This is a heartening story in The Nation about the effective activism of Alaskans, who persuaded Senator Lisa Murkowski to oppose DeVos.
They bombarded her with calls, emails, etc.
The question for Senator Murkowski and Senator Collins–who say they will vote against DeVos on the Senate floor–is why they didn’t vote against her in committee. If her nomination had been voted down in committee, it would never have reached the Senate as a whole. She was endorsed by the HELP committee by vote of 12-11. If only one of them had voted no, DeVos would now be history.
But they cannily approved her in committee, then announced they would vote no when their vote no longer was pivotal.
If every Republican votes for DeVos except for these two, the Senate will have a tie, 50-50. Mike Pence will then cast the tiebreaker and DeVos will be confirmed.
DeVos will become the first candidate for a Cabinet position in history to be endorsed by a tie-breaking vote by the Vice President.
I am not ready to offer any awards to Murkowski or Collins. Either one of them could have put an end to her candidacy in committee, and they didn’t. These are not profiles in courage.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Contact these two Repubs who might join Murkowski and Collins and vote NO on DeVos.
Senator Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
@robportman
Washington Office: 202-224-3353
Columbus Office: 614-469-6774
Cincinnati Office: 513-684-3265
Toledo Office: 419-259-3895
Senator Dean Heller (R-Nevada)
@DeanHeller
Washington Office: 202-224-6244
LasVegas Office: 702-388-6605
Reno Office: 775-686-5770
And here is another HORROR from The Nation just posted.
Leaked Draft Of Trump’s Religious Freedom Order Reveals Sweeping Plans to Legalize Discrimination
If signed, the order would create wholesale exemptions for people and organizations who claim religious objections to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, and trans identity.
Sarah Posner
Bills in North Carolina and South Carolina are in the works to make it legal for teachers to pray and lead religious activities in their classrooms. There are multiple bills in the works to make religious liberty the “reason” to object to same-sex marriage, premarital sex, abortion, accommodations for trans identity and what ever else,
The Hobby Lobby case set up the opportunity for businesses to discriminate on the basis of religion.
Thank you – this is absolutely true.
Susan Collins, especially, pretends to be a moderate when the Republicans have the votes and hers is meaningless. If her vote every makes a difference. she falls in line with her right wing bosses. Every time. If anyone can think of one time she actually voted in such way that her vote thwarted what the Republicans wanted to do, I’d love to hear it. She’s allowed to vote for moderate proposals when the Republicans have enough votes to push through their right wing legislation, or when the far right isn’t even close to being able to win enough votes.
But whenever she is the deciding vote, as she was in committee, she votes a resounding yes for the right wing agenda. Profiles in cowardice.
Has she ever shown one smidgen of courage? She talks the talk that the right wing gives her permission to say, but when it comes to voting, she always does whatever helps their agenda. It’s embarrassing to watch her talk against DeVos now. ‘I could have stopped this person I believe is wholly unfit, but of course that would have meant she didn’t get approved and I am not allowed to do that, so I made sure she was approved out of committee, and now that there are the votes I am allowed to criticize her.” Coward.
As soon as Susan Collins came out against DeVos following her resounding endorsement of her by voting yes in committee, I knew that DeVos was a sure thing. If Collins goes against her right wing masters, it always means her vote is meaningless.
Have pity. It’s the only job in America she could get with her experience (or lack there of).
Collins votes across party lines quite a bit, at least by the standards of the U.S. Senate.
Like I say, she votes across party lines ONLY when her vote doesn’t matter. That’s why as soon as she announced she was “voting against party lines” I knew the Republicans had the votes to confirm DeVos.
If she was going to vote across party lines where it counted, she would have voted against DeVos in committee. Giving Collins credit for courage when she has none is what has given us a Republican Senate that will not stop anything Trump wants.
But maybe you can come up with an example of when Collins showed true courage and didn’t follow orders when her vote made a difference?
Are you really falling for her line? “I had to vote her out of committee even though I found her reprehensible”?
If so, you are quite gullible. And the right wingers who Collins has never once gone against when she wasn’t allowed to do so are delighted this farce will keep her from being replaced by anyone unwilling to go along with them when their vote makes a difference.
I’m sure I’m extraordinarily gullible, and for all I know you may be correct that Collins is a cowardly, horrible, disgusting human being. But I can’t show you an example of when Collins “didn’t follow orders when her vote made a difference,” because I’m not aware of any evidence that Collins has ever “ordered” or “allowed” to vote a certain way. If you’re aware of such evidence, please share with the group. Alternatively, if you didn’t mean to suggest that Collins was literally “ordered” to approve in committee or “allowed” to vote no in the full Senate vote, and you were trying to suggest something much more nuanced, I’ll understand. Otherwise, continue full steam ahead. I know this is your new thing.
“But in the two most critical votes in recent years, Susan Collins was there when Mitch McConnell needed her. After flirting with compromise for the entire summer of 2009, she eventually joined McConnell’s “hard no” line against health care reform.
And in February 2010, all eyes in the Senate were on her as proponents of campaign finance reform scrambled to find votes for a bill to push back against the Supreme Court’s verdict in Citizens United, which had opened the door to unlimited corporate spending in elections. Collins sided with McConnell’s filibuster. The bill was defeated when it received just 59 votes, one shy of the 60-vote threshold to overcome the filibuster and bring the vote to the floor.
Susan Collins could have been the crucial 60th vote for campaign finance reform. Instead, see stood aside – and the 2010 and 2012 elections saw an explosion of corporate spending, as shadowy SuperPACs launched attack ads that had been paid for by mystery donors.
Campaign finance reform polls well in Maine, as it generally does throughout the country. But in helping to unleash the flood of corporate spending to give America’s most powerful an even bigger say in government, Susan Collins sided with Mitch McConnell over popular sentiment in Maine.
It’s not the only issue in which Collins has discreetly defied the public mood. Last April, she voted against a bill to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25 to $10.10 an hour. Her vote went towards defeating a bill that would have helped more than 95,000 people in Maine.
See more at: http://baltimorepostexaminer.com/senator-susan-collins-modern-day-gop-moderate-looks-like/2014/09/29#sthash.xvmvhbwh.dpuf
Yes, she has very often voted with the Senate Republican leadership.
It’s tragic that Collins filibustered legislation that would have addressed some of the terrible problems of the Citizens United decision. There were 59 votes! Fifty-nine. All she had to do is refuse to filibuster and let the entire Senate vote on it — just as she claims she had to do with Betsy DeVos while now pretending to oppose her.
It’s terrible because without dark money — with transparency — everyone benefits. Fighting transparency is doing the devil’s work. And with something that important, all the lip service she gives to “letting the whole Senate vote” when she made sure to roundly endorse Betsy DeVos in committee is pure hypocrisy.
Turned Around”
Turned around
And inside out
Public drowned
Without a doubt