Susan Rice fires back after Susan Collins attacks her

| 10:36 pm EDT October 8, 2018
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In the hours after Susan Collins used a divisive and disgusting speech to announce that she was voting to put alleged serial sexual assaulter Brett Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, former Obama White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice revealed that she might run against Collins in the 2020 Senate race. Not only has this set off quite a bit of media attention, it’s also sent Collins off the proverbial deep end.

Susan Rice has longstanding deep ties to the state of Maine, but Susan Collins is suddenly attacking her, and trying to paint her as an outsider. Collins told CNN State of the Union that “As far as Susan Rice is concerned, her family has a home in Maine, but she doesn’t live in the state of Maine.” But when Susan Rice made a subsequent public appearance, she fired back, stating that “The last 20-so years I’ve been a homeowner in the state of Maine, so it’s not completely crazy.” But there’s more.

Rice’s fellow Obama administration alumnus Ned Price pointed to a video from 2009 in which Susan Collins spelled out the longstanding ties that Susan Rice has to the state of Maine: “Dr. Rice’s ties to our great state are the foundation of her character. Her grandparents emigrated from Jamaica to Portland one hundred years ago.” Collins claimed on CNN that she didn’t even know Rice at the time, and that Rice “pleaded” with her to give the speech in question. But the video reveals that Collins was doing far more than some kind of cursory favor; Collins clearly had a longstanding high opinion of Rice until just a few days ago.

So even though the 2020 Senate elections are two years away, and Susan Rice hasn’t even definitively stated whether she’s going to run, Susan Collins is already going on the attack – and looking rather foolish in the process. This suggests that Collins fears the prospect of having to face Rice, and that Collins knows she’s in deep electoral trouble after having married herself to Brett Kavanaugh. Meanwhile, $3.6 million and counting has been crowdfunded for Collins’ eventual Democratic opponent, whether it be Susan Rice, or someone like Dr. Cat London, who is already in the race. You can donate to Susan Collins’ defeat here. It’s also worth pointing out that other Senate Republicans such as Ted Cruz and Dean Heller, who also voted for Kavanaugh, are facing strong Democratic challengers in 2018.