Murkowski is the worst

[senseandsensibility]

Wrings every little concession for HER state out of the R's and votes for the bill. Okay, she's standing up for her constituents. Got it.

But then she holds forth to the press about how bad the bill is and how she hopes it doesn't pass the house.

I can think of one way she could have ensured that it doesn't pass the house. But she wants it both ways. She wants to portray herself as against it and helpless in the face of forces beyond her control but she wants to get credit for concessions for Alaska ONLY.

At some point, Murkowski should realize that she is an American who took an oath to the Constitution to do what's right for the country as a whole, not just her home state.

I blame her for this bill passing just like I blame Tillis for voting for Hegseth even though he knew it was wrong.

[Tadpole Raisin]

1. I guess the only way a Republican can even attempt to vote with a conscience, they have to be retiring or dying.

And even that is no guarantee!!

[WhiteTara]

2. she is awful.

[yorkster]

3. Add Collins - always there when you don't need her.

Queen of the safe vote.

[senseandsensibility]

6. Yes, she was only allowed to vote no

because they didn't need her vote. She gets no credit from me.

[Tadpole Raisin]

7. Now that's a great campaign slogan!

Stick your finger in the wind morality doesn’t work when you have no feeling in it - or anywhere else.

[yorkster]

10. I may use it if I'm still around for her upcoming campaign.

I wouldn't be surprised if she decides not to run and be a "girl"lobbyist instead.

[Tadpole Raisin]

12. LOL! Let me know and I'll drive up and join you! nt

[yorkster]

18. I did some phoning last time. Was

surprised at the number of people who said they probably would vote for her.
I think that has changed, fingers crossed.
Gawd it sure took long enough..

[Tadpole Raisin]

21. I'm ashamed we were born in the same town. nt

[Ping Tung]

4. And, easily the most facile. "Agonizing..." My ass.

[lapfog_1]

5. not to mention the Republican MEDICAL DOCTOR

who voted in RFK, jr.

[OrlandoDem2]

8. There needs to be a rebellion in Alaska and Maine.

How Alaska is a red state is beyond me.

How a blue state elected Collins is also beyond me.

They are repugnant.

[senseandsensibility]

9. I always thought Alaska was pretty red

but I know very little about it being from CA. Have the demographics changed in recent years?

[yorkster]

19. Stay tuned...

[angrychair]

26. Oil money

Alaska is Republican because they don't want anything that limits the flow of black gold.

Honestly surprised it's not one big open mining pit with clear cut forest and oil wells every couple of feet.

[Fiddlelady11]

39. Alaska used to be blue

It’s a long story- starting with a plane crash and a plane they never found….on purpose?

[Baitball Blogger]

11. Didn't the Parliamentary person throw out the bribe?

[senseandsensibility]

14. Yup

They must have come up with a new one overnight? I think I heard some reference to it on MSNBC but I was so disgusted I didn't pay attention.

[Fiddlelady11]

42. Yes

That is what I read.

[pwb]

13. Politics should not be a career.

We need term limits at all levels of government. IMO.

[llmart]

15. I have to believe that there are a lot of Alaskans who are on Medicaid.

I wonder how they feel about her vote?

It's going to take a bit before it really hits home to all the magats, but when it does the damage to the country will already be complete.

[Mr.Bee]

16. Birds Of a Feather

What did you expect - she has the magic 'R' after her name!

[senseandsensibility]

17. I had very little hope

and even started a thread about my pessimism in regards to Murkowski yesterday. But I tried to hold onto a little hope that she would surprise us. Wasn't to be.

[dlk]

20. A Republican is a Republican, is a Republican...

Down to the bone

[Fiddlelady11]

43. The criminal class.

[kacekwl]

22. Hopefully she is roasted

mercilessly in the media. Not counting on it though.

[ancianita]

23. Murkowski and others? They are guilty of Akrasia: doing what is against one's better judgment.

The problem of selling out one's virtues and refusing to do what's best for others is thousands of years old.

Akrasia is also referred to as "weakness of will" or "incontinence."
Akrasia describes the state of mind in which an individual freely chooses a course of action while simultaneously believing that a different action would be better.

Akrasia is not about ignorance, according to Socrates. The person understands what is considered the right or better course of action.

It's about the willpower and integrity to act according to what the person knows is right and best.

It is a weakness of willpower to resist a temptation.
What temptation, you may ask? To love one's job and status more than one's neighbor or, in these dissenting republican senators' cases, love their jobs and status more than their constituents.

Aristotle says that akrasia can be explained by the incorrectness of one's best judgment rather than a failure of the agent to act according to her best judgment. When an agent's best judgment is a false belief, it does not have the power to compel one which Socrates attributed to correct knowledge of what is genuinely best.
IOW, they have neither the intelligence nor the willpower to be virtuous. They've sold out their wills, and therefore their souls, to evildoing to maintain worldly power.

As Jesus said before them:
37 But let your communication be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for whatsoever is more than these cometh of evil.
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%205%3A37&version=KJV
IOW, be honest and not an equivocator.

Me, I call senators who spoke against the bill yet voted FOR it all kinds of things like sellouts, cowards, and whiny little bitches.

[Fiddlelady11]

44. Be not an equivacator!

Love it!

[stollen]

24. McCain went out a hero for the ACA

Murkowski will eventually be thrown out is disgrace, like rotten tofu, like those POS' Maseratti Manchin and Krysten Sinema voting against Build Back Better. They knew they couldn't win another term for screwing their constituents.

[progressoid]

25. I can think of worse.

Like every other Republican.

[Skittles]

29. I guess it's just that most repukes are upfront about how disgusting they are

Last edited Tue Jul 1, 2025, 05:09 PM - Edit history (1)

these gals Lisa and Susan, they play that pretend game of giving a shit which seems to make them even more vile

[progressoid]

31. Yeah.

One of them could have done a John McCain thumbs down.

Alas...

[Skittles]

36. there was a lot I did not like about McCain

but that was a rare example of a republican putting country over party - he was like, well, a dying breed

[senseandsensibility]

37. Yes, and I always admired his service as a prisoner of war

Yet R's were okay with trashing him.

[Skittles]

46. absolutely

[Skittles]

27. EVERYONE WHO VOTES FOR THIS BILL IS VILE

EVERY FUCKING ONE OF THEM

[senseandsensibility]

34. But she knows better, admits she knows better,

and was the deciding vote. Yet she somehow wants and gets sympathy from the media. She could have easily stopped this this morning and she knew that it was the right thing to do.

[Skittles]

38. according to Senator Warner, a LOT of them know

they privately tell him HE IS THEIR CONSCIENCE

WTF, like he said, why don't you VOTE your "conscience"???

fucking COWARDS

[ancianita]

55. When they tell him HE is their conscience they literally admit they have no conscience. I wonder if there's footage

of Warner actually saying that. They do hesaid/shesaid media pr for each other, so I don't trust rethugs' claims about other rethugs.

The DNC needs to look into this claim, because if there's a Warner quote or footage or recording, that right there is a Democratic candidate's campaign ad for the Senate.

[Skittles]

58. honestly, if they do have any shred of a conscience

it makes it even worse that they are putting Trump above country

I agree, they need to be exposed for what they are - absolute fucking cowards

[DinahMoeHum]

28. See you next Tuesday, Lisa. . .

[littlemissmartypants]

30. She's a Nepo baby Republican politician. Her dad probably taught her everything she knows.

[BattleRow]

50. How to be a little bit pregnant,?

That's what her dissonance reminds me of...

[Eliot Rosewater]

32. She along with the rest of the Republicans are going to murder people

We are at war and they’re going to kill us, I sure hope we don’t just sit here and do nothing.

[louis-t]

33. Unfortunately, the only way for maga to turn against repugs

is for them to feel the pain. I fear we may never have elections again. Repugs can not take a chance on Dems regaining control. They will all end up in prison.

[Skittles]

40. problem with that is

WE ALL FEEL THE PAIN

[Fiddlelady11]

35. The Murkowski dynasty in Alaska

Has run its course. Thank you universe for revealing her mendacity. Vote blue Alaskans.

[rurallib]

41. She wrings out concessions on a bill she wants defeated?

JFC - why not vote against it and make sure it is deleted, ya dumb ass?

by voting for it you assure Alaska will be losing at least something. By voting against it they don't lose at least immediately.

That lady ain't got her brain screwed in right.

[senseandsensibility]

49. I like your lingo

Especially the last sentence.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

45. Maddow Blog-Alaska's Lisa Murkowski criticizes megabill after voting for it: 'We're not there yet'

The Republican senator tried to explain why she advanced a far-right megabill despite serious reservations, but her reasoning doesn’t make sense.

Among the many problems with Lisa Murkowski’s odd rationale for voting for a megabill she didn’t like: She expects House Republicans to “recognize that we’re not there yet.”

GOP leaders fundamentally reject her vision — and have every intention of ignoring it. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-07-01T17:49:27.107Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/alaskas-lisa-murkowski-criticizes-megabill-voting-re-not-yet-rcna216281

Around this time eight years ago, House Republicans had already passed a right-wing heath care bill intended to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, but Senate Republicans were struggling to keep their members in line. Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski, in particular, said she simply couldn’t get on board.

To win her over, GOP leaders came up with a variety of ideas intended to help Alaskans so they wouldn’t feel the punishments that Republicans were eager to impose on the rest of the country. The proposed carve-outs and schemes were even given memorable, albeit unflattering, nicknames: “Alaska Purchase,” “Klondike Kickback” and, my personal favorite, “Polar Payoff.”

The core of the party’s offer was simple: If Murkowski let Republicans repeal Obamacare, GOP leaders would agree to let Alaska keep Obamacare.

It didn’t work. Murkowski remained unconvinced, and she ultimately helped derail the gambit and rescue the country’s health care system......

This time, however, it did work. NBC News reported:

[Murkowski], who had expressed concerns throughout the process about the bill’s cuts to social safety net programs, was a key vote for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., to win over. ‘I struggled mightily with the impact on the most vulnerable in this country, when you look to Medicaid and SNAP,’ Murkowski told reporters after the vote, adding that she didn’t get ‘everything’ she wanted but ‘I had to look on balance.’

Even more striking, however, was something the Alaska Republican said after the dust settled on the dramatic vote: Murkowski said she hopes House Republicans make changes to the Senate’s version of the bill......

But that’s a difficult position to take seriously. For one thing, if she’d joined the bipartisan minority that opposed this bill, it wouldn’t have “killed” the legislation; it would’ve opened the door to a new round of negotiations in the Senate — where Murkowski could’ve exercised enormous influence. By giving up her leverage, she’s apparently hoping to see House members do the work she could’ve been involved in directly.

For another, Republican leaders fundamentally disagree with her entire vision of the process. Murkowski apparently believes it’ll be up to the House to “recognize that we’re not there yet,” but as far as the White House and GOP leaders are concerned, the negotiations are over. There’s nothing left to talk about. The bill is done. The House’s job is to approve it, as is, quickly and with as little fuss as possible.

If, as expected, House Republicans do as they’re told and approve the Senate version of the bill without changes, it means Murkowski will have made it possible to implement the most regressive piece of legislation in modern history — a bill she admits remains flawed and in need of changes — and that will further mean that she bears responsibility for the consequences the package imposes on the nation.

[Iamscrewed]

47. Rule of law

Apparently the constitution is another piece of paper that should be burned with the other unacceptable books.

[IronLionZion]

48. GOP planned amongst themselves to have JD make the tie breaking vote

Three Republicans voted against the measure: Sens. Rand Paul (Kentucky), Thom Tillis (North Carolina) and Susan Collins (Maine).

Murkowski could have ended it. Visiting Alaska is on my bucket list but I don't know if I want to spend money in her state.

[underpants]

51. $25 Billion dollars

[WiVoter]

52. Bait & Switch. That's Her Game

Didn’t she say a few days ago that she wouldn’t rule out switching to the Democratic Party?

[homegirl]

53. Clearly,

by voting for this bill she has NOT done the best for her constituents. She sold them out for a minor concession. And the rest of the USA!

[moniss]

54. She's cut from the same mold as her scumbag father. nt

[senseandsensibility]

56. Soo-prize!

It turns out she seems to have received some kind of tax write off for fishermen? That's what she got for her constituents' healthcare?

[Native]

57. They are all the worst. They just take turns.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

59. She sold out to trump

[patphil]

60. She could have done just a good a job for her state by voting "no" on the bill.

Her "no" vote would have meant the bill would fail.
So, she really wanted the bill to pass, but wanted to soften the impact on the people who could re-elect her.
The rest of the nation was of no concern to her.

[Gimpyknee]

61. As did every other Republican who voted for this bill.

[DENVERPOPS]

62. This

The only difference between Republican women, especially Female Republican Politicians, and the street walkers on E. Colfax here in Denver is this:

The crack whores on E. Colfax have things They Absolutely WILL NOT DO,....... for ANY amount of money............................

[gfarber]

63. She is torn

Senator Lisa, with frown on her face,
Found Trump’s budget a national disgrace.
“It’s godawful,” she sighed,
Yet for pork, she complied —
Sold the rest for a slice of her place.

Murkowski stood torn, full of dread,
But voted “aye” while democracy bled.
“I hate it,” she swore,
But still opened the door—
For scraps, while the country was fed to the Feds.

She whispered "no," but her vote said "yes,"
To a budget born straight from a mess.
With death threats in tow,
She bowed to the show—
And sold out the land for a check and duress.

She trembled, then fell into line,
Called it “agonized” — not “supine.”
With the nation at stake,
She chose not to break —
Just a profile in fear, not in spine.

[AdamGG]

64. I wouldn't be surprised if

she received some serious threats against her family and herself. At least, my faith in humanity would like for that to be the case and there are other cases of this regime doing that.

This was a chance for Murkowski to become a historical figure and what JFK called a profile in courage. Now, just a pathetic case of negotiating some carve outs for her state and going along with something she knows is horribly destructive. I hope she never gets a good night's sleep again.

[Quanto Magnus]

65. She's a Republican

they cannot do right by the country. It's part of their platform now.

This is why, when she said she might join the Dems, I saw it more as her just lying (again) to appear moderate.