Moreover, Collins seemed to go out of her way during her speech, and later on the news talk shows, to assert that she believed Christine Blasey Ford — but didn’t think Kavanaugh had attacked her because he so vigorously denied it. Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii) was openly dismissive and obviously peeved over that argument, which either assumes mistaken identity or Ford’s lack of mental acuity.

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“[Collins] said that she thinks that — she said that Dr. Ford thinks that she was assaulted, which is even more insulting than saying that she gave a very credible account. I certainly believe Dr. Ford,” Hirono said. “Anybody watching her testimony would know, I would say, would conclude that she was being very truthful. And the one thing that she recollects with 100 percent accuracy is that Judge Kavanaugh, Brett Kavanaugh, assaulted her. . . . Well, to say that she thinks that Dr. Ford thinks that she was assaulted, what is that? Is she mistaken?”

In short, Mainers who support abortion rights feel as though they were taken for a ride — assured in election after election that Collins was an abortion-rights supporter, led to believe that Collins truly was undecided on Kavanaugh, and then fed a series of disingenuous arguments to justify what Collins had wanted to do all along.

In voting with her party, Collins exploded the myth that there is a viable moderate wing of the GOP at the national level. (She also voted for the Trump tax cuts.) Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who voted against Obamacare repeal and against Kavanaugh, is the only Republican senator who votes like a moderate, but hardly constitutes a “wing” or even a faction of the party. (Other Republicans talk a good game in floor speeches or on Twitter, but have sided with Trump on virtually every nominee and significant issue.)

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With her over-the-top vote of confidence in Kavanaugh, Collins, in all likelihood, spared herself a primary in 2020 but guaranteed she will face a torrent of criticism for two years — intensified each time Kavanaugh renders the sort of opinion Collins said he never would write. There will be other incumbent Republican senators who may face a Kavanaugh-related backlash in 2020 — Sen. Cory Gardner (Colo.), who persuaded voters in 2014 he wasn’t part of the “war on women”; Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.), who went out of his way to insult protesters and smear Ford as a captive of a left-wing cabal; and, if Kavanaugh helps to disable the Affordable Care Act, a slew of Republicans in competitive purple states.