I have had plenty of frustrations with Senator Susan Collins through the years, and with good reason.  She is not a conservative.  At times, it’s been fair to question whether she’s caucusing with the wrong political party.  Her flirtations with potentially advancing Merrick Garland as the Supreme Court justice to replace Antonin Scalia, her support of sustaining and maintaining the epic disaster of Obamacare are just two of the recent examples.

But there’s no equivocating on this point: she faced the onslaught of one of the most coordinated, angry and mobilized left-wing attack machines in recent history, she met their threats, she met their bile, she met their furious glares and disgusting threats, and she persisted.

That phrase, of course, was coined by supporters of Elizabeth Warren after Mitch McConnell frustratingly used those words to describe her belligerence in breaking Senate rules to promote herself and her 2020 presidential prospects.  But Warren faced no real censure, she faced no mocking onslaught from pop culture – indeed she was celebrated, she faced no true consequence for her stunt.  No less than Chelsea Clinton wrote a children’s book about her travails and praising her resolve for heaven’s sake.

Senator Collins? 

• The Washington Post ran a piece attacking her “declaration of cowardice.”
• Vox and HuffPo authors accused her of racism. 
• Hollywood director Rob Reiner slandered her as turning her back on victims of sexual assault.
• Activists smacked her for being a “betrayer of women.”
• And the intellectual titan Seth MacFarlane (the dude behind Family Guy) did a little mansplaining to Collins about her failure of women:

“You had the opportunity to claim a legacy as a pivotal, forward-thinking voice in the enterprise of progress, of cultural evolution. Alas, Senator Collins, you will fade into history as a follower, not a leader.”

Just to make sure you’re making sense of this: had Collins followed the advice of leftists like MacFarlane, she would have totes been a “leader.”  But since she thought independently, faced down the angry liberal mob, and stood against dangerous unproven allegations to defend the rule of law, she’s a “follower.” 

The only thing that is noteworthy about people like MacFarlane and all those like him launching these kinds of anti-Collins broadsides is that I think they actually convince themselves what they’re saying is true.

• They convince themselves that they are championing women by attacking a woman.
• They convince themselves they are heroes of women’s liberation when they drag a woman publicly for exercising independent thought.
• They convince themselves they are putting an end to the patriarchy when their men shout down women, telling them what their legacy should be.
• They convince themselves they are helping the cause of abused women by exploiting them to advance a political agenda.

It’s sick, it’s sad, and it’s the nonsense Senator Susan Collins is facing right now.  Nevertheless, she’s persisting.  Good for her.