Politics & Other Mistakes: She’d dead to me

Olympia Snowe is doomed.

Well, maybe not entirely doomed, but kinda doomed.

She might survive her 2012 campaign for re-election to a fourth term in the U.S. Senate, but not without serious damage. Or, at least, minor distress. Or, possibly, annoying distractions she can direct her staff to handle. Or, as she sweeps to another landslide victory, maybe she won’t even notice she’s doomed.

But make no mistake, she is. I know this because I heard it from the wing of the Republican Party that’s required by health inspectors to wear a label that reads, “Warning: contains nuts.”

For instance: “Olympia Snowe takes being a politician seriously, but does not take being a Republican seriously,” said a resolution passed Oct. 17 by the Aroostook County Republican Committee. “Olympia Snowe has become a major obstacle to furtherance of the principles, platform and general good work of the Republican Party.”

The committee then called on the senator to quit the GOP. Which would further the party’s aforementioned “general good work” by reducing its numbers in the Senate, thereby making it even tougher to prevent the passage of any Democratic legislation, no matter how ill-conceived.

That’ll show her.

Snowe drew the wrath of her party’s mentally unstable contingent when she was rated last year by the National Journal as the 50th most liberal senator. Clearly, she’d lost touch. With whackjobs. Then, she had the audacity to support the Obama administration’s stimulus package and the Baucus healthcare bill. That she used her vote to shift both measures in a more conservative direction is the sort of subtle distinction generally overlooked by those convinced the end of the Mayan calendar in 2012 actually foretells the conclusion of Snowe’s political career.

They might be right. The senator hasn’t said whether she’ll seek another term. She could figure it’s time to enjoy the end of the world as a private citizen, who doesn’t have to pay attention to the thoughtful critiques of her performance that turn up in the kookier korners of the blogosphere.

Snowe is a “traitor,” according a poster on the Free Republic blog. Another called her “the worst ever Senator.”

“She needs to move on and let someone else represent Maine,” a contributor to As Maine Goes wrote. “She has done her damage, it is time for her to leave the stage.”

On the Weasel Zippers site, she was characterized as “a complete weasel,” “a sniveling sycophant” and “a RINO in sheep’s (Dem) clothing.”

This blather has reactionary elements doing what they do best: reacting.

“Well, of course there is an audience that would love to see Olympia Snowe out of office, within the ranks of social conservatives, that’s for certain,” Connie Mackey of the Family Research Council told the Talking Points Memo Web site. “And we would like to see a conservative have a chance to remove her from office up there.”

All it’ll take to make that happen is a candidate with name recognition, political smarts and a message that resonates with voters “up there,” who tend to prefer their senators on the moderate side.

I have just the person: Susan Collins.

Consider that Collins has never voted for the Dems’ healthcare bill, and the National Journal said she was a whole position less liberal than Snowe (51st). Think of the savings in salary and benefits if Maine had one person fill both its Senate seats.

But on the off chance Collins also proves unacceptable to the scrambled-eggs-for-brains crowd, let’s consider alternatives.

Margaret Chase Smith has conservative credentials and hands-on experience in the Senate. Being deceased for 14 years is only a minor obstacle in loony-bin politics.

Which may explain how Dean Scontras’ name keeps cropping up. Scontras lost big (to a moderate) in the 2008 1st District Republican congressional primary and is planning to run again in 2010 (and lose again, although this time it could be to a liberal in the general election).

Charlie Webster? The GOP state chairman got blown away in his only run for higher office, a 1994 primary bid for governor. One advantage Webster would have over fringe competitors who appear rational but are actually crazy is that he appears to be nuts, but is really pretty normal.

One or more of the many untested Republican gubernatorial contenders could emerge as future stars of the party, even if they fail to win next year’s primary or general election. These people would probably be eager to squander their political capital by taking on Snowe.

According to a recent survey by Public Policy Polling, Snowe would be clobbered in a GOP primary by a “more conservative challenger,” a vague entity devoid of the personal quirks, professional shortcomings and potential scandals that plague real people. It’s like asking voters if they’d prefer the incumbent or somebody who’s perfect.

Nevertheless, the squirrelly set believe this crap. To them, it proves what they’ve been saying:

Olympia Snowe is doomed.

E-mail signs of the apocalypse to aldiamon@herniahill.net.