Susan Collins taking a victory lap over a program she claims to have "proposed" BUT THAT SHE ACTUALLY VOTED AGAINST. Will be interesting to see which outlets play along...and if any refuse to. #MEpolitics

BDN praises four House GOP for forcing a vote on ACA subsidies and praises Susan Collins for backing an extension...BUT COLLINS HAS SAID SHE OPPOSES THEIR BILL! A reminder that BDN exists to prop Collins up and can be counted to do so -- at the expense of the truth -- thru till Nov. #MEpolitics

Hannah Pingree served four terms in the Maine House of Representatives, one of them as Majority Leader and one as Speaker. Angus King III and Jonathan Bush are nepo babies. Thanks for your attention to this matter! #MEpolitics

There are people more responsible than Susan Collins for the ongoing measles outbreak...but there aren't many of them! #MEpolitics

Trump is targeting Maine over school sports and Susan Collins hasn't held a single hearing! She won't lift a finger over tariffs crippling Maine industries! And when Trump canceled $100M+ in grants to Maine orgs, folks couldn't get her office on the phone! But yeah, sure thing Bezos. #MEpolitics

We used to find it infuriating when beltway reporters insinuated there was some big ideological gulf btwn fake moderate Susan Collins (votes with Trump 96% of the time) and other Senate GOP (votes with him 98-99%.) But post-2024 it just seems...silly. It's an invitation to ridicule. #MEPolitics

In her weekly newsletter Susan Collins brags about participating in a roundtable at the Dept of Health...but neglects to mention the panel was helmed by Health Secretary RFK Jr whose deadly tenure Collins made possible thru her vote to confirm him. #MEpolitics

Notably @mainedems.bsky.social, @senangusking.bsky.social and @golden.house.gov all still post on Twitter more than here. Maybe they think it's the bigger/better audience (based on what?) but it seems not impossible that they just prefer being criticized from the right than the left. #MEpolitics

Not a single Maine media story on Susan Collins vote to confirm this awful dude -- or on the dozens and dozens of other Trumpers she helped confirm in one fell swoop. #MEpolitics

Seemed for a while like Team Platner had decided he was such a great candidate with such a sharp message that the normal rules of #MEpolitics didn't apply and he could win, baggage notwithstanding, without a serious persuasion effort. If that was ever the theory, they seem to have moved beyond it.

Susan Collins opposes the clean, bipartisan ACA subsidies extension the House is likely to pass. But Collins says the expiration is DEMS fault because...they shouldn't have set the policy to sunset around the holidays? With several years notice? She doesn't lie as well as she used to. #MEpolitics

Maine Newsroom up with a story about the deepfake AI ads to support Susan Collins that we've been posting about this week -- ads put out by a group that Collins herself has sponsored to the tune of $400,000+ (not a typo) over the last few years. Zero coverage in legacy Maine outlets. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins has been in charge ("in charge"?) of the Senate Appropriations Committee for a year and so far she's held ZERO oversight hearings. Her refusal to take on Trump or hold him and his inner circle accountable is gross and unforgivable but her failures are bigger than that. #MEpolitics

Graham Platner was this week's guest on The New Yorker Radio Hour. #MEpolitics

Another law going into effect that probably only survives because Janet Mills is running for Senate and so trying to shore up her support with the Democratic party base. Good! #MEpolitics

Angus King voted for a new Trump assistant secretary of Defense less than 48 hours ago! (Also another Trump judge.) The guy is great at complaining and loves invoking Lincoln but he seems positively allergic to using his power to advance his (supposed) aims. Cowardice of indifference? #MEpolitics

Susan Collins just voted to confirm all of these Trump nominees in a single vote. Only possible because of a Senate rule change that she helped push through over the objection of Democrats. Collins sided against 85 Biden nominees -- all or nearly all highly qualified. #MEpolitics

Last week PPH put up a banner headline about this DOA proposal (tinyurl.com/3mdfu9s6) amid speculation Susan Collins might cast a tie-breaking anti-MAGA vote. Except she *never* casts tie-breaking votes against the GOP and hasn't done so here either. Lotta folks desperate to be duped. #MEpolitics

Over at the other place @aobrien2024.bsky.social notes that Gov. Janet Mills seems to have 'liked' a Facebook post defending the controversial Lewiston data center project that just got shot down by the city council after a public uproar. tinyurl.com/yde25jer #MEpolitics

Rep. Amy Kuhn (D-Falmouth) filed a bill earlier this year (LD 1690) that would require disclosure of deepfakes in political advertising. tinyurl.com/4skhany6 It didn't get out of committee. Would be interesting to know what happened there and if anyone is having second thoughts. #MEpolitics

'Hey boss, should I write my twelfth Graham Platner profile or should I write something about the issues? Or about some of the sneaky shenanigans Susan Collins has been up to in DC?' 'Wait, you've only written eleven Platner profiles so far???' #MEpolitics

Susan Collins wrote a letter, y'all. #MEpolitics

Are we all supposed to pretend that Susan Collins's pals at the NRSC -- whom she's funneled $400,000+ to over the last few years alone -- didn't run this by her and her team before they went live? Of course they showed it to her. There's no way they do this without her buy-in. #MEpolitics

That looks nothing like Janet Mills but also Susan Collins has sent more than $400,000 (not a typo) to this group over the last few years...so Collins is literally paying for these gross and indefensible AI ads. Maybe somebody could ask her about them? #MEpolitics

Interesting that Susan Collins -- who has long been (or was?) a fervent opponent of marijuana legalization -- didn't sign the letter. #MEpolitics

For reasons that remain obscure the Maine media really REALLY doesn't want folks to know this...but contrary to the local headlines, Susan Collins *opposes* a clean extension of ACA subsidies. She's against it. As in opposed. Doesn't want it to happen. #MEpolitics

Lotta folks seem to assume Jared Golden's MAGA-lite shtick is a pose designed (however clumsily) to win over CD-2 Trumpers. But he's not running anymore! Doesn't siding with the GOP on an obscure vote like this debunk that idea? Seems like this is who Jared Golden actually *is*. #MEpolitics

Calling something "inexplicable" isn't exactly a condemnation. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins hometown fanzine with an editorial on inaction on guns. After the Newtown shootings, Collins told reporters she'd vote for an assault gun ban and gun clip limits...then voted against both. BDN of course never brings this up. Because puffing Collins up is job number one. #MEpolitics

If Susan Collins and the rest of these jokers wanted to extend the subsidies...they would've extended the subsidies! This feels, instead, like an optics-driven response to bad polling -- an attempt to diffuse blame and allow Republicans in blue states/districts to say, "Welp, we tried." #MEpolitics

Huh the chair (former?) of the Androscoggin County GOP -- who isn't identified as such -- thinks Susan Collins is great because she supposedly cooperates with Democrats? Really? Being a Collins booster in 2025 means being okay with lying and deceiving. Such a dirty, shameful business. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins shouldn't be doing "roundtables" w/ RFK Jr. She should be hauling him in front of her committee -- via subpoena if necessary. That she hasn't done so -- or anything else with her supposed power to push back on Trump's admin -- is arguably THE Maine politics story of 2025. #MEpolitics

Pretty sure this doesn't happen if Janet Mills isn't running for Senate. Good! #MEpolitics

Conspicuous silence (at least on Bluesky?) from @janetmillsforme.bsky.social on the two heinous shootings over the weekend. Because commenting would draw attention to her record on guns and e.g. her opposition to Maine's recent red flag law referendum, which passed overwhelmingly? #MEpolitics

Pretty sure the ad described here is from a 3rd-party group rather than Susan Collins campaign...but yeah. #MEpolitics

Yeah, no. Susan Collins ran a transparently antisemitic campaign in 2020. She trotted out vile medieval anti-Jewish tropes over and over to right wing audiences: tinyurl.com/22rb6jj7 She's never apologized. She's never taken responsibility. Spare us the fake solidarity. #MEpolitics

Susan Collins thinks it's so important for this guy to continue to have a vote in the Senate that she's sent him $10,000 in the last year alone. How many deranged, gutter bigots have you sent five-figure contributions to this year? #MEpolitics

Dude wouldn't even tell reporters how he was going to vote on the red flag law referendum before it passed. Spare us. #MEpolitics

Wild quote from Sen. Dick Durbin on elite Dems leveraging party orgs to sway primaries like Mills v Platner: “Historically, we have tried to make sure there is a viable winner — potential winner — in the primary...It’s tricky because the local people may not agree with our conclusion.” #MEpolitics

Susan Collins-glorifying LTE from Janet Mills brother? Or is this a different Paul Mills? #awkward #MEpolitics

Once Jared Golden leaves office and then runs for something else in 2028 or 2030 or whatever, there's bound to be an effort to rewrite his record. "He wasn't that bad," some will inevitably say. Let's all please remind our future selves that's he was (is) in fact pretty bad! #MEpolitics

Someone woke up Planned Parenthood. (You might think this means they're done sucking up to Susan Collins once and for all...but we wouldn't count on it.) #MEpolitics

This headline is literally and patently false. @pressherald.com is a mess, at least on anything that touches Susan Collins. #MEpolitics @joelawlorph.bsky.social

Yesterday a poll came out showing Graham Platner in trouble with older voters and female voters...and now he's wearing a suit and throwing shade at Sen. John Fetterman. What a difference a day makes? #MEpolitics

Naturally, the local NBC affiliate's headline on the ACA votes highlights that Susan Collins voted FOR extending the subsidies while omitting the fact that she also voted AGAINST extending them. This is how we got here. #MEpolitics

Looking forward to press coverage of Susan Collins votes today to both kill ACA tax credits/send premiums soaring AND to extend those very same tax credits. What are the chance that even one article in the beltway or Maine press so much as hints at the incoherence of her tired shtick? #MEpolitics

In a healthy media ecosystem, Susan Collins gaslighting @mainepublic.org into telling readers nearly the opposite of the truth (Collins ultimately voted for the same bill as King) would prompt some reflection and corrective action. Not holding our breath. #MEpolitics @stevemistler.bsky.social

Susan Collins votes for the GOP plan to kill the very ACA subsidies she keeps telling us she supports. The bill, which would push millions into expensive high deductible plans, would also make abortion coverage unattainable for millions of women. All fine by Collins, apparently. #MEpolitics

On Monday, Susan Collins put out a bill with $25/month premiums; yesterday she wouldn't take a position on a clean extension one way or the other; and now she's talking about a $5/month minimum. She's just making up crap up as she goes along. Whatever this is, it's not representation. #MEpolitics