Sen. Collins’ support of Sen. Jeff Sessions makes for lively Thanksgiving conversation

Last Friday “Our Senator” Susan Collins strongly supported her fellow Senator Jeff Sessions of Alabama for Attorney General. Notwithstanding the decades-old racist comments that cost him a federal judgeship before being elected to the Senate–and, more recently, notwithstanding Sessions’ fervent opposition to immigration policy reforms and to gay marriage, Collins praised him as a hardworking man of “integrity” whom she has known since they both entered the Senate in 1997.
For an ordinarily cautious politician who takes political stands only when it is safe to do so—such as refusing to support Donald Trump for President long after other Republicans had done likewise—this was a surprisingly bold move.
But a short time ago I heard that her embrace of Sen. Sessions was not quite that and that she needed to go through the customary Senate hearings before making a final stand.
So why the initial endorsement?
Would Collins’ idol Margaret Chase Smith have voted for Sessions? I doubt it. Thanks nevertheless, Senator Collins, for a provocative topic for Thanksgiving.