As Republicans go, Sen. Tim Scott is fairly run-of-the-mill. While I don’t agree with the 2024 hype surrounding him, his voting record is solid, he’s had some noteworthy moments, and I’ve never found any reason to oppose him or his ascension within the party.
Unfortunately, Scott just lost me with one of the most inexcusable, head-scratching endorsements of the current cycle. Here’s what he put on social media on Wednesday.
We need strong leaders like Lisa Murkowski – someone who has worked tirelessly for the people of Alaska her entire career. Alaska, please join me in supporting @LisaForSenate! pic.twitter.com/VDXITMciEo
— Tim Scott (@votetimscott) August 3, 2022
I have a pretty high tolerance for squishy Republicans who I don’t always see eye-to-eye with, so no one should mistake the criticism I’m about to levy as some kind of inflexible, purist screed. When Sen. John Cornyn recently led an effort to pass gun control, for example, I disagreed with it, but I didn’t call for him to be primaried. I recognize that there will always be Republicans in the party who go in a different direction at times than I’d prefer. That’s part of being in a political party. There are also factors to consider such as where a Senator is from. I don’t like Sen. Susan Collins, but she’s the best we are going to get in a state like Maine.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski is different, though. We are not talking about a woman from a blue state who occasionally strays off the beaten, conservative path. Rather, we are talking about a woman who hails from ruby-red Alaska but has chosen to continually stick her finger in the eye of her own party.
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Murkowski attempted to nuke the confirmation of Justice Amy Coney Barrett by voting to not bring her to the floor. She also voted against the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, playing right into the false narrative Democrats were pushing. Yet, when it came to Joe Biden’s appointments, she has voted enthusiastically for them, from his Supreme Court pick to an Interior Secretary that wants to destroy Alaska’s energy economy.
Then there’s the fact that Murkowski is rabidly pro-abortion. Back in 2021, she lauded the disgusting, far-left “Women’s March” as fighting for “reproductive health.” When the draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade was leaked, she ran to the press to say she had lost confidence in the Supreme Court, a favorite leftwing talking point that seeks to delegitimize the institution. In 2018, Murkowski even voted against cloture on a bill that would protect pain-capable children in the womb.
Again, Murkowski is from Alaska, a state that is more than willing to send a reliable conservative senator to Washington. There is no reason whatsoever to try to protect her incumbency.
That brings me back to Scott. I have no idea what he is thinking with this endorsement, and I believe it really strikes at his future credibility that he made it. Yes, I get that the Senate likes to protect its incumbents, no matter how terrible they are. But if there was ever a case to at least sit on the sidelines, not endorsing anyone, this was it. No one would have thought twice had Scott not made an endorsement in a senate race in Alaska. There will be dozens of other Republican senators who don’t endorse Murkowski, and Scott should have been in that number.
His decision not to be in that number leaves me questioning everything about him. Does he value results and life or is the Senate just an incumbency club? And to call Murkowski a “strong leader?” I mean, come on.
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