U.S. Sen. Susan Collins is doing everything she can to make it appear she is a “moderate” Republican. Unfortunately for her, there is no longer any space for moderation in the Republican Party, and there is the Internet which enables the public to actually track her actions and then see if what she says is true. So let’s see if what she says matches her actions:

According to the Vote Studies project, Collins votes with President Bush 82 percent of the time.

Collins supported the decision to use pre-emptive military force in Iraq; the most important foreign policy vote of the last decade and she got it wrong. She is the only member of the Maine Congressional delegation who supports an open-ended American presence in Iraq.

Collins supports this president and his clueless financial policies even as the country is being bankrupted. She has continued to support these policies, even when her colleague, Sen. Olympia Snowe, rejected the measures as irresponsible and voted against her own party. That is the definition of a moderate.

In 2005, Collins voted twice in favor of the Cheney Energy Bill, which gave $14 billion in tax breaks to oil and gas companies. That would have heated many homes this past winter.

It is painfully clear that describing Collins as a moderate is just an outright fabrication.

It will be wonderful to have her replaced with Tom Allen, whose rhetoric and actions do not conflict in such profound ways.

Dave Chirayath, Lewiston

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