for voting for the Toomey-Manchin Compromise. So Collins is joining her GOP colleagues in blaming the sequester, that they wanted, on President Obama:
http://www.npr.org/...
The Republicans' message: Delays at some airports this week — a result of automatic spending cuts known as the sequester that took effect in March, but whose resulting furloughs are just kicking in — was a "manufactured crisis," and that the administration wants voters angry enough to force Congress to give President Obama the higher taxes he seeks.
Senate Republicans pointed to congressional testimony by FAA Administrator Michael Huerta last week.
"We specifically asked him about furloughs. We discussed the impact of sequestration. Not once did he talk about the impact on the traveling public," said Sen. Susan Collins, a Maine Republican. "Just a few hours after our hearing ended, he then went public saying this would be a disaster because of the furloughing of the traffic controllers, an issue that I specifically raised with him at the hearing."
Collins and other Republican senators said the FAA could repurpose money appropriated to the agency for other programs to controller pay, thus avoiding the furloughs.
"We've all taken a look at this and ... we think that's there flexibility within the law to deal with this," said Sen. Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky Republican and Senate minority leader.
But in some instances, shifting money around under the sequester would require congressional approval, never a sure thing these days with partisan trench warfare on Capitol Hill. - NPR, 4/23/13
Now cue Jay Carney to say "we told you so":
"This is a result of the sequester being implemented. We made it clear that there would be these kinds of negative effects if Congress failed to take reasonable action to avert the sequester, a policy that everyone who was involved in writing it knew at the time and has made clear ever since was never designed to be implemented. It was designed to be bad policy and therefore to be avoided.
"The fact is Congress had an opportunity, but Republicans made a choice. And this is a result of a choice they made to embrace the sequester as — and I'm quoting Republicans — a victory for the Tea Party and a home run." - NPR, 4/23/13
Carney also stated that if Republicans want these delays to stop, the ball is in their court:
http://www.cbsnews.com/...
White House spokesman Jay Carney countered that only Congress has the ability to reverse course on the furloughs by shifting resources, but pointed out that because 70 percent of the FAA's budget deals with personnel, "there is simply no way to avoid furloughs."
"The FAA did take action - all the action that it could under the law - to produce savings and avoid furloughs up until this point, where because of the nature of their budget and the personnel-heavy nature of their operations, furloughs are the only option available to the FAA at this time," Carney said Tuesday during his daily briefing. "Now, if Congress wants to address this matter, then they should act. But this is something that only by law Congress can do." - CBS News, 4/23/13
At least Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D. NV) has a good idea:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/...
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid outlined a Democratic plan to turn off all sequester cuts for five months by claiming savings from the drawdown of Afghanistan and Iraq wars.
The measure is unlikely to come to a vote before early May, and even then would probably need 60 votes to pass because of procedural hurdles expected from Republicans, who do not want to undo the cuts even though they criticize the way the Obama administration has implemented them. - Chicago Tribune, 4/23/13
So yes, Collins is right, it is a manufactured crisis. I manufactured crisis that she played a huge role in creating and now she's feeling the hit and it sucks. So instead of taking responsibility she's playing the blame game to get in good with her fellow Republicans. So congrats Collins, you successfully made your case that your just like the rest of your asshole GOP friends. You've now passed your moderate label on to this guy:
http://www.nbcchicago.com/...
Mark Kirk is the most liberal Republican senator. He voted to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, and endorsed same-sex marriage. He was one of four Republicans to vote to break a filibuster on the background check bill, and is the only member of his party to favor President Obama’s proposed assault weapons ban.
The reason? No Republican represents a more liberal state than Kirk. As you can see from this chart below, Illinois voted for Obama in greater proportion than any other state with a Republican senator. - NBC 5 Chicago, 4/23/13