In his Nov. 5 column, “Boos and Bravos,” John Balentine gave a “Bravo” to Sen. Susan Collins for voting for Brett Kavanaugh to have a seat on the Supreme Court as one of her 8,000 votes in the Senate. He also criticized Sen. Angus King for not supporting her on this vote. There are many of us who would give her a “Boo” for this and many other of her votes. I am not sure why Balentine believes King should back Collins for a vote he did not agree with and was based on faulty judgment.

Kavanaugh indicated he probably wouldn’t overturn Roe v. Wade, but he did not say he wouldn’t weaken it to the point that it becomes irrelevant. This was shown by his vote not to stop the implementation of the Texas law that effectively invalidates the right of a woman to have an abortion.

Balentine gives a “Boo” to Gov. Janet Mills for trying to protect the citizens of Maine – the mandate for health care workers to be vaccinated is to minimize the chance they could spread COVID to their patients. He calls her “un-American.”

I suppose he also thinks George Washington was un-American when he forced the Revolutionary troops to be vaccinated against smallpox, or that it was un-American for the city of Boston to close down at that time to minimize the spread of a deadly disease.

Maybe on these issues he should just be saying there is disagreement.

If he wants to talk about something un-American, perhaps he should revisit the insurrection and the Republicans who want to forgive and forget the storming of our nation’s Capitol building.

Stan Tetenman
Poland