Senator Coons is certainly making Jeff Flake sound good.
Senator Coons is certainly making Jeff Flake sound good. Per him Flake got a lot of aggressive pressure from the GOP side not to even do as much as he apparently did to help move this toward any kind of FBI investigation. Apparently, there was a lot of hard, partisan fighting going on outside that room before the vote and Flake's statement. If you believe this (Coons is totally credible), Flake voted yes to move the nomination forward as a good faith gesture toward his side, while making it clear that he was not a guarantee on the main vote.
Personally, I have seen too many GOPers cave and toe the party line, including Flake, no matter what they say before that. So I can't give Flake the benefit of the doubt right now. But I believe Coons that he thinks Flake really tried, and if Flake hadn't done what he did, we wouldn't be where we are. If that's all the bipartisanship we can hope for these days, that is incredibly disheartening.
Personally, I have seen too many GOPers cave and toe the party line, including Flake, no matter what they say before that. So I can't give Flake the benefit of the doubt right now. But I believe Coons that he thinks Flake really tried, and if Flake hadn't done what he did, we wouldn't be where we are. If that's all the bipartisanship we can hope for these days, that is incredibly disheartening.
What exactly were they going to do to him? Take him out behind the Capital Building and kneecap him?
ReplyDeleteI think Sen. Coons is trying to help Sen. Flake with some pro-Flake revisionist history - which, if that's the price of getting Flake to throw a speed bump into the nomination, I can live with that.
ReplyDeleteWhat I think really happened is that Sen. Flake is spineless - and Sen. Coons took advantage of his personal relationship with Sen. Flake to push wobbly Sen. Flake into changing his mind long enough to speed bump this thing. Sometimes, spinelessness works in our favor.
John Novak this is the sort of thing where not getting endorsements and contributions for your re-election oh, wait.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Flake seriously believes that he could be a Presidential contender as the anti-Trump.
ReplyDelete...And if he had spent the last 18 months in serious, active, meaningful opposition to Trump-- that means actually voting in meaningful ways to stymie Trump's agenda-- he possibly could.
ReplyDeleteBut as it is, he's delusional.
Everybody's always saying hey, Flake is retiring, no reelection pressure, he can vote his conscience, what hold does party line loyalty possibly have on him?
ReplyDeleteAnd facially, it's a good argument. But as a totally amateur outside observer, here's the hold: gainful, lucrative post-senate employment - lobbying, speaking fees, "think tank" appointments, etc - all depends entirely on toeing the party line now.
I think he could pull off at least some of those even opposing Individual-1.
ReplyDeleteI see hosting gigs on MSNBC or CNN in his future. (Shoot me now)
ReplyDeleteIf hiring him means firing Rick Santorum, I'd take that chance.
ReplyDelete