By John Rupert | Strange Maine | October 31, 2026

AUGUSTA, ME — In October 2018, Senator Susan Collins stood on the U.S. Senate floor for 43 minutes to deliver a speech that would define her political legacy in Maine. Acting as the self-appointed gatekeeper for the Supreme Court, Collins assured her constituents, and the nation, that she had sat across from Brett Kavanaugh in her office and received his personal, solemn word.

She claimed Kavanaugh viewed Roe v. Wade as “settled law” and believed legal precedent was a “constitutional tenet” rather than a mere guideline. She asked Mainers to trust her judgment.

The moment Kavanaugh secured a lifetime appointment on the high court, that narrative evaporated.

The “Boof” Standard and Senate Revisionism

During his contentious Senate Judiciary Committee hearings, Kavanaugh was pressed on his high school yearbook entries, including frequent references to the term “boofing.” Under oath, Kavanaugh claimed the term merely referred to flatulence; a definition widely mocked and disputed across the country.

To thousands of Maine voters, the hearing wasn’t just a display of judicial partisan warfare; it was a masterclass in watching a nominee manipulate the confirmation process while local leadership took the bait.

+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|                       THE KAVANAUGH / COLLINS TAPE                     |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+
|  COLLINS (2018): "He expressed that precedent is not just a policy... |
|                  it is constitutionally dictated."                     |
|                                                                       |
|  REALITY (2022):  Kavanaugh votes to dismantle 50 years of precedent |
|                  in Dobbs v. Jackson.                                 |
+-----------------------------------------------------------------------+

The Bumper Sticker Legacy

In the aftermath of the vote, grassroots Mainers voiced their anger through raw political satire. Bumper stickers, street art, and graphic prints mocked the senator’s claims of being “reassured” by Kavanaugh’s private promises.

The messaging captured a simple consensus among her critics: Collins hadn’t negotiated a compromise; she had been completely played on the national stage while Maine women paid the price.

The Political Fallout Remains

When the Supreme Court officially overturned Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs decision, Kavanaugh’s vote was decisive. Rather than admitting error, Collins expressed “disappointment,” maintaining that Kavanaugh had misstated his position during their private meetings.

Mainstream political outlets often treat Collins’s 2018 floor speech as a policy miscalculation. The record shows otherwise: it was an intentional surrender of political leverage that left Maine’s senior senator looking like the most gullible target in Washington.

We are not out of order. We are the NEW order.