Steve Benen masterfully destroys the GOP Senator who has asserted herself as the leading critic of the Obama administration's handling of the Christmas Day bomber. That would be Susan Collins. She has been wrong consistently and pretty much lying, yet she keeps digging. It would be embarrassing for any member with an ounce of self-respect. But, Collins sold her soul to Mitch McConnell long ago:
When we cut through the nonsense and cheap talking points, what we're left with is Collins, after making a series of demonstrably false claims, complaining that the Justice Department didn't coordinate further with other agencies on how best to deal with Abdulmutallab. That's it. That's all that's left from the original argument.Not sure how all of this helps Collins' constituents in Maine. But, it does get her on t.v. And, she's desperate to be a player. We hear that it drives her craaaazzzyyy that Olympia gets all the attention.
But, again, this is foolish. For one thing, the Obama administration has applied the exact same procedures as Bush/Cheney, and Collins never expressed this outrage before. For another, as Attorney General Eric Holder explained last week, "No agency supported the use of law of war detention for Abdulmutallab, and no agency has since advised the Department of Justice that an alternative course of action should have been, or should now be, pursued."
What we're left with, then, is Susan Collins making a mistake by falsely criticizing the administration, and then digging deeper with a series of even more absurd false criticisms.
She should have quit while she was behind. As this story has dragged on, Collins has sounded less like a reasonable, moderate, influential senator and more like a rookie House member trying to impress Fox News producers.
