Collins believed wrong person

Sen. Susan Collins voted to confirm Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court because she believed the wrong person. Women do not just up and forget who sexually assaulted them. Collins’ vote was like a face slap to victims of sexual assault.

Lisa Ledwidge

Bath

Vote for Democrats

I think as well as worry constantly about our kids’ future, being a native Mainer, mother and pediatrician. Our current governor and president, as well as Rep. Bruce Poliquin, have succeeded in widening the gap between the haves and have-nots. They have worked to demolish health care, environmental protection and educational opportunities.

We all need to vote, and to vote for candidates who prioritize our well-being. If you want opportunities and a hopeful future for us and our children, we must vote to elect state Rep. Jared Golden to Congress and Attorney General Janet Mills as governor.

Deborah Patten, M.D.

Bath

Collins no moderate

If you don’t think your vote matters, just consider Sen. Susan Collins’ vote to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The unprofessional way he treated female senators who questioned him was reason enough to vote no and put forward a better-suited nominee. I cringe at the thought of his temperament and his changing story of his drinking, which showed he was not truthful. There was not a thorough FBI investigation.

To all of us who have been in any situation where we were inappropriately touched, this is a very sad day indeed. I am not going into the details of my #MeToo moments, but this confirmation is sickening to me. To all those voters who thought Collins was a moderate and stood for them, I hope they now realize where she really stands.

A 50-48 confirmation vote is unbelievable to me. Surely there is someone who could have fostered more unity and less division. Collins is now part of this legacy.

Cindy Look

Gardiner

Collins a hypocrite

Seems to me Sen. Susan Collins has hit her stride since President Donald Trump took office. Last year, she carefully crafted a full-throated defense of Jeff Sessions, when he was nominated as attorney general, and of the tax plan mostly providing relief for the already wealthy. Now she defends Brett Kavanaugh. While many of us refute her statements, the damage is done. This is the U.S. brand of politics where it’s nearly impossible to hold anyone responsible for their actions.

Collins (like many other politicians, including Rep. Bruce Poliquin) seems measured when given a chance to polish a speech. But listen to what she says when not scripted to get a real measure of her. In all the recent bluster, Collins was caught in just such a moment. She responded to the campaign to raise money for a future opponent, calling the effort a “ bribe”. “I consider this quid pro quo fundraising to be the equivalent of an attempt to bribe me to vote against Judge Kavanaugh,” she said. Joining in her defense were those stalwarts of truth and justice were Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, and Orrin Hatch, R-Utah.

The Crowdpac campaign has raised more than $3.3 million from more than 115,000 people, doubtless many of them Mainers. What do we call the money Collins has accepted for years from a few wealthy donors and large corporations? Are they not trying to pressure her?

In my book, Collins shows herself to be a wounded hypocrite. I believe we can do better.

Phillip Neal

Brooksville

No rationale for Cuba visit

As a retired U.S. ambassador, I read with interest the BDN’s recent report that the University of Maine’s softball team plans a Thanksgiving break trip to Cuba in 2019. Other than noting participants will be able to stay in oceanside cabanas, the article omitted a convincing rationale for the visit.

Why not go instead to a stable, normal country — like the Dominican Republic or Panama — where baseball is equally popular and there’s no risk of the kind of physical harm that caused the U.S. government to withdraw a couple dozen embassy employees from their post? Or a country that isn’t harboring one of the FBI’s most-wanted terrorists, Joanne Chesimard? Or that hasn’t invited Russia to reoccupy the old Soviet spy center focused on U.S. communications networks? Or one that instead of systematically violating the human and civil rights of its citizens, instead allows freedom of expression, assembly and political activity other than by the official communist party?

Curiosity about — or worse, fascination with — the pathetic human zoo that the regime has created in Cuba over the past decades of “revolutionary” misrule would seem a thin reed on which to base travel to the island. And every penny of hard currency spent in Cuba not only serves to buttress the regime and its military arm (the owner of the tourist industry), but makes it possible for Cuban agents assigned as his praetorian guard to keep the Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in power.

Not on the surface a worthy project for our young folk.

Everett E. Briggs

Topsfield

Poliquin not ‘Maine’s Congressman’

Academics are known to be a little nerdy and particular about things. We do our best to collect data accurately, report study findings correctly, and to provide students with accurate information. So, when I pass by signs each morning from Rep. Bruce Poliquin advertising that he is “Maine’s Congressman,” I have to ask myself, really?

If the almost billboard-like size of these signs weren’t garish enough, the inaccuracy is. First of all, Poliquin isn’t “Maine’s Congressman.” Surely he knows that he is not the only person representing Maine? Has he not yet met his colleague Rep. Chellie Pingree? Perhaps there is a sexist undertone in the sign, implying that he is the only “man” representing Maine?

But the key is point is, as Ronald Reagan often said, “You dance with the ones that brung you.” Poliquin represents those that fund his campaign. With his votes to take away health care for Maine constituents, support tax cuts for corporations, and phony efforts to make it look like he supports seniors and Social Security, Poliquin epitomizes false advertising.

He is currently Maine’s 2nd Congressional District representative, but he is not “Maine’s Congressman.” Poliquin’s votes surely have not helped most Mainers.

John Jemison

Orono