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McConnell: ‘Nobody’s going to beat’ Murkowski
Chicago Sun-Times ^ | 10/10/2018 | Julie Pace, Lisa Mascaro and Laurie Kellman, AP

Posted on 10/10/2018 8:25:24 AM PDT by Signalman

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday that “nobody’s going to beat” Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska despite her opposition to Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination.

In an interview with The Associated Press, McConnell disputed President Donald Trump’s prediction that Alaskans “will never forgive” Murkowski and that she’ll “never recover” politically after bucking her party on Kavanaugh. Murkowski voted against advancing Kavanaugh’s nomination and “present” on the final vote.

“She’s certainly going to recover,” McConnell said. He pointed out that Murkowski won re-election as a write-in vote in 2010.

“She’s about as strong as you can possibly be in Alaska. Nobody’s going to beat her,” the Kentucky Republican added. “I’m proud that she’s in the Republican conference.”

His remarks on Murkowski were part of a wide-ranging interview in which McConnell acknowledged that the extended fight over confirming Kavanaugh has widened an existing gender gap in which Republicans trail Democrats in support among women.

McConnell says the gender gap is “clearly is wider than it used to be,” but says the controversy over Kavanaugh could end up helping Republicans by generating more enthusiasm among GOP voters who feel he was mistreated.

Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct in high school and college. He denied the allegations.”

Heading into the November midterms, the GOP is defending its House and Senate majorities. Only six of the 51 Republicans in the Senate are women.

The 76-year-old McConnell, who’s been in the Senate since 1985 and majority leader since 2015, said he wants more women in the Senate and on the Judiciary Committee in particular. He called the dearth of women Republican candidates winning elections “a great frustration” and said those in the Senate now “just haven’t been interested” in serving on the panel that confirms judges and justices.

McConnell said he found Christine Blasey Ford’s account of her sexual assault “convincing” but noted that there had been no corroboration that her assailant was Kavanaugh.

“The very notion of presumption of innocence was on trial” during his confirmation battle, McConnell told the AP.


TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: alaska; donaldtrump; lisamurkowski; mcconnell; mitchmcconnell; murkowski; trump
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1 posted on 10/10/2018 8:25:24 AM PDT by Signalman
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To: Signalman

We’ll see about that.


2 posted on 10/10/2018 8:26:00 AM PDT by OddLane
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To: Signalman

She’s not up for over 3 years, people have short memories unless she bucks another vote in the next year or 2.


3 posted on 10/10/2018 8:27:06 AM PDT by 1Old Pro
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To: Signalman

She’s not even up for re-election until 2022, it’s too far off for me to even be that concerned about right now.


4 posted on 10/10/2018 8:27:19 AM PDT by Trump20162020
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To: OddLane

McConnell and the Bush League Republicans saved her last time she lost a primary to keep her as an Amnesty Senator.


5 posted on 10/10/2018 8:28:13 AM PDT by Lurkinanloomin (Natural Born Citizen Means Born Here of Citizen Parents__Know Islam, No Peace - No Islam, Know Peace)
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To: Signalman

Hey Turtleface, wanna bet?


6 posted on 10/10/2018 8:29:06 AM PDT by ExTexasRedhead
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To: Signalman

He’s realistic

She won a write in vote is pretty impressive


7 posted on 10/10/2018 8:30:29 AM PDT by wardaddy (I donÂ’t care that youÂ’re not a racist......when the shooting starts it wonÂ’t matte)
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To: Lurkinanloomin
Bring in Sarah Palin, or Sean Parnell, it doesn't matter. The priority should be getting rid of this feminist crony.

This McConnell interview reminded me of all the reasons I dislike The Turtle.

8 posted on 10/10/2018 8:31:52 AM PDT by OddLane
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To: Signalman
I'm The Wiz and NOOOOOOOOBODY beats me!!!


9 posted on 10/10/2018 8:32:01 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
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To: wardaddy

What’s her appeal? I don’t know much about her.


10 posted on 10/10/2018 8:34:57 AM PDT by avenir ("But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine."--Paul to Titus)
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To: Signalman
McConnell said he found Christine Blasey Ford’s account of her sexual assault “convincing”...

I found this to be convincing:


11 posted on 10/10/2018 8:34:59 AM PDT by stylin19a ( Best.Election.Of.All.Times.Ever.In.The.History.Of.Ever)
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To: wardaddy
He’s realistic

She won a write in vote is pretty impressive

He knew he had the votes for Kavanaugh without her. He doesn't want her to flip, which would be tempting if she was completely ostracized from the party. That could potentially be devastating.

12 posted on 10/10/2018 8:35:04 AM PDT by Drew68 (Twitter @TheRealDrew68 https://twitter.com/TheRealDrew68)
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To: Signalman

Sad but true...

Already Primaried here, and she won as a write in in the General.. she’s not going anywhere...

What we have to do is make sure there are enough R’s in the Senate that we never have to depend on her vote to get things done.


13 posted on 10/10/2018 8:35:59 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Signalman
McConnell: ‘Nobody’s going to beat’ Murkowski

Well, somebody did, with an ugly stick...

14 posted on 10/10/2018 8:36:17 AM PDT by Yo-Yo (Is the /sarc tag really necessary?)
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To: Signalman

Sounds like an honest assessment of the situation. He might be wrong, but I think he’s looking at it tactically.


15 posted on 10/10/2018 8:36:27 AM PDT by dead
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To: Signalman

She won as a write-in candidate last time around, beating both the Republican and Democrat nominees, so McConnell may be right. She caucuses with the Republicans, but she’s basically an independent who leans left.


16 posted on 10/10/2018 8:37:30 AM PDT by AnotherUnixGeek
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To: Signalman

Mitch doesn’t want her to flip to the Democrats. Wait till after the midterms and we have more GOP Senators, she will be isolated.


17 posted on 10/10/2018 8:37:41 AM PDT by fortheDeclaration
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To: Signalman
Murkowski is a sleazy opportunist who really tries to exploit her position as a swing vote whenever she has the chance.

Best way to deal with people like her is to elect a strong working majority that robs her of swing vote status and makes her vote on any given issue irrelevant

That said, Sara Palin could take her in 2024 if she really wants to

18 posted on 10/10/2018 8:37:43 AM PDT by rdcbn
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To: Signalman

Guess Alaskans love their pork.


19 posted on 10/10/2018 8:37:44 AM PDT by mrmeyer (You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. Robert Heinlein)
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To: Drew68
He doesn't want her to flip, which would be tempting if she was completely ostracized from the party. That could potentially be devastating.

Bingo.

20 posted on 10/10/2018 8:44:44 AM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
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