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Thursday, May 12, 2022

Talk about Susie Snowflake

The right wingers are out there in full throat trying to compare the response from the left to the almost certainly coming of the overturn of Roe v. Wade to their reaction to Trump's loss to Biden. 

There is, of course, no comparison.

In the aftermath of the leaked draft - intemperate and frightening, indeed - and the subsequent rush on the part of the Republican party to put forth extreme laws in a number of states (not to mention Mitch McConnell, who IRL does not give a turtle's arse about abortion, threatening to propose legislation that does away with state-level abortion rights and, while he's at it, nuke the filibuster), the left has marched, chanted outside the homes of a couple of members SCOTUS, and written in chalk on the sidewalk of Susan Collins' house in Maine. (I was at the impromptu demonstration in Boston last Tuesday, which drew several thousand protestors. As I said to a much younger woman I was walking next to as we marched and chanted through the streets of downtown Boston, I was doing this over 50 years ago. Sigh.)


In sharp contrast, the reaction of the rabid right to Trump's loss, in addition to the daily drumbeat of lies about stolen votes that's doing nothing but undermining and destabilizing our fragile democracy, (in)famously stormed the Capitol, resulting in death and destruction which would surely have been a lot worse if they'd gotten their hands on Mike Pence - they had the gallows and noose at the ready - or Nancy Pelosi or AOC. 

Anyway, Susan Collins' reaction to a non-threatening message (neatly lettered, I might add)  - “Susie, please, Mainers want WHPA → vote yes, clean up your mess” - was to call the Bangor police.

WHPA refers to the Women's Health Protection Act, which would codify abortion rights into federal law. Or would, if it stood any chance of passing. Which it doesn't. Thanks to the filibuster which foolish Democrats leave intact as some last vestige of the Senate as a measured and deliberative body. And which McConnell will jettison the minute he gets the chance.

As for cleaning up her mess, that mess is her voting for Brett Kavanaugh because he assured her that Roe v. Wade was settled law. Stare decisis, and all that good stuff. Except that, if the leaked SCOTUS doc turns out to be for real (which I'm guessing it will be, although the Alito opinion may be toned down to remove, say, the citing of a 17th century British jurist who executed witches and ruled in defense of marital rape), it will turn out that ol' Brett - not to mention his pals Gorsuch, Barrett, and Alito - lied to the Senate. As it turns out, they were just doing what they needed to do to get on the Court, and they won't be doing any stare-y-ing by any decisis

Once the Alito document was leaked, Susan Collins predictably clutched her pearls and sniffed about having been misled by Kavanaugh. 

And she clutched those metaphorical pearls yet again when she called the Bangor PD to report that public property had been defaced.

The police dutifully showed up, and called in the public works department to wash the chalk away.

Great use of taxpayers money.

Why didn't she just grab a hose and get rid of it herself. Or wait for the next rain. This is New England in May. The next rain is not that far off.

This wasn't spray paint. As any kid with a box of chalk knows: this stuff washes away. (I love seeing chalk drawings and hopscotch blocks on the sidewalk.)

But, no.

Talk about Susie Snowflake.

I'd say wake up, little Susie, but she doesn't have to. She's not up for election until 2026, and she may not run again, anyway.

In any case, it's not little Susie that needs to wake up. It's the country. The whole shebang could go down the tubes pretty darned fast. 

Right now, I'm way beyond pearl clutching. Label me out and out scared. 


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Source of picture and info: Boston Globe


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