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Hard to figure out Murkowski and Collins.......

DawgWCK

Letterman and National Champion
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Aug 12, 2001
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No real issue in them voting against some of Trump's cabinet picks but how do they justify voting down a Trump pick and one of them voted for 19 of 21 of Biden's picks and the other vote 21 for 21 in favor of all of Biden's picks. So Hegseth is not as good Blinken, Austin, Garland, Buttigieg, or Mayorkas..

Hell, Hegseth maybe better than those 5 combined. Moreover they voted for Biden's UNQUALIFIED SCOTUS nominee Brown Jackson.

I have no issues with not toing the party line and being independent in thought, but dam%, be consistent and hold both parties to the same standard.

Hopefully Murkoski will be primaried out by a decent candidate her next reelection cycle, suspect Collins is best Pubs can do from Maine.
 
Democrat cabinet picks never get exposed by mainstream media,...

If a prospective Dem cabinet member punched a baby or beheaded it's pet parrot, no one would ever know because the man hours and money to dig does not exist

But when a trump cabinet member is selected,... inquiries will be made and paid to figure it out the first time that Republican appointee stole a cookie from a cookie jar as a baby
 
Pretty simple, neither are really Republicans. Collins has to vote more to the middle in order to keep getting elected by a mostly liberal state. Alaska has a screwed up primary and voting system that has allowed Murkowski to keep getting re-elected.
They both should be primaried out.
 
No real issue in them voting against some of Trump's cabinet picks but how do they justify voting down a Trump pick and one of them voted for 19 of 21 of Biden's picks and the other vote 21 for 21 in favor of all of Biden's picks. So Hegseth is not as good Blinken, Austin, Garland, Buttigieg, or Mayorkas..

Hell, Hegseth maybe better than those 5 combined. Moreover they voted for Biden's UNQUALIFIED SCOTUS nominee Brown Jackson.

I have no issues with not toing the party line and being independent in thought, but dam%, be consistent and hold both parties to the same standard.

Hopefully Murkoski will be primaried out by a decent candidate her next reelection cycle, suspect Collins is best Pubs can do from Maine.
Two libs that hate Trump. They should move over to the Dem Party!
 
Pretty simple, neither are really Republicans. Collins has to vote more to the middle in order to keep getting elected by a mostly liberal state. Alaska has a screwed up primary and voting system that has allowed Murkowski to keep getting re-elected.
They both should be primaried out.
It will be a tough order to get a so called Maine Republican to get elected…Collins is tough to deal with, but better than a straight up Democrat. She’s probably in her last term as senator.No clue as to the Republican that could /would take her place.
 
No real issue in them voting against some of Trump's cabinet picks but how do they justify voting down a Trump pick and one of them voted for 19 of 21 of Biden's picks and the other vote 21 for 21 in favor of all of Biden's picks. So Hegseth is not as good Blinken, Austin, Garland, Buttigieg, or Mayorkas..

Hell, Hegseth maybe better than those 5 combined. Moreover they voted for Biden's UNQUALIFIED SCOTUS nominee Brown Jackson.

I have no issues with not toing the party line and being independent in thought, but dam%, be consistent and hold both parties to the same standard.

Hopefully Murkoski will be primaried out by a decent candidate her next reelection cycle, suspect Collins is best Pubs can do from Maine.
Your concerns and points are completely valid but they will still vote “R” most of the time and are better than the alternative. Especially Collins who will likely be replaced with a “D”.
 
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No real issue in them voting against some of Trump's cabinet picks but how do they justify voting down a Trump pick and one of them voted for 19 of 21 of Biden's picks and the other vote 21 for 21 in favor of all of Biden's picks. So Hegseth is not as good Blinken, Austin, Garland, Buttigieg, or Mayorkas..

Hell, Hegseth maybe better than those 5 combined. Moreover they voted for Biden's UNQUALIFIED SCOTUS nominee Brown Jackson.

I have no issues with not toing the party line and being independent in thought, but dam%, be consistent and hold both parties to the same standard.

Hopefully Murkoski will be primaried out by a decent candidate her next reelection cycle, suspect Collins is best Pubs can do from Maine.
You bring up a really good point.

Putting that clown on the Supreme Court is a complete disgrace. DEI job if I have ever seen one.

With Pete Buttigieg, I did not feel he was terribly unqualified as he has been the mayor of a city before, which is an executive position. if Trump nominated the mayor of the city to be Director of transportation, I would be fine with that.

If you are a senator, and you vote for a guy who thinks he’s a girl, then both of you are insane. Lol.

Austin was/ is qualified.

I think people are getting confused about what the word “qualified” means. You may not like the way that Joe Biden governed, but he was qualified to be president. You may not like the way that Austin led, but he was qualified to lead.

If someone does not like a candidate based purely on political reasons, that is OK to say that. But trying to say that someone is “unqualified” when you really just don’t like their politics, is confusing the situation.
 
Democrat cabinet picks never get exposed by mainstream media,...

If a prospective Dem cabinet member punched a baby or beheaded it's pet parrot, no one would ever know because the man hours and money to dig does not exist

But when a trump cabinet member is selected,... inquiries will be made and paid to figure it out the first time that Republican appointee stole a cookie from a cookie jar as a baby
This is a very fair point. But I think it’s one Republicans could learn from.

Donald Trump is nominating people who are both partisan and completely unqualified.

There is simply no reason for that. He can, and maybe should, nominate people who are partisan, but also qualified. That would be much easier to get through with no drama.

Nominating a trial lawyer, who does not believe that vaccines are safe or effective to lead The department of health and human services is asking for trouble, because that is a complete clown show. Nominating someone to lead the department of defense who’s never been more than a major in the reserves is a complete insane and asking for trouble.
 
Murkowski should simply be viewed as a Democrat, she's lost two of her last three primaries but survived.

Collins is a hold in hostile territory. She's better than any other viable option.

My views on McConnell aren't proper to post.

Going forward, Romney's replacement will be another problem from Utah.

Thankful that Tillis and Ernst are up in 2026 and care more about self-preservation than their own impotent views.
 
You'll never convince me that McConnell and Graham weren't explicitly trying to sabatoge Republican senate campaigns in 2022 to keep the margins where they are.
 
You bring up a really good point.

Putting that clown on the Supreme Court is a complete disgrace. DEI job if I have ever seen one.

With Pete Buttigieg, I did not feel he was terribly unqualified as he has been the mayor of a city before, which is an executive position. if Trump nominated the mayor of the city to be Director of transportation, I would be fine with that.

If you are a senator, and you vote for a guy who thinks he’s a girl, then both of you are insane. Lol.

Austin was/ is qualified.

I think people are getting confused about what the word “qualified” means. You may not like the way that Joe Biden governed, but he was qualified to be president. You may not like the way that Austin led, but he was qualified to lead.

If someone does not like a candidate based purely on political reasons, that is OK to say that. But trying to say that someone is “unqualified” when you really just don’t like their politics, is confusing the situation.
Austin - his resume may have been impressive but I saw nothing in his term that would say he was qualified- pull out of Afghanistan, push DEI with his picks of Generals, going AWOL during duty. Yes I’m probably mixing policy in there too but bar is not very high for Pete to be better than Austin.

Biden was qualified when he wasn’t diminished. Probably back in 2012 or so. Actually though he would govern MODERATELY - I was wrong
 
Murkowski should simply be viewed as a Democrat, she's lost two of her last three primaries but survived.

Collins is a hold in hostile territory. She's better than any other viable option.

My views on McConnell aren't proper to post.

Going forward, Romney's replacement will be another problem from Utah.

Thankful that Tillis and Ernst are up in 2026 and care more about self-preservation than their own impotent views.
Really good post
 
Austin - his resume may have been impressive but I saw nothing in his term that would say he was qualified- pull out of Afghanistan, push DEI with his picks of Generals, going AWOL during duty. Yes I’m probably mixing policy in there too but bar is not very high for Pete to be better than Austin.

Biden was qualified when he wasn’t diminished. Probably back in 2012 or so. Actually though he would govern MODERATELY - I was wrong
I agree. Biden was more to the left than I really anticipated. I suspect that’s because he had other people helping him make decisions towards the end of his term. That actually disappointed me a lot.

If you don’t like what Austin did, you are allowed to feel that way. But to say he was not qualified to simply not true. Not calling you out, but a lot of people are getting confused about what “unqualified” means.
 
This is a very fair point. But I think it’s one Republicans could learn from.

Donald Trump is nominating people who are both partisan and completely unqualified.

There is simply no reason for that. He can, and maybe should, nominate people who are partisan, but also qualified. That would be much easier to get through with no drama.

Nominating a trial lawyer, who does not believe that vaccines are safe or effective to lead The department of health and human services is asking for trouble, because that is a complete clown show. Nominating someone to lead the department of defense who’s never been more than a major in the reserves is a complete insane and asking for trouble.
The issue isn't "partisan", it's that traditionally "qualified" resumes are going to overweigh negative experience.

Bill Barr was a partisan Republican. But he was also entirely unreliable because the Republican Party he is partisan is the one that Republican voters have rejected.

Any Trump cabinet member that would have been a viable option for a Jeb Bush or Nikki Haley Administration is someone not fit for the current mission.

RFK, in particular, has as close to an electoral mandate for his position as any cabinet member in history given how prominent MAHA was in Trump's campaign message.
 
The issue isn't "partisan", it's that traditionally "qualified" resumes are going to overweigh negative experience.

Bill Barr was a partisan Republican. But he was also entirely unreliable because the Republican Party he is partisan is the one that Republican voters have rejected.

Any Trump cabinet member that would have been a viable option for a Jeb Bush or Nikki Haley Administration is someone not fit for the current mission.

RFK, in particular, has as close to an electoral mandate for his position as any cabinet member in history given how prominent MAHA was in Trump's campaign message.
You bring up some good points. Obviously, each candidate has their own ideas about who would go in their cabinet.

I disagree about RFK having any kind of mandate. The guy has been a democrat for the last 70 years and now he needs to be pigeonholed into a Republican administration. Also, I have a legitimate concerns about his grasp on reality. If you watch any interview he’s given, and break down what percentage of it is outright lies, what percent is conspiracy theories, and what percent is things that are actually true… He doesn’t say a lot of things that are true.

He gave an interview to CNN just last year where he said that there were no vaccines that have been proven safe and effective. That is simply not true. And the irony about this, like all of the vaccine deniers on this message board, is that people will say publicly they don’t trust vaccines… while they go to the doctor and actually get those vaccines!

People who skip getting vaccines are completely crazy, but at least they are true to their word. I cannot stand people who are “anti-vaccine“ on the internet and then go and get vaccines. Don’t encourage people to roll the dice with their own health, but you won’t roll the dice with yours. Same with Trump. He encouraged people to take vitamins and ivermectin, and when he had Covid, he went to the hospital and took paxlovid. Lolololol.
 
I agree. Biden was more to the left than I really anticipated. I suspect that’s because he had other people helping him make decisions towards the end of his term. That actually disappointed me a lot.

If you don’t like what Austin did, you are allowed to feel that way. But to say he was not qualified to simply not true. Not calling you out, but a lot of people are getting confused about what “unqualified” means.
You are correct, but this is actually an argument against "qualified" candidates.

American governmence (from both parties - and throughout institutions) has been so bad for so long, that qualification is detrimental to success.
 
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You bring up some good points. Obviously, each candidate has their own ideas about who would go in their cabinet.

I disagree about RFK having any kind of mandate. The guy has been a democrat for the last 70 years and now he needs to be pigeonholed into a Republican administration. Also, I have a legitimate concerns about his grasp on reality. If you watch any interview he’s given, and break down what percentage of it is outright lies, what percent is conspiracy theories, and what percent is things that are actually true… He doesn’t say a lot of things that are true.

He gave an interview to CNN just last year where he said that there were no vaccines that have been proven safe and effective. That is simply not true. And the irony about this, like all of the vaccine deniers on this message board, is that people will say publicly they don’t trust vaccines… while they go to the doctor and actually get those vaccines!

People who skip getting vaccines are completely crazy, but at least they are true to their word. I cannot stand people who are “anti-vaccine“ on the internet and then go and get vaccines. Don’t encourage people to roll the dice with their own health, but you won’t roll the dice with yours. Same with Trump. He encouraged people to take vitamins and ivermectin, and when he had Covid, he went to the hospital and took paxlovid. Lolololol.
The fact RFK was a Democrat is irrelevant to his point that his critique of modern Healthcare has become the mainstream position in the Trump GOP.

You can say that is a bad thing, I certainly don't take every RFK statement as gospel, but his views on health are part of the package people voted for. It was a major factor growing MAGAs coalition.

The consequences of that will be seen, but I think a radical rotation of conventional thought at HHS is a good thing because we have some very clear systemic problems (which is not to say RFK has the right prescription for all of those ills.)
 
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You are correct, but this is actually an argument against "qualified" candidates.

American governmence (from both parties - and throughout institutions) has been so bad for so long, that qualification is detrimental to success.
That’s an interesting hypothesis.
 
Voting strict party lines, Noem will get nod. Ossoff should be disqualified for doing absolutely nothing in his term, like we knew he would. He’s not fit to judge others.
 
No real issue in them voting against some of Trump's cabinet picks but how do they justify voting down a Trump pick and one of them voted for 19 of 21 of Biden's picks and the other vote 21 for 21 in favor of all of Biden's picks. So Hegseth is not as good Blinken, Austin, Garland, Buttigieg, or Mayorkas..

Hell, Hegseth maybe better than those 5 combined. Moreover they voted for Biden's UNQUALIFIED SCOTUS nominee Brown Jackson.

I have no issues with not toing the party line and being independent in thought, but dam%, be consistent and hold both parties to the same standard.

Hopefully Murkoski will be primaried out by a decent candidate her next reelection cycle, suspect Collins is best Pubs can do from Maine.
I think for some they are playing politics. Others just don’t have a clue and will never have a clue. The votes are pretty much known prior to them being cast. That is why they removed gaetz. No way he was getting thru. The rest should be good to go. Mitch is a bitch. He is pissed that he is no longer relevant really. Murkowski really isn’t a pub. Collins likely would have voted yes if the vote was needed. This is just a way to appease the voters in Maine. Give Collins a better chance at being reelected.

Anyone comparing one cabinet to another should only come to one conclusion. If you don’t like trump’s cabinet 10 million times better you have an agenda or you hate Trump.
 
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Can you prove this? I have not seen anything that says he’s guilty nothing but hearsay and lies.
Um… Pete admits it.

I take it you did not watch the confirmation hearings?

He was accused of sexual assault by a woman he was cheating on his wife with. He gave a statement to the police that it was consensual and not a criminal act. Upon investigation, there were no grounds to bring criminal charges. But nobody, not even Pete himself, is claiming he does not cheat on his wives.
 
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Um… Pete admits it.

I take it you did not watch the confirmation hearings?

He was accused of sexual assault by a woman he was cheating on his wife with. He gave a statement to the police that it was consensual and not a criminal act. Upon investigation, there were no grounds to bring criminal charges. But nobody, not even Pete himself, is claiming he does not cheat on his wives.
you leave out she was cheatiing on her husband and her husband caught her returning to their room late and unshelved and that is when the police were called. bill clinton cheated jfk cheated, waiting on balsy ford to show up and say pete was the one with kavanaugh
 
you leave out she was cheatiing on her husband and her husband caught her returning to their room late and unshelved and that is when the police were called. bill clinton cheated jfk cheated, waiting on balsy ford to show up and say pete was the one with kavanaugh
So you OK with his bad behavior because other people have had a bad behavior
 
what bad behavior? husband and wives cheat. Could be bad relationships and I can cadone his problems after doing combat tours and seeing people killed and killing people. He turned his life around and will not f@ck over the usa as the dims do and will.
 
They have cheaters on both sides. The issue is it is only used against the conservatives. It is nearly expected and a badge of honor on the left and their lapdog media would never ride a Dem appointee this hard.

I would prefer an appointee who had an affair over the plentiful Dem operatives that prefer grooming children and normalizing their deviances.
 
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