Collins Wraps Herself in Iraq and Other News

Maine: Iraq will continue to be a paramount issue during the 2008 campaign cycle. And most Republicans, certainly most Republicans in purple-to-blue states, will be running away from Iraq. So why on earth is Susan Collins touting the endorsement of Joe Lieberman? Lieberman has been the second most vocal pro-unlimited-Iraq-War member of the Senate, after John McCain, whose Presidential campaign Collins has endorsed and for whom Collins serves as Maine state co-Chair. Collins, who should be running from Iraq, is wrapping herself up in it! I hope Lieberman and McCain hold a joint public event in Maine with Collins so that the "Collins won't help end Bush's Iraq mess" message will really be driven home. AmericaBlog's Sudbay also notes:

Susan Collins and Joe Lieberman have been complete and total failures at providing government oversight. They were -- and are -- the ranking Republican and Democrat on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee that has done NOTHING to hold the Bush administration accountable for Iraq or Katrina or any other issue really.

Agreed.

WaPo's Cillizza's most recent Senate Line is out. Cillizza half-addresses my biggest gripe from his last Line, that Iowa held the 10-spot instead of North Carolina, by making the 10-spot an Iowa-North Carolina tie. At this point, NC should bump Iowa if only because Brad Miller is now publicly considering the race while the IA-GOP Congressmen are still mum. He also has Louisiana at 4 and Oregon at 5, which I think should be swapped given that DeFazio is giving a real look at the race, while the LA-GOP still isn't ready to go on a Senate challenge with Jindal running for Governor, Baker displaying weak fundraising, and Dardenne being down in the polls. Otherwise, another solid list. (I look forward to Iowa being off the list entirely in the next edition.)

West Virginia: Just as Montana's Denny Rehberg receiving a strong Democratic challenger for his House seat might curtail his look at a Senate challenge to Max Baucus, Shelley Moore Capito just got herself a prominent possible Democratic challenger in State Senator John Unger. If she was considering a Senate challenge to Jay Rockefeller, this might help curtail that. Meanwhile, 89-year-old Senator Robert Byrd, who just won re-election by a 30-point margin last year, says that "I will run in 2012, the Lord willing." He's got chutzpah.

Hypocrisy of the Day: Yes, it even tops Susan Collins' double-talk and duplicity. Every time George W. Bush says "culture of life," I shudder uncontrollably. This time, he dusts off the "culture of life" rhetoric in defense of his upcoming stem cell research legislation veto. In other words, Bush believes that it is in step with a "culture of life" to tell seniors with Alzheimer's disease, middle-aged folks with Parkinson's disease, and children with juvenile diabetes, "Hey, tough luck." That is, in a nutshell, what the death-penalty-loving "culture-of-lifer" (No, no contradiction there!) Bush is saying; and Chambliss (R-GA), Coleman (R-MN), Cornyn (R-TX), Craig (R-ID), Dole (R-NC), Domenici (R-NM), Graham (R-SC), Hagel (R-NE), Inhofe (R-OK), McConnell (R-KY), Roberts (R-KS), Sessions (R-AL), and Sununu (R-NH) all agree with Bush.