OPINION:
Sen. Jeff Flake said in an interview on “60 Minutes” that if he were running for re-election, there’d be no way he would call for the FBI to investigate Judge Brett Kavanaugh — with the suggestion being that if he were running for re-election, he’d go ahead and vote for the Supreme Court pick in order to quell voters.
This is astonishing.
What Flake is admitting, in essence, is that he is unprincipled — and not just a little bit unprincipled. Boldly unprincipled, by the tone of it.
CBS host Scott Pelley asked, “Sen. Flake, you’ve announced that you’re not running for re-election and I wonder, could you have done this [vowed to withhold vote without FBI investigation] if you were running for re-election?”
Flake: “No. Not a chance.”
Not a chance. Not “hmm, I’m not sure,” or “Well, I’d have to take into consideration the wills and wants of my voters.”
Not a chance. And he said it with a smile, while turning toward his fellow Senate friend, the Democrat Chris Coons.
A joke between friends.
Flake went on to explain, as Mediaite noted: “There’s no value to reaching across the aisle. There’s no currency for that any more. There’s no incentive.”
The astonishing factor here is that Flake was never elected to Capitol Hill to reach across the aisle to Democrats. He was sent to Congress to work with Republicans to enact a conservative agenda — one which has been stalled this past couple weeks by vicious angry mob mentalities that think nothing of running roughshod over a man’s reputation, so long as the final result is a leftist win.
These are the people Flake has chosen over his own party, his own constituents, his own president.
And in so doing, what Flake is saying — admitting — is this: My principles waft like the wind. My principles are tools of bargain and debate. My principles, under the right circumstances, in the right political atmosphere, during times of tough negotiations, can indeed crumble and fall.
If there are voters to consider, Flake leans this way. If there are no voters to consider, Flake leans that way.
This is everything that’s wrong with today’s class of politicians.
Principles, true principles, are supposed to stand strong, withstand the winds, weather whatever storms come. They’re basic laws and truths — guiding lights in the dark.
And think about it: Flake just admitted he has none.
What’s worse, he did it with a schoolboy smile.
• Cheryl Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com or on Twitter, @ckchumley.
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